But with Intel finally announcing its 12th generation Alder Lake processors, will it finally be able to retake the top spot in processing power? Let’s take a dive into Intel’s offering and see for ourselves what it brings to the table.
1. Intel Introduces the 10nm Processor With Hybrid Core Design
The three new processors launched on October 27, 2021, are the i9-12900K, the i7-12700K, and the i5-12600K. They’re also available in the KF models, which are chips without an integrated GPU. The main change these have over the previous generation is that they’re fabricated using the 10nm process.
One other significant design change is the new Hybrid Core Design. Ever since the launch of the Intel Core series, each processor has used the same cores. However, with the 12th generation Intel Core, we now get different Performance and Efficiency cores.
What this does is that the processor uses Performance Cores (P-Cores) for priority apps running in the foreground while the Efficiency Cores (E-Cores) are used for background tasks. For example, when you’re gaming, the P-Cores will handle your game while the E-Cores will work on background tasks, like your streaming app.
Similarly, P-Cores are best used for single-thread and lightly-threaded tasks, like games and productivity apps, while it designates highly-threaded apps to the E-Cores. This ensures that your computer makes efficient use of the available processor power.
2. Double the Cores
It has been reported that Intel has had problems with their 10nm process, which is the primary reason why the 11th generation Intel processors had fewer cores than their 10th generation offering. However, Intel seems to have solved this.
The i9-11900KB, i7-11700B, and i5-11500B had eight, eight, and six cores, respectively. But now, the 12th generation versions of these processors have 16, 12, and ten cores. These allow the processor to execute more processes simultaneously.
Furthermore, its P-Core and E-Core configuration enables the computer to prioritize and categorize tasks, ensuring that your most demanding apps get the most power.
3. Integrating New Technologies
Aside from the additional cores and faster speeds, Intel’s 12th generation chips also support newer technologies. For example, you can now run DDR5 RAM chips with speeds of up to 5,200MHz. These newer RAM sticks can also control their own power, so you can individually set the voltage each DIMM module gets as needed.
The latest Intel processors also now support PCI Express 5.0. This further develops the current PCIe 4.0 standard, with bandwidth and data transfer rates doubling over the previous generation. Although there are currently no PCIe 5.0 video cards or peripherals on the market, you can expect next-generation graphics to support this new technology.
4. Faster Benchmarks
The smaller 10nm process allows Intel to pack more semiconductors on a processor, making it run more efficiently and much faster. According to Intel’s benchmarks, the i9-12900K can run up to 100% faster than the previous generation i9-11900K. They even claim that it’s up to 30% faster than the Ryzen 5950X when gaming.
However, you should take this with a grain of salt. As of now, we still don’t have a verified benchmark from trusted third-party sources. Furthermore, all these results come from Intel, so until reviewers can get their hands on off-the-shelf processors, there’s no way for us to know how the Alder Lake chips perform in the real world.
5. Price Comparison With AMD Chips
Price-wise, Intel’s offering is competitive.
The Ryzen 5 5600X goes for around $299, while the comparable i5-12600K has an SRP of $289. Similarly, the Ryzen 7 5800X, sold at $449, is undercut by the i7-12700K at $409. Only the i9-12900K, priced at $589, is more expensive than the competing $549 Ryzen 9 5900X.
Intel 12th Gen vs. Ryzen 5000: Who Will Take the Top Spot?
On paper, the much-touted Alder Lake processors seem to be much better than the previous generation Tiger Lake chips. They also have more cores and higher power than the current AMD Zen 3 chips. However, we can only confirm this once we have the chips in our hands and installed on our PCs.
Nevertheless, it doesn’t matter who among AMD, Intel, or even Apple takes the top spot for the most powerful chip. The important thing is the competition between these chipmakers spurns further innovation in terms of price, performance, and features. And as the battle heats up between them, there is bound to be only one winner: us, the consumers.
