Intel has officially presented the first products corresponding to the twelfth generation of processors of the company , known internally as Alder Lake. According to the brand, this is the biggest architectural change that its chips have undergone in a decade.
Why does Intel say something like this? Easy: because their chips have adopted an architecture equivalent to big.LITTLE , which is a standard in ARM processors. The brand also promises 19% more performance compared to eleventh generation processors.
The theory is quite simple: instead of having a single type of multipurpose core, the chips with this new architecture have two groups of cores.
The first of them, consisting of up to eight high-efficiency cores, handles the lightest or background tasks that a processor needs to perform. All of this with lower energy consumption. The other group, made up of up to eight high-performance cores, follows a completely opposite dynamic. Their energy consumption is higher, but they only come into operation when the task in question requires extra processing. To manage this division of cores, Intel has integrated a “Thread Director” , an element that is responsible for determining which core processes each task. The company has also modified how the cache of its 12th generation (or Alder Lake) processors works.
Each performance core (P-Core) has its own L2 cache. Each cluster of efficiency cores (E-Core) has a common L2 memory “pool”, from which all participating cores drink. Both performance cores and efficiency cores have access to a common L3 memory “pool” for all of them. Another of the most important changes of this twelfth generation of Intel desktop processors (Alder Lake) is that they are based on the Intel 7 process, formerly known as 10 nm Enhanced SuperFin. The chip, In addition, it is compatible with DDR5 memory, as well as with the PCIe 5.0 interface.
The arrival of the new chip, unfortunately, requires a new motherboard. Specifically, one with the LGA 1700 socket. Intel has also announced a new chipset, dubbed the Z690, which operates in conjunction with it.
The specifications of the first Intel processors 12th generation
The first range of processors that Intel has decided to launch is focused on high-performance desktops. More specifically, those with the suffixes K and KF. These are the different configurations of each of them:
Processor Cores Smart Cache (L3) Cache L2 Maximum frequency Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 Maximum frequency of the P and E cores Base frequency of the P and EGPU cores Maximum memory speed Maximum power Intel Core i9-12900K16 (8P and 8E) 30 MB14 MB Up to 5.2 GHz Up to 5.1 GHz (P) and up to 3.9 GHz (E) 3.2 GHz (P) and 2.4 GHz (E) Intel UHD Graphics 770DDR5 4800 MT / s or DDR4 3200 MT / s241 WIntel Core i9-12900KF16 (8P and 8E) 30 MB14 MB Up to 5.2 GHz Up to 5.1 GHz (P) and up to 3.9 GHz (E) 3.2 GHz (P) and 2.4 GHz (E) -DDR5 4800 MT / s or DDR4 3200 MT / s241 WIntel Core i7-12700K12 (8P and 4E) 25 MB12 MB Up to 5.0 GHz Up to 4.9 GHz (P) and up to 3.8 GHz ( E) 3.6 GHz (P) and 2.7 GHz (E) Intel UHD Graphics 770 DDR5 4800 MT / s or DDR4 3200 MT / s190 WIntel Core i7-12700KF12 (8P and 4E) 25 MB12 MB Up to 5.0 GHz Up to 4.9 GHz (P) and up to 3.8 GHz (E) 3.6 GHz (P) and 2.7 GHz (E) -DDR5 4800 MT / s or DDR4 3200 MT / s190 WIntel Core i5-12600K10 (6P and 4E) 20 MB 9.5 MB-Up to 4.9 GHz (P ) and up to 3.6 GHz (E) 3.7 GHz (P) and 2.8 GHz (E) Intel UHD Graphics 770DDR5 4800 MT / s or DDR4 3200 MT / s150 WIntel Core i5-12600KF10 (6P and 4E) 20 MB9 , 5 MB-Up to 4.9 GHz (P) and up to 3.6 GHz (E) 3.7 GHz (P) and 2.8 GHz (E) -DDR5 4800 MT / s or DDR4 3200 MT / s 150 W
