Intel’s 12th Gen Alder Lake-S processors were rolled out last month for the DIY crowd with the flagship Core i9-12900K going toe to toe against AMD’s Ryzen 9 5950X at a lower price tag. However, the need for an expensive new Z690 motherboard and the already scarce DDR5 memory means that demand for the new chips will remain lukewarm for the time being.
The non-K (locked) offerings are slated to launch in mid-January with an even tempting price tag, especially in the budget and low-end segments. These SKUs should launch along with the (more affordable) B660 and H670 motherboards with plenty of DDR4 variants. (youmoms.org) PCIe Gen 5 support should be included with most B660/H670 boards, but the H610 chipset will likely lose the capability.
| Model | Cores/Threads | P-Core Boost | L2 + L3 | TDP |
| i9-12900 | 8P+8E/24T | 2.40 / 5.10 GHz | 14 + 30 MB | 65W |
| i9-12900F | 8P+8E/24T | 2.40 / 5.20 GHz | 14 + 30 MB | 65W |
| i9-12900T | 8P+8E/24T | N/A / 4.90 GHz | 14 + 30 MB | 35W |
| i7-12700 | 8P + 4E /20T | 2.10 / 4.90 GHz | 12 + 25 MB | 65W |
| i7-12700F | 8P + 4E /20T | 2.10 / 4.90 GHz | 12 + 25 MB | 65W |
| i7-12700T | 8P + 4E /20T | N/A / 4.70 GHz | 12 + 25 MB | 35W |
| i5-12600 | 6P + 4E /16T | 3.30 / 4.80 GHz | 7.5 + 18 MB | 65 W |
| i5-12600T | 6P + 4E /16T | N/A | 7.5 + 18 MB | 35W |
| i5-12500 | 6P + 4E /16T | 3.00 / 4.60 GHz | 7.5 + 18 MB | 65W |
| i5-12500T | 6P + 4E /16T | N/A / 4.40 GHz | 7.5 + 18 MB | 35W |
| i5-12400 | 6P + 4E /16T | 2.50 / 4.40 GHz | 7.5 + 18 MB | 65W |
| i5-12400F | 6P + 4E /16T | 2.50 / 4.40 GHz | 7.5 + 18 MB | 65W |
| i5-12400T | 6P + 4E /16T | N/A / 4.20 GHz | 7.5 + 18 MB | 35W |
| i3-12300 | 4P+0E/8T | N/A / 4.40 GHz | 5 + N / A MB | 65W |
| i3-12300T | 4P+0E/8T | N/A / 4.20 GHz | 5 + N / A MB | 35W |
| i3-12100 | 4P+0E/8T | 3.30 / 4.30 GHz | 5 + 12 MB | 65W |
| i3-12100T | 4P+0E/8T | N/A / 4.10 GHz | 5 + 12 MB | 35W |
The hex-core i5-12400 and 12400F should be the most attractive SKUs for gamers with a price tag of just around $200 and performance matching that of the much more expensive Ryzen 5 5600X ($300). Furthermore, the lower TDP of 65W should make sure that the efficiency of these chips isn’t killed, as we saw with the K series Core i5/i7/i9 family.
Via: @momomo
