Earlier today, Intel posted the developer guide for its upcoming 12th Gen Alder Lake processors. Being a hybrid core design, there are significant changes to workload scheduling that developers and programmers need to adapt to. The chipmaker also gave away some of the finer details concerning the specifications of the new processors. For example, Intel confirmed that the desktop platform (S) will be built around two dies: One will feature eight Golden Cove cores and eight Gracemont cores, paired with a 32EU Gen 12 Xe iGPU.
This chip will power the higher-end desktop SKUs including the Core i9-12900K, Core i7-12700K, and the Core i5-12600K. All these CPUs will feature 6-8 performance “Golden Cove” cores and 4-8 efficiency “Gracemont” cores. (Provigil) The lower-end SKUs such as the Core i5-12400 and Core i3-12100, on the other hand, will drop the efficiency cores and be limited to 4 and 6 performance cores, respectively. The iGPU is going to be identical to the one on the i7s/i9s with 32EUs.
Intel also confirmed that the mobile processors which have now been renamed to P (from U and H) will similarly be built around two dies. The one meant for high-performance gaming notebooks (earlier H) with a TDP of 45W+ will top out at 14 cores and 96 EUs. We’re looking at six performance cores (Golden Cove) and eight efficiency (Gracemont) cores.
The low-power (earlier U) 28W mobile parts with a cTDP of 15W will feature just two performance cores and eight efficiency cores. As with the desktop platform, the iGPU is the same with a total of 96EUs. Therefore, you can expect higher-end mobile SoCs with up to 10 cores and lower-end Core i3s with as little as 2-4 cores (performance or efficiency).
