Even though someone managed to secure early purchases of a couple of Core i9-12900K CPUs, we still didn’t have detailed information about Intel’s upcoming line of Alder Lake chips. A (now-removed, but shown below) sale page popped up on Micro Center, suggesting the chips will be available for $669.99 when they launch on November 4th.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22948094/micro_center_alder_lake_core_i9_12900k_specs.jpg "Micro Center leaks specs and pricing for Intel’s new Alder Lake Core i9 CPU 2")
The spec sheet reveals this chip will have a 3.2GHz operating frequency, capable of 5.2GHz in Turbo Mode, with 16 cores and 30MB of L3 cache. As expected, the specs reveal it also supports DDR5 memory, PCIe Gen 5, and the Intel Z690 chipset motherboards that should go on sale at the same time.
During its Architecture Day 2021 event in August, Intel promised Alder Lake chips with 16 cores using eight performance cores and eight efficient ones. This leak lines up with the top-end promises, right down to listed support for 24 concurrent threads (two each on performance cores, one thread at a time on the efficient cores) and 125W thermal power.
Update October 21st, 2:07PM ET: Noted listing on Micro Center has been removed.
