[CES 2022] More 12th Gen Intel Core processors, new Intel Laminar Coolers and Intel H670, B660 and H610 motherboards
One rather odd move from Intel with the 12th Gen Intel Core processors was that they announced the unlocked options two months before they announced the locked offerings. I guess they wanted people to really see what Alder Lake can do when pushed to its absolute limits? In any case, Intel has finally announced the full 12th Gen Intel Core processors lineup which come with all-new stock coolers, along with the more wallet-friendly Intel H670, Intel B660 and Intel H610 platforms.
12th Gen Intel Core series from as low as $97
As with the unlocked 12th Gen Intel Core offerings, the Intel Core i9-12900 promises an appreciable gaming performance uplift from the last-gen Intel Core i9-11900 as well. On the productivity end, the Intel Core i5-12600 is what Intel pits against the AMD Ryzen 7 5700G, which is really interesting, as the Core i5-12600 is actually quite a bit cheaper than the Ryzen 7 5700G, MSRP vs MSRP.
Speaking of the Core i5-12600, it is worth mentioning that starting from the Core i5-12600, all the lower-end 12th Gen Intel Core desktop processors do not feature the ground-breaking hybrid architecture. The 12th Gen Intel Core i5 and Core i3 options, as well as the Alder Lake-based Pentium and Celeron offerings only pack P-cores. While I do believe that having more E-cores might help with background tasks, as we saw in the benchmarks above, we probably don’t need the E-cores in the more value-oriented offerings.
Along with the new processors, Intel also designed the new Intel Laminar Coolers that will be bundled with the locked 12th Gen Intel Core desktop processors. They are still top-down designs, but you can see that Intel put a bit of effort into it, especially with the Intel Laminar RH1 Cooler that even has controllable aRGB lighting.
Locked 12th Gen Intel Core Desktop Processors Specs and Prices
| Cores / Threads | P-core / E-core Base Clock (GHz) | Max Turbo (GHz) | Single P-core / Single E-core Turbo (GHz) | Intel Smart Cache (L3) | TDP | Max Turbo Power | Graphics | Price | |
| 12th Gen Intel Core (65W) | |||||||||
| Intel Core i9-12900 | 16C (8P + 8E) / 24T | 2.4 / 1.8 | 5.1 | 5.0 / 3.8 | 30MB | 65W | 202W | Intel UHD Graphics 770 | $489 |
| Intel Core i9-12900F | 16C (8P + 8E) / 24T | 2.4 / 1.8 | 5.1 | 5.0 / 3.8 | 30MB | 65W | 202W | N/A | $464 |
| Intel Core i7-12700 | 12C (8P + 4E) / 20T | 2.1 / 1.6 | 4.9 | 4.8 / 3.6 | 25MB | 65W | 180W | Intel UHD Graphics 770 | $339 |
| Intel Core i7-12700F | 12C (8P + 4E) / 20T | 2.1 / 1.6 | 4.9 | 4.8 / 3.6 | 25MB | 65W | 180W | N/A | $314 |
| Intel Core i5-12600 | 6C (6P + 0E) / 12T | 3.3 | N/A | 4.8 | 18MB | 65W | 117W | Intel UHD Graphics 770 | $223 |
| Intel Core i5-12500 | 6C (6P + 0E) / 12T | 3.0 | N/A | 4.6 | 18MB | 65W | 117W | Intel UHD Graphics 770 | $202 |
| Intel Core i5-12400 | 6C (6P + 0E) / 12T | 2.5 | N/A | 4.4 | 18MB | 65W | 117W | Intel UHD Graphics 730 | $192 |
| Intel Core i5-12400F | 6C (6P + 0E) / 12T | 2.5 | N/A | 4.4 | 18MB | 65W | 117W | N/A | $167 |
| Intel Core i3-12300 | 4C (4P + 0E) / 8T | 3.5 | N/A | 4.4 | 12MB | 60W | 89W | Intel UHD Graphics 730 | $143 |
