Intel 12th Gen Core Processors - Alder Lake-S

Intel Core 12th Alder Lake

Intel has announced the Alder Lake-S processor SKUs for the first time today. The 12th generation BIG.little CPUs will be available in the very near future. The K and KF (no IGP) versions of the Core i5 12600K, Core i7 12700K, and Core i9 12900K processors were introduced today.

Alder Lake - Hybrid Computing Architecture

It hasn't exactly been a secret that Intel has been putting in significant effort to re-take the CPU market. After numerous respins, it was time for a new architecture, created from the ground up with a hybrid design; meet Alder Lake, which you've probably already heard a lot about. They will also be the first to adopt a hybrid architecture, similar to ARM's BIG.little, that combines high-performance cores combined with efficient ones, making them the first of their kind for Intel. Furthermore, this new generation is now proven to be the first to support DDR5 memory (DDR4 compatible memory controllers as well) and PCI-Express 5.0, making it the first generation to do so.

The flagship processor Core i9-12900K has 16 cores and 24 threads. 8 P-Core (16 threads) and 8 E-Core (with 8 threads). The CPU has 30 MB L3 cache, 3 MB per core (Golden Cove), and 3 MB per cluster (E-Core) (Gracemont). That's 8 P-Cores for 24 MB and 6 MB from each of the two clusters of 4 E-Cores. The chip has 12.5 MB of L2 cache and 1.25 MB of L3 cache.

• L2 cache 10MB (8x 1.25MB) + 2MB (8x 256kB)
• L3 cache 30MB

It is noteworthy that Intel no longer provides a total design power (tdp), instead referring to a 'processor base power' of 125W and a 'maximum turbo power' that is significantly greater. Intel, at the very least for the overclockable K processors, has put an end to the confusion that the PL1 and PL2 power constraints produced in previous generations with this announcement. As of now, the current norm for these CPUs is that they can boost indefinitely unless the PC maker (or, in the case of self-build, the user) decides otherwise in order to keep within the limitations of the cooling and power supply systems.

	USD price	Euro price incl. VAT	Difference From Core Series 11
Core i9 12900K	$589	€615	+ 67
Core i9 12900KF	$564	€589	+ 67
Core i7 12700K	$409	€427	+ 21
Core i7 12700KF	$384	€401	+ 21
Core i5 12600K	$289	€301	+ 35
Core i5 12600KF	$264	€275	+ 35

Core  i9 12900K in the 12th Gen Core lineup series, and will succeed the i9-11900K with the maximum configuration of 8+8 (P+E), unlocked multipliers, the highest cache, and the fastest clock speed. The P (performance) core ("Golden Cove" core) is clocked at 5.30 GHz and the all-core core is clocked at 5.00 GHz / 8 cores. Its gracemont core (energy efficient) is clocked at 3.90 GHz (1 to 4 cores boost) with the all-core boot of 3.70 GHz / 8 cores. The silicon's total L3 cache is 30 MB. The TDP is 125 W for the i9-12900K (PL1) and 228 W PL2 for this product. 

• Core i9 12900K costs $589
• Core i9 12900KF costs $564

The 12th gen Core i7 is configured as 8+4 core (P+E), has somewhat lower clock rates than the i9 core, and some boost functions may be missing. The Core i7-12700K is the highest geared Core i7. The highest P-core boost frequency is 5.00 GHz and the all-core booster is 4.70 GHz, while the top boost for E-cores is 3.80 GHz with an all-core of 3.60. The chip contains 25 MB of L3 and is similar to the i9-12900K for PL1 and PL2 values.

• Core i7 12700K costs $409
• Core i7 12700KF costs $384

Up to 6+4 core (P+E) cores are supplied for the Core i5 series. The unlocked Core i5-12600K operates the P-cores to 4.90 GHz with an all Core of up to 4.50 GHz, while the E-cores are up to 3.60 GHz with an entire Core of up to 3.40 GHz. 20 MB of L3 cache, and the same 125 W PL1 and 228 W PL2 values as the other two unlocked parts.

• Core i5 12600K costs $289
• Core i5 12600KF costs $264

 The KF model has its integrated graphics disabled.

