Intel was one of the most active companies at CES 2021, announcing no fewer than four new families of processors. Among them was 12th-gen desktop chips, codenamed ‘Alder Lake’.
More than nine months later, the first six Alder Lake CPUs finally launched at Intel’s Innovation event. They’re now available to buy, although you’ll be waiting a bit longer for a successor to Tiger Lake in laptops. Here’s everything you need to know about the next generation of Intel silicon.
Intel Unveils 12th Gen Intel Core, Launches World’s Best Gaming Processor, i9-12900K
When was Intel Alder Lake released? What’s still to come?
Intel began teasing details of its 12th-gen chips at CES in January 2021 and revealed lots more at its Architecture Day in July. But it wasn’t until the company’s Innovation Event on 27 October that any CPUs actually launched.
This first batch of desktop processors (known as Alder Lake-S) is now available to buy, having been released on 4 November.
However, it’s not clear how long we’ll be waiting for the chips that are integrated into laptops and other mobile devices. We’re also expecting Alder Lake-P for laptops and Alder Lake-M for other mobile devices, and Intel mentioned both during the launch event.
There’s no timeframe on their release yet, though – there’s a chance it’ll be CES 2022 in January, but that’s only speculation at this stage. Either way, a successor to Tiger Lake is overdue.
A total of 60 new CPUs are expected over the next few months, so a gradual rollout is to be expected.
Intel 12th Gen “Alder Lake” Key Improvements
The combination of Intel’s new performance hybrid architecture and new Intel 7 process technology delivers improved single-threaded and multi-threaded performance to enable:
The World’s Best Gaming Processor
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 63. Enhanced by Intel® Killer™ Wi-Fi 6E for up to 75% less latency while gaming when multitasking4, 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.
A Leap in Content Creation Performance
Advancements in multi-threaded performance, the responsive performance of the P-cores and the ability to move data at incredible speeds with DDR5 enable leadership across all types of content creation experiences, including:
- Up to 36% faster photo editing performance6
- Up to 32% faster video editing performance7
- Up to 37% faster 3D modeling performance8
- Up to 100% faster multi-frame rendering9
- The Best Overclocking Experience10: The new processors offer industry-leading overclocking tools for the ultimate performance customization, including the ability to overclock Efficient-cores and DDR5 memory. Enthusiasts and gamers can try these new platform overclocking features as part of the latest Intel® Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU) 7.5. Starting with the Core i9-12900K, XTU will also support one-click overclocking with Intel Speed Optimizer for unlocked 12th Gen processors. Further, Intel introduced the latest Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) 3.0 with support for DDR5, offering additional profiles, including new rewriteable custom profiles and flexible tuning for memory overclocking.
12TH GEN INTEL® CORE™ DESKTOP PROCESSORS SPECIFICATIONS
Intel® Core™ i9-12900K & i9-12900KF* | Intel® Core™ i7-12700K & i7-12700KF4* | Intel® Core™ i5-12600K & i5-12600KF4* | |
Max Turbo Frequency [GHz] | Up to 5.2 | Up to 5.0 | Up to 4.9 |
Intel® Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 Frequency [GHz] | Up to 5.2 | Up to 5.0 | n/a |
Single P-core Turbo Frequency [GHz] | Up to 5.1 | Up to 4.9 | Up to 4.9 |
Single E-core Turbo Frequency [GHz] | Up to 3.9 | Up to 3.8 | Up to 3.6 |
P-core Base Frequency [GHz] | 3.2 | 3.6 | 3.7 |
E-core Base Frequency [GHz] | 2.4 | 2.7 | 2.8 |
Processor Cores (P-cores + E-cores) | 16 (8P + 8E) | 12 (8P + 4E) | 10 (6P + 4E) |
Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology5 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Total Processor Threads | 24 | 20 | 16 |
Intel® Thread Director1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Intel® Smart Cache (L3) Size [MB] | 30 | 25 | 20 |
Total L2 Cache Size [MB] | 14 | 12 | 9.5 |
Max Memory Speed [MT/s] | Up to DDR5 4800 Up to DDR4 3200 | Up to DDR5 4800 Up to DDR4 3200 | Up to DDR5 4800 Up to DDR4 3200 |
Number of Memory Channels | 2 | 2 | 2 |
CPU PCIe 5.0 Lanes | 16 | 16 | 16 |
CPU PCIe 4.0 Lanes | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Enhanced Intel® UHD Graphics driven by Xe Architecture | Intel® UHD Graphics 770 | Intel® UHD Graphics 770 | Intel® UHD Graphics 770 |
Graphics Dynamic Frequency [MHz] | Up to 1550 | Up to 1500 | Up to 1450 |
Processor P-core/E-core/Graphics/ Memory Overclocking3 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Intel® Quick Sync Video | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Intel® Deep Learning Boost (Intel® DL Boost) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Intel® Advanced Vector Extensions 2 (Intel® AVX2) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Intel® Gaussian and Neural Accelerator (GNA) 3.0 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Intel® Virtualization Technology (Intel® VT-x / VT-d) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Mode-based Execution Control (MBEC) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Intel® Threat Detection Technology (Intel® TDT) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Intel® Control-Flow Enforcement Technology (Intel® CET) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Intel® Advanced Encryption Standard New Instructions (Intel® AES-NI) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Intel® BIOS Guard | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Intel® Boot Guard | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Intel® OS Guard | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Intel® Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller Virtualization (Intel® APIC-v) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Intel® Secure Key | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Intel® Platform Trust Technology (Intel® PTT) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
All–New Intel 600 Series Chipset
Alongside the 12th Gen Intel Core desktop processors, Intel is launching the new Intel 600 Series Chipset with advanced features for increased reliability and performance. New PCIe Gen 4.0 lanes make for 28 total lanes off the chipset, integrated USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 provides up to double the bandwidth, DMI Gen 4.0 increases the chipset to CPU throughput for fast access to peripheral devices and networking.
For the first time, Intel is bringing Intel® Volume Management Device (VMD) to PC chipsets to simplify storage control by allowing direct control and management of NVMe-based SSDs from the PCIe bus without additional RAID controllers or other hardware adaptors.
Intel 12th Gen “Alder Lake” CPU Price in Nepal:
Intel 12th gen CPU | Price in the US | Price in Nepal |
i9-12900K | USD 649 | NPR 1,05,000 Buy Here! |
i9-12900KF | USD 564 | NPR 94,000 (Expected) |
i7-12700K | USD 449 | NPR 72,000 Buy Here! |
i7-12700KF | USD 384 | NPR 65,000 (Expected) |
i5-12600K | USD 299 | NPR 49,999 Buy Here |
i5-12600KF | USD 264 | NPR 40,000 (Expected) |
Where to buy Intel 12th Gen Desktop Processors/CPU in Nepal ?
You can buy Intel 12th Gen Desktop Processors from Aliteq Store (Click here). You can also fully build your custom PC (online or offline) from the store with the latest Intel processors and Z690 Chipset Motherboards, available in the Nepalese market.
When will Intel 12th Gen “Alder Lake” CPUs be available in Nepal?
Intel 12th Gen Desktop Processors will be available from Mid-November of 2021 in the Nepalese market. Our online store will be updated on the availability of the latest processors, so stick with us