Provantage (via Harukaze5719 ), a retailer in the U.S., has listed Intel's 12th Generation Alder Lake K-series processors. Alder Lake is the first hybrid desktop chip on a mainstream platform and will compete for a spot on the list of best CPUs on the market.
Although Provantage is a store that's been around for a bit, we recommend you approach the pricing with caution. Alder Lake won't debut until Fall 2021, so Provantage's pricing could just be placeholders. However, the prices do fall in line with the ones from another retailer so they may be a very good indication of how Intel could price the heterogeneous processors.
The store revealed the pricing for the Core i9-12900K, Core i7-12700K, Core i5-12600K and their corresponding KF-series counterparts. The price difference is between $26 to $27 so that's seemingly what Intel's Gen12 Xe graphics is worth. It's not a huge surprise, considering that Alder Lake has been rumored to retain the Xe-LP graphics engine that's inside Intel's Tiger Lake chips. Desktop Alder Lake parts will sport up to 32 EUs.
Intel 12th Generation Alder Lake Pricing
| Processor | Boxed Pricing | Tray Pricing | Base / Boost Clocks (GHz) | L3 Cache (MB) | TDP (W) | Boxed PN | Tray PN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core i9-12900K | $604.89 | $605.92 | 3.2 / 5.2 | 30 | 125 | BX8071512900K | CM8071504549230 |
| Core i9-12900KF | $578.13 | $578.49 | 3.2 / 5.2 | 30 | 125 | BX8071512900KF | CM8071504549231 |
| Core i7-12700K | $422.17 | $420.26 | 3.6 / 5.0 | 25 | 125 | BX8071512700K | CM8071504553828 |
| Core i7-12700KF | $395.61 | $392.36 | 3.6 / 5.0 | 25 | 125 | BX8071512700KF | CM8071504553829 |
| Core i5-12600K | $288.77 | $283.59 | 3.7 / 4.9 | 20 | 125 | BX8071512600K | CM8071504555227 |
| Core i5-12600KF | $261.77 | $263.15 | 3.7 / 4.9 | 20 | 125 | BX8071512600KF | CM8071504555228 |
Provantage has the Core i9-12900K and Core i9-12900KF up for $604.89 and $578.13, respectively. The pricing looks modest in comparison to a previous retailer who posted the same processors up for $705 and $674, respectively. If we look at the current Rocket Lake lineup, the Core i9-11900K and Core i9-11900KF sell for $549 and $529, respectively. Apparently, the Alder Lake equivalents carry a $55 and $49 premium.
Pricing-wise, the Core i9 models compete with the Ryzen 9 5900X , which has a $549 MSRP. However, AMD's chip features 12 Zen 3 cores with SMT and while the Core i9-12900K has 16 cores in total, only eight of them are the high-performance Golden Cove cores. It'll be interesting to see how Golden Cove stacks up to Zen 3 with a four-core disadvantage.
The Core i7-12700K and Core i7-12700KF, on the other hand, may cost $422.17 and $395.61, respectively. For comparison, the other retailer had the processors listed for $495 and $464, respectively. The Core i7-11700K and Core i7-11700KF are available for $409 and $384, respectively. We're looking at a price increase between $11 and $13, which sound reasonable.
The only Zen 3 chip in that price range is the Ryzen 7 5800X that debuted at $449. This might be a fair fight as the Core i7 SKU is rumored to rock eight Golden Cove cores and the Ryzen 7 5800X with eight Zen 3 cores.
The Core i5-12600K and Core i5-12600KF will likely be the favorite SKUs for gamers. The first may carry a $288.77 and the latter priced at $261.77. Again, Provantage's pricing is lower than the other U.S. retailer that listed the Core i5-12600K for $343 and the Core i5-12600KF for $312. The Core i5-11600K and Core i5-11600KF typically go for $272 and $247, respectively. With Alder Lake, it's a $16 higher price tag on the former and a $14 premium on the latter.
The Core i5 Alder Lake chips are expected to arrive with six Golden Cove cores and would have to face the hexa-core Ryzen 5 5600X that retails for $299.