Intel has officially unveiled its highly anticipated family of 12th Gen Intel Core “Alder Lake-S” processors with new hybrid performance architecture leveraging Performance-cores (P-cores) and Efficient-cores (E-cores). At the top of the stack is the Intel Core i9-12900K, a flagship CPU that boasts 16 cores, 24 threads, and a max turbo boost of up to 5.2 GHz. Pricing starts at $264 to $589, with availability beginning November 4.
From Intel:
Available with up to 16 cores and 24 threads, the new 12th Gen Intel Core processor family includes the world’s best gaming processor, the Core i9-12900K, unleashing gaming experiences across top titles. The Core i9-12900K provides amazing gen-over-gen performance increases, including up to 25% more FPS on Troy: A Total War Saga, up to 28% more FPS on Hitman 3, and up to 23% more FPS on Far Cry 6. Enhanced by Intel Killer Wi-Fi 6E for up to 75% less latency while gaming when multitasking, high-frequency P-cores paired with E-cores for offloading parallel tasks enable up to 84% more frames per second for simultaneous gaming, streaming, and recording.
Unlocked 12th Gen Intel Core Desktop Processor SKUs
Key platform advancements:
- The first processors in the industry to offer DDR5 memory for up to 4800 MT/s.
- The first processors in the industry to offer PCIe 5.0 (up to 16 lanes), which offers up to 2X I/O throughput over PCIe 4.0, with up to an additional four lanes of PCIe 4.0 support.
- Up to 30 MB Intel Smart Cache (L3) and 14 MB L2 cache for increased memory capacity with reduced latency.
- Integrated high-speed wireless with Intel Killer Wi-Fi 6E, which combines industry-leading Wi-Fi 6E connectivity with powerful gaming network technology to minimize lag, latency, and packet loss.
- Discrete Thunderbolt 4 universal cable connectivity for external device expansion.
“The performance hybrid architecture of 12th Gen Intel Core processors is an architectural shift made possible by close co-engineering of software and hardware that will deliver new levels of leadership performance for generations,” said Gregory Bryant, Intel executive vice president and general manager of the Client Computing Group. “This begins with the arrival of our flagship Core i9-12900K – the world’s best gaming processor – and you will see even more incredible experiences as we ship the rest of the 12th Gen family and beyond.”
Source: Intel