One of the six, the 12th Gen Intel Core i9-12900K is "the world’s best gaming processor" according to Intel, with a max turbo boost of up to 5.2 GHz, 16 cores and 24 threads.
The 12th Gen Intel Core family covers "every PC segment from ultra-thin-and-light laptops to enthusiast desktops and out to the edge", the company claimed.
"The performance hybrid architecture of 12th Gen Intel Core processors is an architectural shift made possible by close co-engineering of software and hardware that will deliver new levels of leadership performance for generations," said Intel executive vice president and client computing group general manager Gregory Bryant.
| |
"This begins with the arrival of our flagship Core i9-12900K – the world’s best gaming processor – and you will see even more incredible experiences as we ship the rest of the 12th Gen family and beyond."
The six new unlocked desktop processors are the first based on Intel’s performance hybrid architecture with a combination of performance (P) cores and efficient (E) cores.
Intel's Thread Director guides the operating system to place the right thread on the right core at the right time.
"We're at the beginning of a new era for the PC led by the introduction of Windows 11," said Microsoft executive vice president and chief product officer Panos Panay.
"With Windows 11 and Intel's new Thread Director technology, users will see their PC performance reach new heights on the new 12th Gen Intel Core family of processors."
Compared with the previous generation chip, the Core i9-12900K delivers up to 25% more FPS on Troy: A Total War Saga, up to 28% more FPS on Hitman 3, and up to 23% more FPS on Far Cry 63.
On certain benchmarks, the new processor also delivers up to 36% faster photo editing performance, up to 32% faster video editing performance, op to 37% faster 3D modelling performance, and up to 100% faster multi-frame rendering.
Intel Extreme Tuning Utility 7.5 can be used to overclock the E cores and DDR5 memory.
Intel claims the new processors are the first in the industry to offer DDR5 memory for up to 4800MTps (megatransfers per second) and to support PCIe 5.0 (up to 16 lanes) with up to four additional PCIe 4.0 lanes.
Other features include up to 30MB of Intel Smart Cache (L3) and 14MB L2 cache for increased memory capacity with reduced latency, integrated high-speed wireless with Intel Killer Wi-Fi 6E, and discrete Thunderbolt 4 universal cable connectivity for external device expansion.
The five other 12th Gen unlocked processors are:
• i9-12900KF (8P + 8E, 30MB L3, up to 5.2GHz)
* i7-12700K (8P + 4E, 25MB L3, up to 5GHz)
* i7-12700KF (8P + 4E, 25MB L3, up to 5GHz)
• i5-12600K (6P + 4E, 20MB L3, up to 4.9GHz)
• i5-12600KF (6P + 4E, 20MB L3, up to 4.9GHz)
Intel also announced the Intel 600 series chipset with new PCIe Gen 4.0 lanes, integrated USB 3.2 Gen 2x2, DMI Gen 4.0, and Intel Volume Management Device allowing direct control and management of NVMe-based SSDs from the PCIe bus without additional RAID controllers or other hardware adaptors.
More than 140 companies in more than 30 countries expected to add the new processors to their lineups by the end of the year.
Pricing starts at US$264 to US$589 for the unlocked desktop processors.
Intel expects to ship more than two million of the new unlocked desktop processors by the end of March 2022.
