Intel has unveiled its whole lineup of 12th generation Core CPUs, as part its Alder Lake line. These 10nm (Intel 7) CPUs leverage a new big.LITTLE duo of architectures, pairing Intel's new process cores with some older, Skylake-esque 14nm effciency cores. It promises some serious performance upgrades, and likely retakes the gaming crown from AMD's Ryzen 5000 series.
Topping the new generation is Intel's Core i9-12900K, featuring eight Performance, or P Cores, and eight Efficiency, or E cores, for a total of 24 thread support. It clocks in at up to 5.2GHz on a per core basis, and enjoys Intel's new sustained booth algorithm where it can maintain its clock speed indefinitely as long as your cooler measures up. Intel has warned, however, that the maximum clock will require 241Watts of power and cooling potential, so your standard 120mm AIO isn't going to cut it.
You don't have to match that though. In fact, just 125w is needed for Intel's more traditional boost algorithm, which will hit those higher frequencies for short multi-second bursts, before reverting to the lower clock speed to maintain thermal limits.
Elsewhere in the range is the 12700K, which offers eight P cores and 4 E cores, 20 thread support, and a slightly reduced clock speed. The 12600K has six P Cores and 4 E Cores, 16 thread support, and a just sub 5GHz boost clock of 4.9GHz.
There's also a lower power 12400F coming down the line too, as well as F and non-K versions of each chip mentioned above. Overclocking is disabled on the non-K SKUs, and the F variants, though cheaper, won't have integrated graphics.
All in all performance should be high, with prices set to follow. Intel's listings will go live on November 4 (where they haven't leaked already) and the top chips will be close to $600. The 12600K may be the most competitive at around $300 list price.