You don't understand anything about the names of the new processors? We explain to you

The Intel Core Ultra marked the beginning of a completely new architecture for Intel, and was also an opportunity for the company to completely change the names of its processors. So we'll explain how to find your way there.

At the end of last year, Intel has abandoned the legendary Core i3, i5 and i7 series For a completely new series of processors: Core Ultra. The chips have already arrived in a few PCs at the beginning of 2024, such as the ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED UX3405 that we were able to test.

However, this naming change could be a source of confusion for consumers, especially since Intel clearly hasn't kept the names of the new chips simple. This is the opportunity for us to explain to you How does this new Intel chatter work?

Intel Core Ultra 5, 7 or 9… How do you find your way around?

Intel has so far only lifted the veil on the new chips for laptops, but it's already giving us the chance to detail how Intel's new nomenclature works thanks to the image below.

as you see, “Intel Core Ultra” is the new name for the processors. This can already be quite confusing, since “Ultra” generally refers to high-end chips, but here we find all kinds of performance.

Then we find Processor group 5, 7, or 9. that's it Direct successors to the previous Intel Core i5, i7 and i9 processors. Concretely, the higher the number, the more powerful the processors are, because they generally use more cores.

As for The last part is the processor numberis chopped up 3 items. The first number designates Processor series. Here the lead starts with the number 1, because this is the first generation. So we should logically find the same names with the number “2” next year. He follows SKU, i.e. chip identifier. The latter is given arbitrarily by Intel. Again, the higher the number, the more efficient the processor.

For example, the Intel Core Ultra 5 125U and 135U may look identical at first glance, but the latter offers a slightly higher frequency on the CPU and GPU, which will provide better performance.

The last letter is one of the most important things to check

finally, The processor number is completed with the suffixIt is a letter that has a very important meaning, because Shows what to expect from the power of the processor. The “U” versions, for example, are the most energy efficient in the series, and will generally be installed in ultraportable computers.

The “H” suffix indicates faster chipsets that can use more power for better performance. Its power is up to 45W for Core 9, so it will reduce your computer's battery life more quickly. This is what we generally find in the most powerful laptops, such as gaming PCs, but we could soon see the arrival of more powerful, overclockable “HX” versions.

The problem is that Intel announced that its SKUs will be reused between series. We can then finally find the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H and the Core Ultra 9 185U. Here, only the last letter lets you know what type of chip you are dealing with.e., which forces you to pay close attention to the full name of the chips.

Desktop processors have not been released yet, but we already know that these chips will have to use other suffixes. The American giant could take off significantly Intel Core Ultra 9 185K or Intel Core Ultra 9 195K chipThe letter K indicates that the chip can be overclocked.