Intel discreetly introduced the Wildcat Lake Core Series 3 CPUs at CES 2026 with some high-level specifications, but no part numbers or exact CPU, GPU, and NPU frequencies. Some leaks reveal more details about the Wildcat Lake parts, notably the Intel Core 3 304 penta-core processor, for which we also have some benchmarks.
Intel Wildcat Lake SKUs
The data below comes from a post by Jaykihn on X.
| Intel Core 3 304 | Intel Core 5 315 | Intel Core 5 320 | Intel Core 5 330 | Intel Core 7 350 | Intel Core 7 360 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TDP (Base / Turbo) | 15 / 35 W |
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| Core Count | 1P + 4LPE | 2P + 4LPE |
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| Base Freq. (P/E) | 1.5/1.4 GHz |
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| Turbo Freq. (1P/2P/LPE) | 4.3/N/A/3.3 GHz | 4.4/4.3/3.3 GHz | 4.6/4.5/3.4 GHz | 4.8/4.7/3.6 GHz |
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| Graphics | 1x Xe3 @ 2.3 GHz, 9 TOPS | 2x Xe3 @ 2.3 GHz, 18 TOPS | 2x Xe3 @ 2.5 GHz, 20 TOPS | 2x Xe3 @ 2.6 GHz, 21 TOPS |
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| NPU | 15 TOPS | 16 TOPS | 17 TOPS |
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| L3 Cache | 6MB |
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| SIPP | No | Yes | No | Yes |
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While we have six SKUs in the table above, the Intel Core 5 320/330 and Core 7 350/360 only differ in terms of SIPP (Intel Stable IT Platform Program) support. SIPP is an enterprise initiative that ensures that key platform components, such as processors, chipsets, graphics, storage, networking, and wireless, remain consistent with minimal or no changes for a guaranteed period.
The GPU turbo clocks are much higher than in Alder Lake-N/Twin Lake chips (typically 1 GHz to 1.35 GHz), and LPDDR5x is clocked up to 7467 MT/s in Wildcat Lake processors, so we should expect much better graphics and AI performance, notwithstanding the extra 15-17 TOPS NPU.
Intel Core 3 304 GeekBench 6.5 benchmark
Besides the SKUs above, VideoCardz also noted GeekBench 6.5 benchmark results for an Intel Core 3 304-based “Wildcat Lake Client Platform” running Windows 11 Pro.
This confirms the penta-core (1P+4LPE) CPU at 1.5 GHz from the leak above. It’s significantly faster than Intel Alder Lake-N platforms (N95, N97, N100, Core i3-N305..). See the penta-core Core 3 304 Wildcat Lake CPU pitted against an octa-core Core i3-N305 Alder Lake-N CPU in the screenshot below.
Single-core performance is almost twice as fast, and multi-core performance is 20% faster despite having three fewer cores. Intel didn’t run GeekBench GPU on the Wildcat Lake platform, but we should expect 2 to 3 times greater 3D graphics performance.
Intel Core 3 304 specifications
If we gather all the details we know so far, the specifications of the Intel Core 3 304 should look like:
- CPU – Penta-core processor with 1x Cougar Cover P-core @ 1.5 GHz / 4.3 GHz (Turbo), 4x Darkmont LPE-cores @ 1.4 GHz / 3.3 GHz (Turbo)
- GPU – 1x Xe-core Intel Xe3 graphics @ 2.3 GHz Turbo (9 TOPS)
- AI accelerator – Intel NPU 5 @ 3.8 GHz Turbo (15 TOPS)
- Cache – 64KB L1 I-Cache per core, 32KB L1 D-Cache per core, 4MB L2 cache, 6MB L3 cache
- System Memory
- Up to 7467 MT/s LPDDR5x
- Up to 6400 MT/s DDR5
- USB/Thunderbolt
- Up to 2x Thunderbolt 4
- 2x USB 3.2
- 8x USB 2.0
- PCIe – 6 lanes PCIe Gen4
- TDP/PBP – 15W (MTP: 35W)
- Manufacturing Process – Intel 18A
I’m less sure about the maximum number of USB interfaces and PCIe lanes, since those may be for the higher-end SKUs.
Historically, mini PCs based on entry-level Intel processors launch for about $200 with memory and storage, before some drift lower to $150 depending on the exact specifications. Sadly, I don’t think it will be the case this year with Wildcat Lake mini PCs due to the RAM situation, and “affordable/cheap” in 2026 might translate into a complete system going for around $400.
