Intel 12th Gen Core Alder Lake for Desktops: Top SKUs Only, Coming November 4th
by Dr. Ian Cutress on October 27, 2021 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
- Intel
- DDR4
- DDR5
- PCIe 5.0
- Alder Lake
- Intel 7
- 12th Gen Core
- Z690
Performance
I’m not a big one on posting first-party benchmark results, but the high-level overview from Intel was this:
- At 3.3 GHz, 12900K is +19% better in Single Thread Performance over the 11900K
- Over the 11900K, the 12900K is +19% better at 1080p High with RTX 3090
- Over the 11900K, the 12900K gets +84% better fps when concurrently streaming
- Over the 11900K, the 12900K is +22-100% better in content creation (Adobe)
- Over the 11900K, the 12900K is +50% faster in BlenderMT at 241W (vs 250W)
- Over the 11900K, the 12900K performs the same in BlenderMT at only 65W (vs 250W)
All of Intel’s tests were using Windows 11, with DDR5-4400 vs DDR4-3200. Intel did have a small one slide of comparisons against AMD in gaming with an RTX 3090, however they stated they were done without the latest L3 patch fix, and admitted that they would have preferred to show us full results. By the time this article goes live, we may have seen those results at Intel’s event.
This is a reasonable set of data, very focused on the Core i9, but when the reviews come out we’ll be able to see where it sits compared to the other parts, as well as the competition. The only thing that concerns me right now leading up to the launch is the behavior of demoting workloads to E-cores when not in focus when on the Balanced Power Plan (mentioned on the Thread Director page). It won’t be until I get hands-on with the hardware as to whether I see it as an issue or not.
Another factor to mention is DRM. Intel has made statements to this, but there is an issue with Denuvo as it uses part of the CPU configuration to identify systems to stop piracy. Due to the hybrid nature, Denuvo might register starting on a different core (P vs E) as a new system, and eventually lock you out of the game either temporarily or permanently. Out of the top 200 games, around 20 are affected and Intel says it still has a couple more to fix. It’s working with Denuvo for a high-level fix from their side, and with developers to fix from their end as well. Intel says it’s a bit harder with older titles, especially when there’s no development going on, or the IP is far away from its original source. A solution to this would be to only launch those games on specific cores, but look out for more updates as time marches on.
Conclusions
Well, it’s almost here. It looks like Intel will take the ST crown, although MT is a bit of a different story, and might rely explicitly on the software being used or if the difference in performance is worth the price. The use of the hybrid architecture might be an early pain point, and it will be interesting to see if Thread Director remains resilient to the issues. The bump up to Windows 11 is also another potential rock in the stream, and we’re seeing some teething issues from users, although right now users who are looking to early adopt a new CPU are likely more than ready to adopt a new version of Windows at the same time.
The discourse on DDR4 vs DDR5 is one I’ve had for almost a year now. Memory vendors seem ready to start seeding kits to retailers, however the expense over DDR4 is somewhat eyewatering. The general expectation is that DDR5 won’t offer much performance uplift over a good kit of DDR4, or might even be worse. The benefit of DDR5 then at this point is more to start on that DDR5 ladder, where the only way to go is up. This will be Intel’s last DDR4 platform on desktop it seems.
On the processors themselves, the Core i5 and Core i7 parts look very competitive and in line with respective popular AMD processors. Both the Core i5 and Core i7 have extra E-cores, so we’ll see if that comes in handy for extra performance, or they’ll just end up burning power and performance per watt needs re-examining. The Core i9 challenge is probably sided on Intel for single thread, but all the questions will be over proper multi-threaded performance.
Intel 12th Gen Core, Alder Lake | |||||||||
AnandTech | Cores P+E/T |
E-Core Base |
E-Core Turbo |
P-Core Base |
P-Core Turbo |
IGP | Base W |
Turbo W |
Price $1ku |
i9-12900K | 8+8/24 | 2400 | 3900 | 3200 | 5200 | 770 | 125 | 241 | $589 |
i9-12900KF | 8+8/24 | 2400 | 3900 | 3200 | 5200 | - | 125 | 241 | $564 |
i7-12700K | 8+4/20 | 2700 | 3800 | 3600 | 5000 | 770 | 125 | 190 | $409 |
i7-12700KF | 8+4/20 | 2700 | 3800 | 3600 | 5000 | - | 125 | 190 | $384 |
i5-12600K | 6+4/20 | 2800 | 3600 | 3700 | 4900 | 770 | 125 | 150 | $289 |
i5-12600KF | 6+4/20 | 2800 | 3600 | 3700 | 4900 | - | 125 | 150 | $264 |
After not much CPU news for a while, it’s time to get in gear and find out what Intel has been cooking. Come back on November 4th for our review.
395 Comments
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boozed - Wednesday, October 27, 2021 - link
Preordering CPUs now, what a time to be alive.Gigaplex - Wednesday, October 27, 2021 - link
I bought my Zen 3 from retail on the day of launch without preordering.Spunjji - Thursday, October 28, 2021 - link
"Unfortunately the days are over of waiting for reviews"Only for a fool
"Im not making that mistake again."
Just before you said you're still on Zen 1... derp.
shady28 - Thursday, October 28, 2021 - link
Already happening with Alder Lake too, pre-orders opened up yesterday afternoon at places like Best Buy and mostly sold out in minutes. 12900K / KF and 12600KF pre-orders are sold out on Newegg, leaving the 12700K 12600K and 12700KF.Qasar - Thursday, October 28, 2021 - link
being sold out is meaningless, until it is confirmed how many were available TO pre order. for all any one knows there could of been only a few hundred available. if thatjust checked one store here, and you can still pre order the 12th gen cpus.
Spunjji - Friday, October 29, 2021 - link
Who cares. Wait a few more weeks, there'll be more stock. If it's not at a price you like, keep waiting. Very few people have requirements that can't be met by 5+ year old hardware - even gamers. If they do, then they should already have bought into something like Zen 3 (plenty of stock for months now) or Comet Lake on discount.Qasar - Friday, October 29, 2021 - link
heh, i just picked up a 5900x for 667 cdn this weekschujj07 - Wednesday, October 27, 2021 - link
Until there are independent benchmarks we do not know how well this is going to perform. Before Rocket Lake came out there were leaks of synthetic benchmarks that had it destroying Zen 3. Well the real world benchmarks came out and guess what Rocket Lake was only marginally better than Comet Lake. One thing to note is that Intel is once again having to put power consumption the way of the Dodo. Most likely so that the chip is able to compete with AMD's vastly more efficient uArch.Gothmoth - Wednesday, October 27, 2021 - link
and the energy you save with such a great 241W CPU..... ;-)Gothmoth - Wednesday, October 27, 2021 - link
oh sorry 12700k is your choice.... that´s just 190W.