| Intel Core i3-12100 | 4C (4P + 0E) / 8T | 3.3 | N/A | 4.3 | 12MB | 60W | 89W | Intel UHD Graphics 730 | $122 |
| Intel Core i3-12100F | 4C (4P + 0E) / 8T | 3.3 | N/A | 4.3 | 12MB | 58W | 89W | N/A | $97 |
| 12th Gen Intel Core T-series (35W) | |||||||||
| Intel Core i9-12900T | 16C (8P + 8E) / 24T | 1.4 / 1.0 | 4.9 | 4.8 / 3.6 | 30MB | 35W | 106W | Intel UHD Graphics 770 | $489 |
| Intel Core i7-12700T | 12C (8P + 4E) / 20T | 1.4 / 1.0 | 4.7 | 4.6 / 3.4 | 25MB | 35W | 99W | Intel UHD Graphics 770 | $339 |
| Intel Core i5-12600T | 6C (6P + 0E) / 12T | 2.1 | N/A | 4.6 | 18MB | 35W | 74W | Intel UHD Graphics 770 | $223 |
| Intel Core i5-12500T | 6C (6P + 0E) / 12T | 2.0 | N/A | 4.4 | 18MB | 35W | 74W | Intel UHD Graphics 770 | $202 |
| Intel Core i5-12400T | 6C (6P + 0E) / 12T | 1.8 | N/A | 4.2 | 12MB | 35W | 74W | Intel UHD Graphics 730 | $192 |
| Intel Core i3-12300T | 4C (4P + 0E) / 8T | 2.3 | N/A | 4.2 | 12MB | 35W | 69W | Intel UHD Graphics 730 | $143 |
| Intel Core i3-12100T | 4C (4P + 0E) / 8T | 2.2 | N/A | 4.1 | 12MB | 35W | 69W | Intel UHD Graphics 730 | $122 |
| Pentium & Celeron | |||||||||
| Intel Pentium Gold G7400 | 2C (2P + 0E) / 4T | 3.7 | N/A | N/A | 6MB | 46W | N/A | Intel UHD Graphics 710 | $64 |
| Intel Pentium Gold G7400T | 2C (2P + 0E) / 4T | 3.1 | N/A | N/A | 4MB | 35W | N/A | Intel UHD Graphics 710 | $64 |
| Intel Celeron G6900 | 2C (2P + 0E) / 2T | 3.4 | N/A | N/A | 6MB | 46W | N/A | Intel UHD Graphics 710 | $42 |
| Intel Celeron G6900T | 2C (2P + 0E) / 2T | 2.8 | N/A | N/A | 4MB | 35W | N/A | Intel UHD Graphics 710 | $42 |
Intel H670, B660 and H610 platforms now available
As it makes little sense to pair the locked 12th Gen Intel Core processors with the premium Intel Z690 motherboards, the new Intel H670, Intel B660 and Intel H610 serve as a more affordable entry point into the world of 12th Gen Intel Core processors. There are some features cut off here and there, but Intel is apparently leaving the decision to support the new PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 features on Alder Lake up to board vendors. With that said, they do expect to see more PCIe 4.0 and DDR4 boards featuring these new chipsets, as they are targeted towards a more budget-conscious demographic anyway.
If you are interested, you can check out the review of the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi, which is a solid example of a value-oriented Intel B660 motherboard.
Project Athena on desktops?
Intel will also be bringing the promise of a great user experience to the desktop scene, with Project Athena-based Desktop Designs. Similar to their laptop counterparts, the key experience includes performance, responsiveness, security and immersion. On top of that, privacy is also expected to improve, with the Project Athena-based Desktop Designs slated to bring features like presence detection to quickly lock and unlock depending on whether you are in front of your machine.
Pokdepinion: 12th Gen Intel Core definitely looks a lot more enticing now, especially for those who are more concerned about bang for buck than flat out performance!
