Intel's upcoming Panther Lake CPUs tested ahead of launch — alleged Core Ultra 3 SKU with 10 cores and 16GB RAM surfaces in leaks

Panther Lake is still a couple of months away from its public launch, with the first batch of laptops and mobile devices set to debut in early Q1 2026. Release windows have never stopped leakers from getting their hands on engineering samples, which, in this case, they're trying to flip online. We don't endorse these practices, but the listings reveal interesting details about Intel's upcoming mobile family, including a supposed power limit for a Core Ultra 3 SKU, in the possession of veteran tipster @yuuki_ans.

The X post shows the ES still attached to the original reference platform (RVP) that Intel uses in its labs to test different configs on the fly. The CPU and memory can therefore be changed, but here it comes with a Core Ultra 3 chip featuring 10 cores, paired with 16 GB of LPDDR5X-7467 memory (split across 4 GB modules). Fellow leaker HXL shared a CPU-Z screenshot for this model, but let's say the numbers aren't that impressive, given the specs we're working with.

Speaking of, the core layout consists of 2 P-cores, 4 E-cores, and 4 LP-E cores, powered by 12 MB of L3 cache and 11 MB of L2 cache. The chip has a 3 GHz base clock with boost speeds up to 3.2 GHz — the P-Cores have a maximum clock of 3 GHz, while the E-cores can clock up to 2.4 GHz across the entire cluster. Power-wise, we're looking at 25W PL1, 65W PL2, and 140W PL3 with a TjMax of 100 degrees Celsius. Lastly, this SKU has 4 Xe3 GPU cores, so that we might be looking at an entry-level gaming laptop chip here.

Even though this is an engineering sample that likely doesn't unlock the full potential of the silicon (which is stepped "A0"), the pictures attached (in the replies) show the CPU up close in great detail. We can see four tiles on the processor, along with one empty tile, since this SKU is based on the PTL 16C/4Xe3 die, and we're missing a few cores. The entire package, labeled "000C06C0", is socketed using the BGA 2450 platform. Now, this actually isn't the only Panther Lake ES CPU allegedly floating around.

Another leaker, GOKForFree, showed a lower-end sample with only 2 P-Cores and 4 E-cores, which is unusual considering every Panther Lake SKU is expected to feature LP-E cores. This is another reason why pre-production silicon cannot be used to analyze final release performance. Whoever gets their hands on these chips will probably run benchmarks, and we'll start getting doused in Panther Lake leaks leading up to launch... say that fast 10 times.

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