Intel reference media sample kit (above)
	Rocket Lake-S	Alder Lake-S	Raptor Lake-S	Meteor Lake-S	Lunar Lake-S
Launch Date	March 30, 2021	Q4 2021	Q4 2022	2023 (?)	2024 (?)
Fabrication Node	14nm	Intel 7	Intel 7	Intel 4	TBC
Core µArch	Cypress Cove	Golden Cove + Gracemont	Raptor Cove + Gracemont	Redwood Cove + Gracemont (?)	TBC
Graphics µArch	Gen12.1	Gen12.2	Gen12.2	Gen 12.7	Gen 13
Max Core Count	up to 8 cores	up to 16 (8C+8c)	up to 24 (8C+16c)	TBC	TBC
Socket	LGA1200	LGA1700	LGA1700	TBC	TBC
Memory Support	DDR4	DDR4/DDR5	DDR5	DDR5	DDR5
PCIe Gen	PCIe 4.0	PCIe 5.0	PCIe 5.0	PCIe 5.0	PCIe 5.0
Intel Core Series	11th Gen Core-S	12th Gen Core-S	13th Gen Core-S	14th Gen Core-S	14th Gen Core-S
Motherboard Chipsets	Intel 500 (Z590)	Intel 600 (Z690)	Intel 700 (Z790)	-	-

Gracemont (energy efficient cores)

Alder Lake is Intel's codename for the 12th-generation of Intel Core processors based on a hybrid architecture utilizing Golden Cove high-performance cores and Gracemont power-efficient cores. According to Intel, Alder Lake is a "performance hybrid" in their portfolio, as it is focused on performance rather than power consumption. Gracement, wasn't that Intel Atom related? Gracemont is an upcoming microarchitecture for low-power processors that will also be used in Intel's systems on a chip (SoCs). It will be the successor of the Tremont microarchitecture. Additionally, it will be deployed as low-power cores in a hybrid architecture for Intel's Alder Lake processors, similar to its predecessor.  The cores have been further enhanced. Gracemont is actually the 4th generation out-of-order low-power Atom microarchitecture, built on the Intel 7 manufacturing process. Intel also says that Alder Lake will provide the most performance per watt of any of its processors. You're going to notice a number of things, among them, increases in L1 caches; the Instructions cache for example was doubled to 64KB with an up to 4MB L2 cache, remember we're still talking the energy-friendly cores here. Microsoft will have to introduce support for these sophisticated scheduling features to x86-64 Windows in order for them to be supported for the next-generation hardware schedulers. Key changes are:

• 64KB per core Level 1 instruction cache
• DDR5 memory
• PCIe 5.0 support
• Support for AVX, AVX2, and AVX-VNNI instructions

Alder Lake-S will include 8 Golden Cove cores and 8 Gracemont cores, according to Intel, who verified this during the company's architecture day. It will be manufactured utilizing Intel's Intel 7 technology, which was previously known as the Intel 10 nm Enhanced SuperFin process. As previously stated, Alder Lake-S will have 8 Golden Cove cores, which are high-performance cores, and 8 Gracemont cores, which are high-efficiency cores. Due to the fact that Gracemont cores do not support Hyper-Threading (HT), Alder Lake-S will only be able to provide 16 cores and 24 threads, which is the same as the i9-12900K configuration.

CPU

• Further information: Golden Cove (microarchitecture) and Gracemont (microarchitecture)
• Golden Cove high-performance CPU cores
• New instruction set extensions
• Gracemont high-efficiency CPU cores
• Next-generation hardware scheduler; adding support for these advanced scheduling capabilities will require Microsoft to add support for them to x86-64 Windows.

GPU

• Intel Xe (Gen12.2) GPU

I/O

• New LGA 1700 socket[8]
• PCI Express 5.0
• DDR5 memory support for desktop CPUs
• LPDDR5 memory support for laptop CPUs
• DMI 4.0 x8 link with Intel 600 series PCH chipsets 

The integrated graphics is based on Xe, and it has up to 96 EUs for the GPU and 32 EUs for media functions only, according to the manufacturer. For a fully equipped processor, you'll receive eight performance cores as well as eight energy-efficient cores; the performance cores have SMT (hyper-threading), which means you'll end up with a total of 24 CPU threads. In the following chapters, we'll dive into greater depth about architecture. 

