Intel to Return to "LP" iGPU Variants with Xe3 iGPU Powering "Wildcat Lake" Budget CPUs

[btarunr]

With its next generation Xe3 "Celestial" graphics architecture, Intel is returning to entry-level variants of its graphics IP that lacks features such as ray tracing, Kepler_L2 found in open source driver code supporting the integrated graphics solution of the upcoming "Wildcat Lake" mobile processor. Intel is designing "Wildcat Lake" to be its new entry-level mobile processor targeting Windows notebooks and Chromebooks priced well below the $400 mark. The iGPU of this chip, while based on the next-generation Xe3 architecture, only comes with 2 Xe cores worth 32 EU (execution units), which doesn't result in any meaningful amount of shader power to back ray traced workloads.

It might be premature to call this a true "Xe3-LP" sub-architecture at this point. While the original Xe-LP architecture powering the iGPU of "Tiger Lake," "Rocket Lake," and "Alder Lake" lacks ray tracing, it also physically lacks ray tracing units, and XMX cores for advanced matrix math acceleration driving AI workloads. It's being suggested in Kepler_L2's thread that the iGPU physically has RT units and XMX cores, but these are disabled, and are essentially deadweights on the silicon.



"Wildcat Lake" is a carefully crafted silicon for entry-level notebooks, with its CPU complex featuring an interesting 6-core configuration consisting of 2 "Cougar Cove" P-cores, and 4 "Darkmont" low-power island cores. The P-cores and LP island cores don't share a common L3 cache. Interestingly, this chip is being given an Intel 4th Gen NPU with 40 TOPS, making it capable of Microsoft Copilot+ native acceleration. "Wildcat Lake" hence competes with AMD chips such as "Krackan Point 2," with its 4-core/8-thread CCX featuring one "Zen 5" and three "Zen 5c" cores, a basic RDNA 3.5 iGPU with a single WGP, but a fully-fledged 50 TOPS NPU.

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[kondamin]

Wouldn’t it be more cost effective in the long run if they just made it without those parts as they sound rather large and complex

 

[john_]

Intel Exec 1: AMD announced their "Krackan Point 2" line of cheap CPUs.
Intel Exec 2: They are slow, aren't they.
Intel Exec 1: Yes they are. They think we can't do worst than them? That arrogance! We will show them how a pathetic piece of crap in 2025 looks like. Release the Wildcat Lake!
Intel Exec 2: Yeah!!!!!

 

[kondamin]

Intel Exec 1: AMD announced their "Krackan Point 2" line of cheap CPUs.
Intel Exec 2: They are slow, aren't they.
Intel Exec 1: Yes they are. They think we can't do worst than them? That arrogance! We will show them how a pathetic piece of crap in 2025 looks like. Release the Wildcat Lake!
Intel Exec 2: Yeah!!!!!

Yeah, but still for most tasks these chips will be fine.
they need the +40tops npu though.

 

[Denver]

Intel Exec 1: AMD announced their "Krackan Point 2" line of cheap CPUs.
Intel Exec 2: They are slow, aren't they.
Intel Exec 1: Yes they are. They think we can't do worst than them? That arrogance! We will show them how a pathetic piece of crap in 2025 looks like. Release the Wildcat Lake!
Intel Exec 2: Yeah!!!!!

It should be a crime to launch quad cores in 2025, even low-end smartphones have CPUs with 8 cores.

 

[TumbleGeorge]

This will clearly be for the office, as long as the secretaries can play Word and Excel.

 

[ZoneDymo]

It should be a crime to launch quad cores in 2025, even low-end smartphones have CPUs with 8 cores.

There is nothing inherently better to 8 cores over 4 cores.
Lets see how these 4 cores do against first gen Ryzen for example.

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

Intel Exec 1: AMD announced their "Krackan Point 2" line of cheap CPUs.
Intel Exec 2: They are slow, aren't they.
Intel Exec 1: Yes they are. They think we can't do worst than them? That arrogance! We will show them how a pathetic piece of crap in 2025 looks like. Release the Wildcat Lake!
Intel Exec 2: Yeah!!!!!

What is this? A rebadged "UHD"?

 

[Six_Times]

This will clearly be for the office, as long as the secretaries can play Word and Excel.

True.