Intel announces and launches new 12th Generation Core processors aka Alder Lake-S – Cowcotland

Intel So today announces the arrival of new processors, belonging to the Alder Lake-S family. They are the 12th generation of Core processors. The latter operate a manufacturing process Intel 7 therefore in 7 nm and offer themselves a Big.Little architecture.

At first, the blues herald the desktop models rather destinations for enthusiasts. Six references will therefore arrive soon with the Core i5-12600K, Core i5-12600KF, Core i7-12700K, Core i7-12700KF, Core i9-12900K and Core i9-12900KF. All of these models feature an unlocked multiplier to facilitate overclocking. The F variations do not happen diGPU, so no UHD Graphics 770 on Xe base in these models.

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With these new processors, Intel We therefore propose Big.Little, with the use of P cores, for Performance, in Golden Cove, and E cores, for Efficient, in Gracemont. P Cores are given for a CPI up 19% from the previous generation, while E Cores match Skylake performance, while consuming 40% less. Note also that the Blues have drastically increased the L2 cache, but also the L3 cache, which is now called the Intel Smart Cache Shared and which is therefore common to the P and E cores.

Now here are the detailed specifications of the new processors coming:

The 12600K and therefore the 12600KF will therefore be in 6P + 4E, so 6 Golden Cove cores with HT and 4 Gracemont cores, therefore 16 Threads in total. The processor has 9.5 MB of L2 cache and 20 MB of L3 cache memory. For speeds, the 6P will run from 3.7 to 4.9 GHz and the 4E from 2.8 to 3.6 GHz. The TDP is 125 watts in base and 150 watts in Turbo mode.

For the 12700K and 12700KF, we will have 8P + 4E, so 8 Golden Cove cores with HT and 4 Gracemont cores, so 20 Threads in total. The processor has 12 MB of L2 cache and 25 MB of L3 cache memory The frequencies are, for the 8P of 3.6 4.9 GHz and the 4c ​​of 2.7 3.8 GHz. In Turbo Max Boost 3.0 mode, the processor will be able to climb 5.0 GHz. The TDP is 125 watts base and 190 watts in Turbo mode.

Finally, the Core i9-12900K and 12900KF offer 8P and 8E, so 8 Golden Cove cores with HT and 8 Gracemont cores, so 24 Threads in total. The processor has 20 MB of L2 cache and 30 MB of L3 cache memory. For speeds, the 8P runs at 3.2 5.1 GHz and the 8E at 2.4 3.9 GHz. In Turbo Max, the processor will be able to climb 5.2 GHz. For the TDP, we are 125 watts base and 241 in Turbo.

These new processors offer other very important new features. The first is the support for DDR4 memory in 3200, but especially DDR5 in 4800. Alder Lake-S modules are the first consumer processors in DDR5. They are also launching PCI Express 5.0. The processor indeed supports 16 lines of this type. Finally, the link between the processor and chipset goes to 8x and PCI Express 4.0.

Along with its new processors also comes a new chipset, the Z690. The latter offers PCI Express 4.0, but also PCi Express 3.0, Wifi 6, 2.5G Ethernet, 1G Ethernet, USB 3.2 gen 2.2, USB 3.2 gen 2, USB 3.2 gen 1, USB 2.0, Intel HD Audio and SATA III.

We end on the prices with the Core i9-12900K at first that will be 589 dollars. His version F without iGPU will be 564 dollars. For comparison, the 11900K and 11900KF were advertised for $ 539 and $ 513. We continue with the Core i7-12700K which will land 409 dollars in classic version and 364 dollars in version F. The 11700K and KF were, them, 399 and 374 dollars. We finish with the Core i5-12600K and 12600KF which will be offered for 289 and 264 dollars. The 11600K and 11600KF versions were $ 262 and $ 237.