The first alleged benchmarks of Intel's Alder Lake Core i9-12900KF, Core i7-12700KF, and Core i5-12600KF CPUs along with their retail prices have leaked out by Persian PC outlet, Sakhtafzarmag.
Alleged Intel Core i9-12900KF, Core i7-12700KF & Core i5-12600KF Benchmarks, and Prices Leak Out
Now first of all these benchmarks that have leaked out should be taken with a huge bowl of salt considering no details regarding the test setup or what operating system these benchmarks were conducted on have been listed. Despite that, we haven't seen these particular benchmarks leak out anywhere before so these could be from early engineering samples and only focus on the CPU-side of performance.
So starting up, we have performance numbers for three Intel Alder Lake-S 'KF' chips, the Core i9-12900KF, Core i7-12700KF, and the Core i5-12600KF. The specifications are listed below:
Intel Core i9-12900K 16 Core / 24 Thread Desktop CPU
The Intel Core i9-12900K will be the flagship chip in the 12th Gen Alder Lake Desktop CPU lineup. It will feature 8 Golden Cove cores and 8 Gracemont cores for a total of 16 cores (8+8) and 24 threads (16+8). The P-cores (Golden Cove) will operate at a maximum boost frequency of up to 5.3 GHz with 1-2 active cores and 5.0 GHz with all-cores active while the E-cores (Gracemont) will operate at 3.90 GHz across 1-4 cores and up to 3.7 GHz when all cores are loaded.
The CPU will feature 30 MB of L3 cache and TDP values are maintained at 125W (PL1) and 228W (PL2). The 'K' variant is expected to retail at $599 US while the Non-K variant will retail at $509 US.
Intel Core i7-12700K 12 Core / 20 Thread Desktop CPU
Moving over to the Core i7, Intel will offer 8 Golden Cove cores but cut down the Gracemont cores to 4. This will result in a total of 12 cores (8+4) and 20 threads (16+4). The P-cores (Golden Cove) will operate at a maximum boost frequency of up to 5.0 GHz with 1-2 active cores and 4.7 GHz with all-cores active while the E-cores (Gracemont) will operate at 3.8 GHz across 1-4 cores & up to 3.6 GHz when all cores are loaded.
The CPU will feature 25 MB of L3 cache and TDP values are maintained at 125W (PL1) and 228W (PL2). The 'K' variant is expected to retail at $429 US while the Non-K variant will retail at $359 US.
Intel Core i5-12600K 10 Core / 16 Thread Desktop CPU
Lastly, we have the Intel Core i5-12600K which will be the entry-level unlocked chip within the line. The CPU will carry 6 Golden Cove and 4 Gracemont cores for a total of 10 cores (6+4) & 16 threads (12+4). The P-cores (Golden Cove) will operate at a maximum boost frequency of up to 4.9 GHz with 1-2 active cores and 4.5 GHz with all-cores active while the E-cores (Gracemont) will operate at 3.6 GHz across 1-4 cores & up to 3.4 GHz when all cores are loaded.
The CPU will feature 20 MB of L3 cache and TDP values are maintained at 125W (PL1) and 228W (PL2). The 'K' variant is expected to retail at $279 US while the Non-K variant will retail at $249 US. There's also the Core i5-12400 that will retail at $203 US.
Intel 12th Gen Alder Lake Desktop CPU Specs
| CPU Name | P-Core Count | E-Core Count | Total Core / Thread | P-Core Base / Boost (Max) | P-Core Boost (All-Core) | E-Core Base / Boost | E-Core Boost (All-Core) | L3 Cache | TDP (PL1) | TDP (PL2) | Expected (MSRP) Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core i9-12900KS | 8 | 8 | 16 / 24 | 3.4 / 5.5 GHz | 5.2 GHz | 2.4 / 3.9 GHz | 3.7 GHz | 30 MB | 150W | 260W | $739 US |
| Core i9-12900K | 8 | 8 | 16 / 24 | 3.2 / 5.2 GHz | 5.0 GHz | 2.4 / 3.9 GHz | 3.7 GHz | 30 MB | 125W | 241W | $599 US |
| Core i9-12900 | 8 | 8 | 16 / 24 | 2.4 / 5.1 GHz | TBA | 1.8 / 3.8 GHz | TBA | 30 MB | 65W | 202W | $489 US $464 US (F) |
| Core i9-12900T | 8 | 8 | 16 / 24 | 1.4 / 4.9 GHz | TBA | 1.0 / 3.6 GHz | TBA | 30 MB | 35W | 106W | $489 US |
| Core i7-12700K | 8 | 4 | 12 / 20 | 3.6 / 5.0 GHz | 4.7 GHz | 2.7 / 3.8 GHz | 3.6 GHz | 25 MB | 125W | 190W | $419 US |
| Core i7-12700 | 8 | 4 | 12 / 20 | 2.1 / 4.9 GHz | TBA | 1.6 / 3.6 GHz | TBA | 25 MB | 65W | 180W | $339 US $314 US (F) |
