Intel’s upcoming Wildcat Lake chips have started to show up more often, and a new Geekbench listing gives us the first clear look at one SKU. The listing reveals an Intel Core 3 304, which appears to target low-power laptops and compact devices, while still delivering a strong jump in performance over earlier chips.
The leak confirms that Intel plans to position Wildcat Lake as a successor to Alder Lake-N and Twin Lake processors. At the same time, the naming drops the “Ultra” branding, which suggests Intel wants to separate this lineup from its premium chips.
According to Geekbench, the Core 3 304 runs at a 1.5 GHz base clock and boosts up to 4.3 GHz, which already marks a clear improvement for this segment.
Core configuration and performance
The chip uses a 1+4 core setup, meaning one performance core and four efficiency cores, for a total of five cores and five threads. This configuration looks unusual since earlier expectations pointed to a 2+4 setup, but the result likely reflects an early engineering sample.
The benchmark shows:
- Single-core score: 2472
- Multi-core score: 6708
These numbers show a major improvement over the Intel Core i3 N300. The new chip delivers around 86% higher single-core performance and about 49% better multi-core performance, which indicates a significant upgrade in everyday responsiveness.
The gains also come from a higher power envelope, as Wildcat Lake targets up to 15W TDP, compared to 6–7W for older Alder Lake-N chips.
Key specifications comparison
| Feature | Core 3 304 (Wildcat Lake) | Core i3 N300 (Alder Lake-N) |
|---|---|---|
| Base Clock | 1.5 GHz | Lower |
| Boost Clock | 4.3 GHz | Lower |
| Core Setup | 1P + 4E | E-cores only |
| Single-Core | 2472 | Much lower |
| Multi-Core | 6708 | Lower |
| TDP | Up to 15W | 6–7W |
Wildcat Lake shows clear progress in both architecture and performance, especially for entry-level and thin devices. The early results also suggest Intel is pushing higher clocks and better efficiency at the same time, even though final specs may change before launch.
