Intel's Next-Gen Xe3 Celestial GPU For Panther Lake Breaks Cover With Early Benchmarks

We're tentatively looking forward to the launch of Intel's second-generation Arc graphics cards (codenamed "Battlemage") with earned enthusiasm, as the showing from the Xe2-based integrated GPU in the Core Ultra 200V "Lunar Lake" processors was quite strong. Despite the fact that discrete Battlemage hasn't arrived yet, we're already seeing leaks regarding the next-generation Xe3 architecture.

Today's leak comes from the SiSoftware Sandra benchmark database, where X / Twitter user Tomasz Gawronski spotted an entry for an Intel Panther Lake CPU in the GPGPU benchmark section. Predictably, the test was run on the Panther Lake chip's integrated GPU, which Sandra describes as having 32 CUs. That actually refers to the number of XVEs in the GPU, and 32 XVEs almost assuredly means four Xe3 cores.


The score is in approximately the same ballpark as the extant Arrow Lake desktop processors. That might not sound impressive considering that those chips also use four Xe-Cores, but remember that we're comparing a high-powered desktop chip to a low-power laptop part. Not only that, but it's very early days for Panther Lake; these chips aren't expected to hit the market until the second half of next year.

While Intel confirmed for us that the Xe2 architecture in the Core Ultra 200V "Lunar Lake" parts is identical to the Xe2 architecture used in Battlemage, that may not necessarily be the case for Celestial. We say that because of a post on LinkedIn, spotted by X / Twitter user Haze:


The LinkedIn post, now deleted, described work on Xe+, Xe3, and Xe3p graphics architectures. Xe+ isn't an official architecture descriptor we've seen Intel use, but we can presume that it probably refers to later versions of the first-generation Xe architecture, like that used in the Meteor Lake and Arrow Lake GPU tiles.

Xe3p, on the other hand, is a complete mystery. We can infer that it probably refers to a specific variant or modification of the Xe3 architecture, although whether it means "Panther", "power", or "performance"—or something else entirely—is anyone's guess.

Intel's CEO Gelsinger made comments recently that made some lose hope for the future of Intel discrete graphics, but clearly the company isn't stopping its graphics development anytime soon. For the sake of the market, let's hope Battlemage is competitive when it launches, likely next month.