[aurareturn]

All efficiency data can be found here: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Panther-Lake-Core-Ultra-...

The most important one for efficiency is ST perf/watt. MT perf/watt is largely based on how many cores there are. You can achieve better MT perf/watt simply by having more cores (more transistors) and run them at lower clocks. Panther Lake also has an entirely new MT config with 3 tiers of cores vs 2 for Arrow Lake.

For ST perf/watt, it loses to LNL.

Keep in mind that LNL and Arrow Lake used N3B, and future N3 nodes have been much more efficient. Panther Lake CPU is also a new design which should have improved perf/watt automatically regardless of node.

Based on this, one can deduce that Intel 18A is likely a bit worse than N3B and perhaps equivalent to N4P. Keep in mind that N3B went into production in late 2022 and N4P was a 2021 node.

[deepskier]

ARL is the relevant comparison point. LNL was specifically designed and targeted for low power. It's not just the node but the design that is relevant. Even for single core perf, the design dictates which other parts of the chip can be turned off. LNL was optimized there at the expense of total performance. PTL has 1.7x-2x multi core performance vs LNL. These are apples and oranges.

[aurareturn]

When a new node is introduced, it will usually say something like "+15% at ISO power" or "-30% at ISO performance".

The fact that Panther Lake could not beat LNL on ST perf/watt is telling of the node.

PTL most likely derived its design on LNL. Overall, Arrow Lake was a complete disaster of a design. PTL was a better high performance design for sure and uses different core config for MT.