Intel’s Lunar Lake MX Revealed: On-Chip Memory Inside

Recently, Igor’s Lab released an actual photograph of the Lunar Lake MX reference platform, showcasing Intel’s innovative small chip design that incorporates LPDDR5X memory directly. Lunar Lake, a successor to Meteor Lake, will debut alongside Arrow Lake, forming part of Intel’s new client product line. Lunar Lake is engineered for low-power platforms, while Arrow Lake caters to the high-end and mainstream PC market.

Reports from earlier this year indicated that Intel had entered into a contract with Samsung, which will supply LPDDR5X for the Lunar Lake chips. Intel offers dual-channel LPDDR5X-8533 memory in 16GB and 32GB configurations, utilizing a package-on-package (PoP) approach that reduces power consumption and footprint. Compared to traditional designs, this new approach is estimated to save between 100 to 250 square millimeters of space.

Intel is set to launch at least four Lunar Lake products, including:

• Core 7 32GB – 4P+4E with 8 Xe-Cores
• Core 7 16GB – 4P+4E with 8 Xe-Cores
• Core 5 32GB – 4P+4E with 7 Xe-Cores
• Core 5 16GB – 4P+4E with 7 Xe-Cores

Lunar Lake employs the Lion Cove architecture for its P-Cores and the Skymont architecture for its E-Cores, featuring up to 4 P-Cores and 4 E-Cores, with the P-Cores no longer supporting hyper-threading technology. The integrated graphics are based on the next-generation Battlemage Xe2-LPG architecture, capable of accommodating up to 8 Xe-Cores, supporting real-time ray tracing, offering VCC/H.266 hardware video decoding, and supporting DP 1.4, HDMI 2.1, and eDP 1.4/1.5 video outputs. It integrates the next-generation NPU 4.0 neural processing unit, supports PCIe 5.0/4.0 x4 interfaces, includes Thunderbolt 4, up to three USB4 ports, and integrates Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 support through the BE201 network card based on the CNVio2 interface.

Igor’s Lab noted that Intel has been collaborating closely with Microsoft in the development of Lunar Lake MX, focusing on enhancing the interaction between software and hardware. This collaboration aims to better utilize the chip’s capabilities within new Windows operating systems. The Lunar Lake platform will offer chips ranging from 8W to 30W, with the 8W models capable of fanless operation and the 17W to 30W models designed for use with fans.