Core Ultra 9 386H, 128GB DDR5, and 16W Idle Power: Maxsun Unveils Intel Panther Lake and Wildcat Lake MoDT Motherboards
After previewing early prototypes at Computex 2026, hardware manufacturer Maxsun has finalized the full technical specifications for two MoDT (Mobile on Desktop) motherboards scheduled to launch in November 2026: the Maxsun SK-PTLNAS and the Maxsun SK-WCLAIO. By soldering Intel Core Ultra Series 3 mobile processors (Panther Lake and Wildcat Lake) directly onto desktop-style PCBs packed with enterprise-grade networking and storage headers, Maxsun targets homelab builders, dedicated game server hosts, and compact low-power PC enthusiasts.
Maxsun SK-PTLNAS: Up to Core Ultra 9 386H, 128GB DDR5, and 5 M.2 NVMe Slots
Leading the lineup is the Maxsun SK-PTLNAS, built on a standard Micro-ATX footprint (244 x 244 mm) with a white PCB. While early June listings mentioned options up to a Core Ultra X9 388H, the finalized retail specification tops out with the Intel Core Ultra 9 386H from the Panther Lake family. This 16-core processor (4 Performance cores, 8 Efficient cores, and 4 Low-Power Island cores) integrates a 4-core Xe3 GPU, operating at a 25W base power with turbo boosts reaching up to 80W.
To feed this Intel 18A-based SoC at a time when the broader industry is navigating tightening motherboard PCB and component supply chains, the board provides two SO-DIMM slots supporting up to 128GB of DDR5-7200 memory. Storage and I/O expansion rival full-sized workstation boards:
- 5x M.2 NVMe slots (two PCIe 5.0 x2, one PCIe 4.0 x2, and two PCIe 4.0 x1), plus a separate M.2 2230 slot dedicated to a Wi-Fi module.
- 3x Mini-SAS (SFF-8643) connectors capable of driving up to 12 SATA hard drives or SSDs for high-capacity storage arrays.
- 1x PCIe 5.0 x8 slot (physical x16 length) for adding a discrete graphics card, AI accelerator, or high-speed fiber NIC.
- Quad Ethernet ports featuring one 10GbE port, one 2.5GbE port, and two 1GbE ports, alongside two Thunderbolt 4 (40Gbps) ports with display output.
Maxsun MoDT & Mini-ITX Motherboards (Intel Series)
- Onboard CPU up to Intel Core Ultra 9 386H (16 cores, 4 Xe3, 25-80W)
- Up to 128GB DDR5-7200 SO-DIMM, 5x M.2 NVMe, and 3x Mini-SAS SFF-8643
- 10GbE + 2.5GbE + 2x 1GbE LAN, Dual Thunderbolt 4, and PCIe 5.0 x8 slot
Maxsun SK-WCLAIO: Ultra-Compact Wildcat Lake Board Drawing 16W in Standby
Alongside the Micro-ATX flagship, the Maxsun SK-WCLAIO undergoes a major redesign compared to its June prototype. Shrinking down to a compact 90 x 165 mm board, it runs on Intel's Wildcat Lake architecture with the six-core Intel Core 7 350 (2 Performance cores and 4 Low-Power Island cores) paired with a 2-core Xe3 GPU tailored for hardware media transcoding and always-on container workloads.
Despite its miniature footprint, the SK-WCLAIO packs 1TB of onboard UFS 3.1 storage soldered directly onto the board, four M.2 slots (sharing bandwidth due to Wildcat Lake's limited PCIe lane count), and a single SO-DIMM slot supporting up to 48GB of DDR5-6400 RAM, aligning well with the expanded memory tiers seen across next-generation Intel platforms. Maxsun rates the system at just 45W under active load and 16W with drives in standby, powered via either a 12V DC barrel jack or USB-C Power Delivery. Both motherboards officially support Windows 11 and Ubuntu ahead of their November 2026 retail rollout.
My Take on the Spec Sheet
MoDT motherboards built around soldered mobile silicon have quietly become one of the best hardware segments for PC gamers who run dedicated game servers (Minecraft, Palworld, Assetto Corsa) alongside a 10GbE home NAS and media server without paying for a power-hungry desktop tower 24/7. Combining 16 Panther Lake cores at a 25W base TDP with 128GB of DDR5, five M.2 slots, three Mini-SAS headers, and a PCIe 5.0 x8 slot makes the Maxsun SK-PTLNAS a standout homelab foundation, while the 16W standby draw on the compact SK-WCLAIO is ideal for an always-on node. Everything will come down to retail pricing later this month: if Maxsun wants to send over a review sample so we can benchmark multi-drive NVMe throughput and wall power draw, our lab doors are wide open.
PC hardware enthusiast and competitive gamer, Arthur 'Heimdall' splits his time between France and the UK working in enterprise B2B software solutions. A business school graduate passionate about component benchmarking, he has been building, modding, and tuning PCs since childhood, optimizing every thermal degree and millisecond of display latency. An avid gamer across Assassin's Creed and sandbox titles, he forged his alliance with Grimtag and Chaya during late-night World of Warcraft raids before joining Pro-Gamer.
