Intel Launches its 12th Gen Core Processors to Regain Competitive Edge

New family of processors is built on the Intel 7 node.

Intel’s Gregory M. Bryant shows off a 12th Gen Intel Core processor at the Intel Innovation keynote presentation on October 27, 2021. (Source: Intel.)

Intel’s Gregory M. Bryant shows off a 12th Gen Intel Core processor at the Intel Innovation keynote presentation on October 27, 2021. (Source: Intel.)

During the Intel Innovation event at the end of last month, Intel announced the release of its 12th generation of Intel Core processors. The new lineup will include 60 processors, the first six of which became available internationally on November 4.

The new line of processors are built on the latest Intel 7 process (a 10nm node previously referred to as Enhanced SuperFin) and a new hybrid architecture of Performance-cores and Efficient-cores (P-cores and E-cores). The new Intel Core i9-12900K desktop processor is the “world’s best gaming processor,” according to Intel. The new chip has a max turbo boost of 5.2GHz with up to 16 cores and 24 threads.

“The performance hybrid architecture of 12th Gen Intel Core processors is an architectural shift made possible by close co-engineering of software and hardware that will deliver new levels of leadership performance for generations,” said Gregory Bryant, executive vice president and general manager of the Client Computing Group at Intel. “This begins with the arrival of our flagship Core i9-12900K… and you will see even more incredible experiences as we ship the rest of the 12th Gen family and beyond.”

According to Intel, the new processors are the first in the industry to offer DDR5 memory and PCIe 5.0 support. The company also claims that the multi-threaded performance of the new processors enables content creation that’s twice as fast as the previous generation.

(Source: Intel.)

(Source: Intel.)

The Intel Thread Director allows the new Efficient-cores to work seamlessly with the Performance-cores by guiding the operating system to place the correct thread on the proper core.

“We face daunting compute challenges that can only be solved through revolutionary architectures and platforms … Our talented architects and engineers made possible all this technology magic,” praised Pat Gelsinger, Intel CEO.

In addition to the gaming capabilities of the Intel Core i9-12900K, Intel is also boosting content creation performance with its DDR5-equipped 12th Gen processors, delivering up to 37 percent faster 3D modeling, 36 percent faster photo editing, 32 percent faster video editing, and 100 percent faster multi-frame rendering.

The new processors are also designed so users can turbocharge performance with tools that can overclock the Efficient-cores and DDR5 memory. These overclocking features are part of the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU) 7.5.

“We’re at the beginning of a new era for the PC led by the introduction of Windows 11,” said Panos Panay, executive vice president and chief product officer at Microsoft. “With Windows 11 and Intel’s new Thread Director technology, users will see their PC performance reach new heights on the new 12th Gen Intel Core family of processors.”