Intel's Panther Lake: Core Ultra X7 358H reportedly 15% slower than its predecessor in early tests

Intel's Panther Lake: Early Benchmarks Show a Disappointing Performance Dip

The much-anticipated Intel Core Ultra 200 series processors, which notably lacked significant performance gains over their predecessors, seem to be setting a precedent. Recent preliminary benchmarks for the upcoming Core Ultra X7 358H, codenamed Panther Lake, suggest a troubling trend: a step backward in performance when compared to existing Core Ultra 7 processors. While it's crucial to approach these early results with a degree of skepticism—engineers might be testing pre-production silicon or non-final configurations—the data currently available paints a concerning picture.

PassMark, a benchmark often regarded as a more reliable indicator for unreleased processors than, say, Geekbench, has surfaced with some sobering figures. The Core Ultra X7 358H is reportedly 15% slower than its current closest counterpart, the Core Ultra 7 265H, in raw CPU performance. Adding to the dismay, its integrated graphics (iGPU) lag behind by a significant 23% when compared to a mobile NVIDIA RTX 3050.

Core Ultra X7 358H: A Closer Look at the Numbers

The specific scores from the PassMark database reveal the Core Ultra X7 358H achieving 4,282 points in single-thread performance and 29,426 points in its multi-threaded test. These figures align with previous leaks suggesting a 16-core configuration (4 performance-cores + 8 efficiency-cores + 4 low-power cores) and 18MB of L3 cache, though clock speeds remain under wraps for now. Interestingly, the single-core performance appears to be lower than that of the Core Ultra 7 255H and 265H, which scored 4,347 and 4,433 respectively. In the multi-threaded arena, the X7 358H trails the 255H by 4% and the 265H by the aforementioned 15%.

Integrated Graphics: Falling Short of Expectations

The integrated graphics performance of the 358H, identified as Intel Arc B390 based on the Xe3 architecture, has also been a talking point. It garnered 9,339 points in its benchmark run. This result places it in the ballpark of a desktop NVIDIA GTX 1650 Super. However, when juxtaposed against a mobile RTX 3050, the Arc B390 is demonstrably slower, lagging by 23%. This starkly contrasts with some earlier benchmarks where the Arc B390 seemed to hold its own against an RTX 3050 Ti mobile GPU, hinting at potential inconsistencies or specific testing scenarios.

A Pattern of Stagnation?

While the preliminary nature of these tests cannot be overstated—driver optimizations and engineering sample variations can significantly influence outcomes—the recurring theme of diminishing returns, or even performance regressions, is becoming increasingly hard to ignore. Following the underwhelming uplift in the previous generation, this trend for Intel's upcoming Panther Lake processors, slated for a January 2026 release, is indeed disheartening. Investors and consumers alike will be eagerly awaiting more conclusive data, hoping that Intel can course-correct and deliver a meaningful leap in performance rather than merely iterating on existing architectures.