Core 300: Intel introduces budget processor Wildcat Lake

Intel is breaking new ground with its Core 300 processor series, also known as Wildcat Lake. Unlike the Core 100 and 200 (non-Ultra), the manufacturer is not re-releasing old CPUs under a new name. Instead, there is a mini version of the large Core Ultra 300 (Panther Lake). The entire design is focused on low costs and is therefore intended for affordable notebooks.

Instead of up to 16 CPU cores, Wildcat Lake offers a maximum of six: two performance and four low-power efficiency cores. Intel omits normal efficiency cores as an intermediate tier. The memory interface is halved to 64-bit (single-channel), the Level 3 cache is reduced by two-thirds to 6 MByte, and the integrated AI unit (Neural Processing Unit, NPU) and GPU are also kept compact. This saves chip area and thus manufacturing costs.

The NPU can perform a maximum of 17 trillion operations per second (Tops) instead of 50. The GPU comprises a maximum of two Xe cores instead of 12, as in the maximum Panther Lake configuration.

Single-channel RAM primarily helps in times of memory crisis to reduce costs. Nevertheless, the timing is bad for Intel: Notebook manufacturers prioritize high-end models to maintain their margins. The entry-level and mid-range segments in particular are suffering from the immense memory prices.

Current Manufacturing Process and Thunderbolt

Despite the cost focus, the fundamental technology is up-to-date. Intel manufactures the compute die with the CPU, GPU, NPU, and memory controller using its own 18A technology. TSMC manufactures the Platform Controller Tile using the N6 process. Intel is content with six PCI Express 4.0 lanes but continues to integrate Thunderbolt 4, Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 6.0.

Wildcat Lake comes in the form of six mobile processors. Five models differ only marginally: from the Core 7 360 to the Core 5 315, the full configuration with six CPU cores and two GPU cores is always used. They differ mostly in clock speeds and support for Intel's Stable IT Platform Program (SIPP). Manufacturers certify the interaction of all components there; it is intended for business customers.

In the Core 3 304, one CPU performance core and one GPU core are deactivated. It also has the lowest turboclock speed at 4.3 GHz.

All six models use the same NPU, just with different clock frequencies. Additionally, all can optionally address 64 GByte of DDR5-6400 RAM or 48 GByte of LPDDR5X-7467 memory. The standard Thermal Design Power (TDP) is 15 watts, and the maximum turbo power is 35 watts.

Numerous Notebooks Planned

According to Intel, notebook manufacturers are planning over 70 designs with Wildcat Lake. The first of these are expected to be available soon. For example, Acer is launching various Aspire Go notebooks, Asus Vivobooks and Expertbooks, HP an Omnibook, Lenovo Thinkbooks, Thinkpads, Ideapads, and an Ideacentre all-in-one PC, and Samsung the Galaxy Book 6.

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