Thanks to Anonymous for the tip.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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From this point anyone buying Intel is knowingly funding and abetting the spread of US fascism. Intel and its board should not have allowed Trump takeover and instead sued for all the billions owed to them already promised in public for building new fabs. But Intel didn’t and that is on them for allowing to be politicized. Time for the world to dump Intel chips into the harbor.
Dump chips into the harbor, in this economy? Hah. Give them to me and I’ll forget to do it for you.
WTF? Get out of here, political hack.
You really believe in the fairy tale that consumer choices matter? Please. It’s a myth
Who buys Intel processors nowadays?
15W TDP / 35W turbo is apparently identical to an i3-N305, which Wikipedia thinks has a base/PL1 of 15W and PL2 of 35W. I would be surprised if these can’t be configured down to lower power levels and we don’t see some fanless products using Wildcat Lake. Yes, even with P-cores.
A CrossMark entry listed a Core 3 310 (with both P-cores) that wasn’t included in this leak. So more SKUs may pop up later. I’m wondering if Intel will do a 300-303 without any P-cores (and L3 cache). Like an Intel Processor N50 replacement.
This could be the first time that there has been a larger single-threaded performance increase than multi-threaded in a product segment, unless we look back to the dawn of hyperthreading, I guess.
LPE turbos are nearby many of the Alder Lake-N chips, except there are major IPC increases going from Gracemont to Darkmont. The P-core turbos in this leak are actually higher than some of the lowest 2/4+4 Panther Lake chips. The Intel Core Ultra 7 365 also clocks at up to 4.8 GHz. This may help Intel justify using “Core 7” naming on “cheap” Wildcat Lake chips.
Nice to see dual channel ram support coming back.
It’s not coming back with Wildcat Lake AFAIK. “If” is doing very heavy lifting on that line.
The good news is that with DDR4 support jettisoned, almost any Wildcat Lake box you pick up should have reasonably high memory bandwidth. The bad news is that you won’t be finding complete WCL systems for $100-150 anytime soon.
We’ve seen Alder Lake-N working with 64 GB in single channel. It would be very funny if someone gets a single 128 GB CQDIMM (look it up) working with Wildcat Lake.
I’ve removed the “if dual-channel” part. I vaguely remember dual-channel would be support by Wildcat Lake, but looking into it’s clearly not.
I wish Intel hadn’t given up on sub-15W TDP. You can make a much quieter media PC with 6W TDP CPU.
Amen
I have an Acer Aspire XC with a 65W chip that is practically silent during browsing or media playback. The fan size and speed is going to make a difference, but I don’t think this level of power draw is a big deal.
These 15/35W base/turbo TDPs match the Core i3-N305. That part could be officially configured down to 9W. The Core i3-N300 was the exact same silicon, but with 7W TDP and 25W PL2.
Wildcat Lake may be intended to use more power, but it could come down to Intel/your BIOS allowing you to change the behavior of the chip. And they may be consolidating SKUs previously distinguished only by TDP. Remember how AMD’s Zen 4 mobile mainly had 15-30W “U” SKUs and 35-54W “H/HS” SKUs? With Zen 5, they dropped those letters and switched to 15-54W for most of the SKUs. For all we know, Intel could be doing the same thing, and all of these could have a lower cTDP.
Until Intel deigns to give us more information, all we can do is speculate and ponder the leaks.
A leaked Advantech MIO-5356 datasheet describes three Wildcat Lake parts as having 15W TDPs, but also says “(10W~28W)” on the block diagram. It is likely you will be able to configure all parts to run at a 10W TDP.
An Advantech MIO-5356 datasheet leaked out, confirming the Core 7 350, Core 5 320, and a new one, the Core 3 305. The 305 has both P-cores but loses a graphics core. I’d prefer to lose a P-core while keeping the full graphics.
It mistakenly lists dual-channel memory support, but the CPU/GPU clock speeds line up exactly with this leak. There’s a block diagram showing details about the I/O, which could be revealing what you can get aside from the 6x PCIe 4.0 lanes, but I don’t know how to interpret it.
The information is preliminary and may be subject to change.
Great news, N100 chips were pretty good for home servers and now we get a huge bump in the graphics and with an dedicated NPU !
The single-thread and graphics performance boosts are the stars of the show, and will be amazing for the segment. But the reduction in PCIe lane count could make it unsuitable for some servers.
NPUs have not been very interesting, and this is a slower one at 15-17 TOPS, comparable to Hawk Point XDNA1.
There will be uses for the NPU, but they could be difficult to find. It’s slower than any instance of 2x Xe3 graphics. If the application can combine them, great. Gaming NPU use case is pretty much a no-go. Microsoft’s “Automatic Super Resolution” upscaler can use an NPU, but they are asking for 40 TOPS.