Published in PC Hardware

Intel's coming chips will run rather hot

by on17 July 2024


A toasty 105 degrees Celsius

Chipzilla's coming chips will run hotter than Eva Green running in the London Marathon after eating a Vindaloo.

According to a leak by the blogger Jaykihn, Intel has apparently cranked up the maximum thermal junction (TJMax) temperature for its upcoming processors codenamed Arrow Lake and Panther Lake. These chips are now set to tolerate a toasty 105 degrees Celsius.

Tom's Hardware points out Intel’s processors hang out at a maximum thermal junction temperature of 100 degrees Celsius. That’s the case for chips like Alder Lake and Raptor Lake, and it’s expected to continue with the next-gen Lunar Lake processors. Intel’s Core Ultra (also known as Meteor Lake) processors play it a bit hotter—they’re strutting their stuff at either 105 or 110 degrees Celsius, depending on the version. Arrow Lake and Panther Lake CPUs seem to be joining the same temperature party.

TJMax is essentially the red line—the highest temperature a processor can hit before it starts panicking and activates internal thermal controls. These controls throttle down performance to prevent meltdown. For laptop CPUs, the usual TJMax hangs around 100 degrees Celsius, while desktop CPUs sometimes push it to 110 degrees Celsius.

System builders need to design setups that keep the processor below this threshold during heavy-duty tasks. It’s like teaching your laptop to sip its tea rather than gulp it down during a marathon of computational gymnastics. The good news is that notebooks based on Meteor Lake, Arrow Lake, and Panther Lake CPUs will apparently maintain peak performance even when they’re sweating under heavy loads.

If your laptop’s CPU decides to sunbathe at 100 to 105 degrees Celsius for extended periods, things might get a tad uncomfortable. So, this increase in TJMax suggests that Intel’s silicon is feeling confident about surviving the heat without turning into a crispy chip.

Apparently, Jaykin spilled the beans on what looks like a blueprint for the Panther Lake-H and Panther Lake-U processors. Compute, Graphics, platform connectivity hub, and two passive dies—all neatly arranged. The Panther Lake-U CPUs are said to flaunt up to four high-performance cores, four ultra-low-power cores, four Xe GPU clusters, and a power budget of 15 watts.

Meanwhile, the beefier Panther Lake-U processor struts its stuff with up to four high-performance cores, eight energy-efficient cores, four ultra-low-power cores, and 12 Xe graphics clusters. The heat dissipation for these CPUs can reach up to 25 watts.

Last modified on 17 July 2024
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