| Core i7-12700T | 8 | 4 | 12 / 20 | 1.4 / 4.7 GHz | TBA | 1.0 / 3.4 GHz | TBA | 25 MB | 35W | 99W | $339 US |
| Core i5-12600K | 6 | 4 | 10 / 16 | 3.7 / 4.9 GHz | 4.5 GHz | 2.8 / 3.6 GHz | 3.4 GHz | 20 MB | 125W | 150W | $299 US |
| Core i5-12600 | 6 | 0 | 6 / 12 | 3.3 / 4.8 GHz | 4.4 GHz | N/A | N/A | 18 MB | 65W | 117W | $223 US |
| Core i5-12600T | 6 | 0 | 6 / 12 | 2.1 / 4.6 GHz | TBA | N/A | N/A | 18 MB | 65W | 74W | $223 US |
| Core i5-12490P | 6 | 0 | 6 / 12 | 3.0 / 4.6 GHz | TBA | N/A | N/A | 20 MB | 65W | 74W | ~$250 US |
| Core i5-12500 | 6 | 0 | 6 / 12 | 3.0 / 4.6 GHz | TBA | N/A | N/A | 18 MB | 65W | 117W | $202 US |
| Core i5-12500T | 6 | 0 | 6 / 12 | 2.0 / 4.4 GHz | TBA | N/A | N/A | 18 MB | 35W | 74W | $202 US |
| Core i5-12400 | 6 | 0 | 6 / 12 | 2.5 / 4.4 GHz | 4.0 GHz | N/A | N/A | 18 MB | 65W | 117W | $192 US $167 US (F) |
| Core i5-12400T | 6 | 0 | 6 / 12 | 1.8 / 4.2 GHz | TBA | N/A | N/A | 18 MB | 35W | 74W | $192 US |
| Core i3-12300 | 4 | 0 | 4 / 8 | 3.5 / 4.4 GHz | TBA | N/A | N/A | 12 MB | 60W | 89W | $143 US |
| Core i3-12300T | 4 | 0 | 4 / 8 | 2.3 / 4.2 GHz | TBA | N/A | N/A | 12 MB | 35W | 69W | $143 US |
| Core i3-12100 | 4 | 0 | 4 / 8 | 3.3 / 4.3 GHz | TBA | N/A | N/A | 12 MB | 60W 58W (F) | 89W | $122 US $97 US (F) |
| Core i3-12100T | 4 | 0 | 4 / 8 | 2.2 / 4.1 GHz | TBA | N/A | N/A | 12 MB | 35W | 69W | $122 US |
| Intel Pentium Gold G7400 | 2 | 0 | 2 / 4 | 3.7 GHz | N/A | N/A | N/A | 6 MB | 46W | N/A | $64 US |
| Intel Pentium Gold G7400T | 2 | 0 | 2 / 4 | 3.1 GHz | N/A | N/A | N/A | 6 MB | 35W | N/A | $64 US |
| Intel Celeron G6900 | 2 | 0 | 2 / 2 | 3.4 GHz | N/A | N/A | N/A | 4 MB | 46W | N/A | $42 US |
| Intel Celeron G6900T | 2 | 0 | 2 / 2 | 2.8 GHz | N/A | N/A | N/A | 4 MB | 35W | N/A | $42 US |
For performance numbers, we first have the Cinebench R23 performance scores where the entire Intel Alder Lake lineup destroys all existing CPUs in the single-core performance test. In multi-core, the Core i9-12900KF is on par with the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, the 12700KF is faster than the 5900X & the Core i5-12600KF is faster than the 5800X.
In encoding tests, the Intel Core i9-12900KF comes out faster than the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X in X264 and X265 HD benchmarks but loses in the HWBOT X265 benchmark. The Core i7-12700KF offers a similar performance against the Ryzen 9 5900X and so does the Core i5-12600KF against the Ryzen 7 5800X.
In Blender, the Intel Core i9-12900KF is slightly faster than the Ryzen 9 5950X which is impressive considering Vermeer showed an immense performance increase in Blender due to its superior multi-threaded architecture over Rocket Lake and Comet Lake chips but Intel seems to have turned the tides with its brand new hybrid design. The Core i7-12700KF comes close to the Ryzen 9 5900X while the Core i5-12600KF is faster than the Ryzen 7 5800X.
The PCMark tests are less impressive as each Intel Alder Lake CPU loses to its AMD Ryzen 5000 equivalent but as stated above, these benchmarks are still very early and we don't know if these were conducted within Windows 10 or Windows 11 OS.
That's made clear from the fact that the Alder Lake chips lose to their Rocket Lake predecessors in the same benchmark. Regardless, the Intel Alder Lake Core i9-12900KF, Core i7-12700KF, and Core i5-12600KF are looking like a great improvement in the CPU synthetic benchmark department. It is interesting that the pricing for the chips is just where we would expect them.
The Core i9-12900KF is faster than the Ryzen 9 5950X for $200 US lower, the Core i7-12700KF should be faster than the Ryzen 9 5900X for $180 US lower while the Core i5-12600KF should be faster than the 5800X just around $200 US lower. These are impressive and show why AMD is already dropping price cuts at retailers on its Ryzen 5000 lineup. The Intel Alder Lake Desktop CPU lineup is expected to launch in November along with the respective Z690 platform and DDR5 memory kits.
