While not officially released, the first Intel Alder Lake Core i9-12900K Desktop CPU samples, and B660 motherboards, are now available for purchase through back channels in China. First reported by Yuuki_AnS, the CPUs are being sold in QS state, but there is no way to verify this as no further information is available.
According to Yuuki_AnS’s information, the products being sold right now are very early engineering samples. While the seller has stated that they are QS (Qualification Samples), other reports have stated that QS hasn’t made its way into production yet.
The Intel Core i9-12900K is going for the price of 8100 CNY, which is around $1250, and the B660 motherboard is being sold for 7400 CNY or around $1150. Both of these prices are nowhere close to the expected MSRP, which will be much lower.
The leaker has stated that they have not purchased the Intel Core i9-12900K CPU or the B660 motherboard for two reasons.
The first, and most obvious, is the high pricing of the two products. The second reason is that the seller is only selling to those who purchase parts in bulk. The seller has acquired around 1000 pieces of the Core i9-12900K, so we can expect to see performance tests for these chips pop up online soon.
Samples like these always show up before the official launch and should be avoided for consumers unless they are being used purely for testing and not purchased with the intention of long-term use.
The Intel Core i9-12900K is the flagship chip in the 12th Gen Alder Lake Desktop CPU lineup. It will have 8 Golden Cove cores and 8 Gracemont cores, offering a total of 16 cores and 24 threads. The P-Cores (Golden Cove) will reach max turbo speeds of 5.3GHz with 1-2 active cores and 5.0GHz with all cores active.
The E-Cores (Gracemont) will function at 3.90GHz across 1-4 cores and up to 3.7GHz when all the cores are loaded. The CPU will have 30MB of L3 cache, and the TDP values are maintained at 125W (PL1) and 228W (PL2).
Intel’s Alder Lake Desktop CPUs are expected to launch in Q4 of this year. They will be the first mainstream platform to utilize PCIe5.0 and DDR5 technology, along with a new hybrid architecture approach that has been optimized for Windows 11.
About Intel
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, in Silicon Valley. It is the world’s largest semiconductor chip manufacturer on the basis of revenue, and is the developer of the x86 series of microprocessors – the processors found in most personal computers (PCs).
Incorporated in Delaware, Intel ranked No. 46 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.
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