Performance

Intel has now revealed the first set of benchmarks for the Core i9 12900K processor as well. These have been implemented and picked by Intel itself, therefore it is best to treat them with a grain of salt until further notice. Average performance in games would be roughly 15 percent faster than that of a 11900K, which should be more than enough to close the gap with the Ryzen 5000 chips and give the i9 12900K a slight advantage. Even in a less thorough comparison with the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, the 12900K comes out on top, even though the Windows 11 patch for AMD CPUs has not yet been deployed.

Gaming performance should be interesting

DDR5 Memory subsystem

The memory subsystem, which is DDR4 and DRR5 compatible, has a large amount of transistor real estate Intel clearly invested heavily in it. Intel continues to list memory at the JEDEC specification level, implying that it is unable to go any further. DDR4 memory operates at 3200 MHz, while DDR5 memory operates at 4800 MHz by default. You can already see that the memory bandwidth is likely to rise dramatically with DDR5 technology. So support at JEDEC defaults is Dual Channel PC5-38400U (DDR5-4800) or PC4-25600U (DDR4-3200).

XMP 3.0

New and included in DDR5 is XMP 3.0, in total 5, but up to three manufacturer timing and frequency profiles can now be stored inside the DIMM. However, 2 remaining profiles can be configured and written by the end-user. meaning if you can find a sweet spot for your memory (frequency, timings, and voltage wise) you can store that profile to SPD. 

PCI Express 5.0

Alder Lake will enable PCI Express 5.0, which will more than double the bandwidth available from Gen 4, reaching a whopping 64 GB/s over 16 lanes, as predicted by rumors and now confirmed by Intel. Comparatively, PCIe Gen 3.0 (which is fast) can carry 16 GB/s across 16 lanes. Interconnects will be required to connect everything together. AMD refers to this as the infinity fabric, whereas Intel refers to it as the compute fabric; two distinct names for the same concept. The DMI interface between CPU and chipset also has received a massive upgrade to DMI 4.0, 16GT/s (PCIe 4.0 x8).

The Z690 chipset

Intriguing is the diagram for the Z690 chipset, which is the highest-end model released first. The CPU has 16 (or 2 times 8 PCIe 5.0 lanes), which can be used for graphics or storage, in addition to four NVME 4.0 lanes. What was previously said appears to be correct; the chipset has 12 times gen4 and 16 times gen3 processors. Additional features include support for two DIMMs per memory channel and dual-channel DDR4-3200 or DDR5-4800 with two DIMMs per memory channel.

• Supports both DDR4 and DDR5, with standard data rates of at least DDR5-4800 compliant on four-module configurations.
• Will automatically use Gear 2 or Gear 4 modes for DDR5, running the memory controller at ½ or ¼ speed, depending on data rate.
• Retains 20 CPU PCIe lanes, but 16 of those are increased to PCIe 5.0 data rates.
• Uses DMI 4.0 to connect the CPU to the PCH (chipset) at PCIe 4.0 x8 speeds.
• New PCH has four more PCIe lanes, including 12 PCIe 4.0 and 16 PCIe 3.0.
• Supports up to four USB 3.2 2×2 (20Gb/s) ports.
• New CNVio modules support Intel Wi-Fi 6E, and possibly Wi-Fi 7.
• Uses “Big-Bigger” hybrid cores to improve thread handling while retaining 125W TDP.
• Lower stack height requires new CPU cooler bracket.

Gear 2 is utilized in this case, which means that the controller runs at half the frequency of the memory, resulting in considerable latencies. Gear 1 is also used in this case. It is also possible to use Gear 4 for the expected high speeds at which ddr5 is expected to operate, with the clock speed being reduced by half once more. In order to improve performance, the Direct Media Interface link is being upgraded from DMI 3.0 x8 to PCIe 4.0. Additionally, there are 5 and 1 gigabit Ethernet, four USB 3.2 gen 2x2 ports, and WiFi 6E and 7 standards. The overclockable K and KF models, as well as the Z690 chipset and the remainder of the Alder Lake lineup, are slated to be available in the first week of October, with the rest of the Alder Lake lineup debuting at CES 2022 totalling up-to 60 SKUs (in all segments).

Processor reviews will be released next week. Intel has supplied us with samples so check out our front page for news, updates, and reviews. You will be able to acquire the new hardware starting on Thursday, November 4 - but you should first check out our website to see if doing so is a sensible idea.