Intel launched the first products in the 12th Gen Intel® Core™ family during its “Intel Innovation event 2021” held on October 27, 2021. The new 12th Gen desktop chips (codenamed: Alder Lake) currently include six desktop processors/CPUs (Core i9-12900K, Core i9-12900KF, Core i7- 12700K, Core i7-12700KF, Core i5-12600K and Core i5-12600KF).
These 12th Gen alder lake chips are already up for pre-order in the US but customers looking for 12th Gen in laptops still have to wait for an official announcement. Let’s peak into the performance benchmarks, pricing and release date of these chips in the Indian Market.
Intel Alder Lake Key features & Benchmarks
There are a total of 60 CPUs expected from Intel’s 12th-gen range, out of which 6 standalone CPUs for desktops is launched during the “Intel Innovation event 2021”. During the event the 12th Gen Desktop Processors are unveiled to be a generation like no other before it.
With Intel’s new “performance hybrid architecture” of P-core and E-core combined with new “Intel 7 process technology“, Intel is expecting an unprecedented improvement in performance in Gaming, content creation and overall experience.
Intel Alder lake hybrid architecture splits its CPUs into two cores:
Performance-cores (P-cores): the highest performing CPU core Intel has built
- Optimized to handle single & lightly threaded performance
- Enhance gaming and productivity workload
Efficient-cores (E-cores):
- Optimized to handle scaling highly threaded workloads
- Minimize interruptions from background task management
| Processor Number | Processor core (P+E) | Processor Threads | Max Clock Speed | Max Turbo Power |
| Core i9-12900K | 16 cores (8P+8E) | 24 | 5.2GHz | 241 W |
| Core i9-12900KF | 16 cores (8P+8E) | 24 | 5.2GHz | 241 W |
| Core i7- 12700K | 12 cores (8P+4E) | 20 | 5 GHz | 190 W |
| Core i7-12700KF | 12 cores (8P+4E) | 20 | 5 GHz | 190 W |
| Core i5-12600K | 10 cores (6P+4E) | 16 | 4.9 GHz | 150 W |
| Core i5-12600KF | 10 cores (6P+4E) | 16 | 4.9 GHz | 150 W |
The flagship Core i9-12900K is marketed as the world’s best gaming processor with following gen-over-gen FPS improvement on popular PC Games:
| Troy: A Total War Saga | up to 25% more FPS |
| Hitman 3 | up to 28% more FPS |
| Far Cry 6 | up to 23% more FPS |
ALSO READ: Best Gaming Laptops Under 1 Lakh Rupees
For Content creators, Intel 12th Gen offers the following performance boost:
| photo editing | Up to 36% faster |
| video editing | Up to 32% faster |
| 3D modeling | Up to 37% faster |
| multi-frame rendering | Up to 100% faster |
Other Key platform advancements include:
- The first processors in the industry to offer DDR5 memory for up to 4800MT/s.
- The first processors in the industry to offer PCIe 5.0 (up to 16 lanes), with up to an additional four lanes of PCIe 4.0 support.
- Up to 30MB Intel Smart Cache (L3) and 14MB L2 cache for increased memory capacity with reduced latency.
- Intel Killer Wi-Fi 6E for up to 75% less latency while gaming
Intel 12th Gen Desktop CPUs Pricing India
- Core i9-12900K – $589 (approximately ₹ 44,100)
- Core i9-12900KF – $564 (approximately ₹ 42,200)
- Core i7- 12700K – $409 (approximately ₹ 30,600)
- Core i7-12700KF – $384 (approximately ₹ 28,750)
- Core i5-12600K – $289 (approximately ₹ 21,650)
- Core i5-12600KF – $264 (approximately ₹ 19,750)
Desktops which have hinted or already announced Intel 12th Gen CPUs include:
- New Acer Predator Orion 7000 desktop series
- The CORSAIR VENGEANCE i7300 Series, alongside ORIGIN NEURON, MILLENNIUM, GENESIS, M-Class, and L-Class desktops, are all available with up to an Intel Core i9-12900K processor
- Dell Alienware’s new Aurora R13
- new Dell XPS Desktop with intel 12th Gen
Unlocked 12th Gen Intel Core Desktop Processor SKUs
| Processor Number | Intel® Smart Cache (L3) | Total L2 Cache | Unlocked | Processor Graphics | Total CPU PCIe Lanes | Max Memory Speed | Memory Channels | Maximum Memory Capacity | Processor Base Power (W) | Maximum Turbo Power (W) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| i9-12900K | 30MB | 14MB | Yes | Intel® UHD Graphics 770 | 20 | DDR5 4800 MT/s DDR4 3200 MT/s | 2 | 128GB | 125 | 241 |
| i9-12900KF | 30MB | 14MB | Yes | n/a | 20 | DDR5 4800 MT/s DDR4 3200 MT/s | 2 | 128GB | 125 | 241 |
| i7-12700K | 25MB | 12MB | Yes | Intel® UHD Graphics 770 | 20 | DDR5 4800 MT/s DDR4 3200 MT/s | 2 | 128GB | 125 | 190 |
| i7-12700KF | 25MB | 12MB | Yes | n/a | 20 | DDR5 4800 MT/s DDR4 3200 MT/s | 2 | 128GB | 125 | 190 |
| i5-12600K | 20MB | 9.5MB | Yes | Intel® UHD Graphics 770 | 20 | DDR5 4800 MT/s DDR4 3200 MT/s | 2 | 128GB | 125 | 150 |
| i5-12600KF | 20MB | 9.5MB | Yes | n/a | 20 | DDR5 4800 MT/s DDR4 3200 MT/s | 2 | 128GB | 125 | 150 |