If Intel’s recent takeover of the RPS best gaming CPUs guide wasn’t indication enough, their latest 12th Gen Alder Lake chips are the real deal – especially on pure games performance. This should make the newly launched Core i9-12900KS, in a way, the realest deal of all: it’s structurally identical to the Core i9-12900K, originally the top-spec CPU in the series, but made with an even more discerning binning process. A component of the highest quality components, if you will, and as such can brush past the Core i9-12900K’s maximum boost clock speed of 5.2GHz to reach a scorching 5.5GHz.
]]>Hullo chaps! Yes, it's another US processor deal, as there have been quite a few good ones recently. The 12700K is my personal pick of the new Intel 12th-gen family, as it offers the same number of performance cores and therefore much the same performance as the flagship 12900K - all while producing far less heat and costing much less too. It normally retails for around $385, but today a $45 discount code on Newegg brings it to just $340.
]]>Some of Intel’s 12th Gen Alder Lake processors are among the best gaming CPUs you can buy, but certain owners have noticed a seemingly worrisome trend: their LGA 1700 motherboard socket puts so much pressure on the chip that its IHS (integrated heat spreader, the big grey bit on top) starts to bend. This isn’t so much a concern for the CPU’s structural integrity as it is a cooling issue, as a non-flat IHS will struggle to transfer heat to the CPU cooler plate as effectivity.
In a statement to Tom’s Hardware, however, an Intel spokesperson has essentially said it’s not as bad as it sounds. The statement does acknowledge the warping (or “deflection”, to use Intel’s more engineer-y term), but says there’s no evidence thus far to suggest it drives load temperatures up to unsafe levels.
]]>There sure are a lot of “world’s fastest” gaming CPUs around these days. Just two weeks after AMD confirmed a date and price for their own champion, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, Intel have formally unveiled the Core i9-12900KS: a new addition to the 12th Gen Alder Lake lineup that promises superlative performance and up to 5.5GHz clock speeds.
That’s all less than five months since the launch of the original Intel Core i9-12900K, which as far as I can tell actually is the best CPU for gaming right now in pure performance terms. And the Core i9-12900KS is even set to beat the Ryzen 7 5800X3D to shelves, releasing on April 5th to the Ryzen’s April 20th street date. No brakes on the top-tier processor train, it seems.
]]>There was cause for joy and concern alike when Intel revealed the Core i5-12400F, alongside loads of other new 12th gen Alder Lake CPUs. Here was a much more affordable, still gaming focused-alternative to the Core i5-12600K, yet it would lack the signature hybrid of fast Performance cores and flexible Efficiency cores that made that chip one of the best gaming CPUs ever made.
Turns out, the concern was for naught: the Core i5-12400F is a cracking slice of silicon, both for the money and for games specifically. Although the sole reliance on Performance cores (or P-cores) puts it behind the Core i5-12600K for desktop multitasking, if it’s just the frames per second you’re after, this cheaper chip can match and sometimes even surpass its big brother.
]]>The vanguard of Intel’s 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs had some seriously good chips in it – including two of the best CPUs for gaming overall – though there weren’t many models for aspiring PC builders on tight budgets. Now, though, Intel has used CES 2022 to launch the rest of the 12th Gen desktop lineup, adding loads of more affordable Core i5 and Core i3 processors on top of new Core i7 and Core i9 options. Intel also unveiled its new H-series, 12th Gen gaming laptop chips, which use the same hybrid architecture (combining powerful P-cores with smaller, less energy-intensive E-cores) as their Alder Lake desktop cousins.
]]>Intel’s latest 12th Gen Alder Lake processors include some of the best gaming CPUs money can buy, and they’re not just a big step forward on pure power. They also add support for some new and up-and-coming technologies that that could form the bedrock for even better performance in the future, like PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 RAM. In fact, when buying a new, Alder Lake-compatible motherboard, you’ll have a choice to make: stick with DDR4 memory, or upgrade to DDR5?
]]>There's no time to explain: the Intel Core i5-12600K has a Black Friday deal. I mean that's weird, right? It only came out scant weeks ago and it's already on the sharp end of a meaningful discount. Not that I'm complaining, mind, as this Intel 12th Gen Alder Lake mid-ranger proved itself the best CPU for gaming immediately upon arrival.
]]>Well, here’s a bit of a bum note in the otherwise upbeat tune of Intel’s 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs: the new chips are apparently tripping up games that use Denuvo DRM. Not all of them, fortunately, but Intel has listed over 50 games that might suffer compatibility issues across Windows 10 and Windows 11 when using an Alder Lake processor. These include big names like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Total War: Three Kingdoms. (Update - Fallen Order has now removed Denuvo completely, so should be fine.)
]]>By now you’ve probably heard about how Intel’s 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs shake up the previously stagnant Core line. Led by this, the Intel Core i9-12900K, Alder Lake sees the adoption of a hybrid architecture that combines high-power Performance cores (P-cores) with Efficiency cores (E-cores) that can free up headroom by taking on background tasks. The Core i9-12900K takes this opportunity to bulk up, combining eight P-cores and E-cores apiece for a total of 16 cores and 24 threads.
]]>The Intel Core i5-12600K is, in some ways, the CPU that Intel should have made three or four years ago. Ever since AMD’s Ryzen chips appeared with an alluring balance of gaming speed, desktop multitasking performance, efficiency, and affordability, Intel seemed to sink into a comfort zone of simply raising clock speeds and maybe adding a few cores.
This was often enough to earn some half-throated recommendations for gaming builds specifically, but this past year proved that something needed to change, with the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X claiming the best gaming CPU title and 11th Gen Rocket Lake Intel chips – like the 5600X’s rival Core i5-11600K – looking thoroughly skippable. For those who did decide to wait until the 12th Gen Alder Lake launch, consider yourselves vindicated, as the Core i5-12600K is a great all-rounder: both a Ryzen-beater in games and, thanks to a long-overdue architecture revamp, a drastically better general purpose processor.
]]>After a months-long spin around the rumour mill, the first batch of Intel 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs is official. Despite the 11th Gen Rocket Lake chips only launching earlier this year, Alder Lake represents the biggest generational jump for Intel in over half a decade, thanks to its completely redesigned “hybrid” architecture and DDR5 memory support.
]]>We haven’t seen much of Intel Alder Lake so far, despite being set for release in a matter of weeks. One thing we do know is that like the majority of Intel’s last few chip family releases, the desktop contingent of these 12th-gen processors will need a brand-new motherboard socket: LGA 1700.
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