In brief: Intel's 12th-gen processors are widely expected to be faster, hotter, and more expensive than their predecessors. How much more expensive will be key to Intel's success in persuading consumers to upgrade. A recent listing at a reputable US vendor suggests the price premium over Rocket Lake will be minor.
As we get closer to the official Alder Lake-S reveal, more hints about pricing are popping up online. The latest comes from US retailer Provantage (thanks, @harukaze5719), and paints a relatively positive picture for Intel's 12th generation processors.
Earlier this week, Provantage briefly accepted pre-orders for some Alder Lake CPUs, even though we're weeks away from their official release. According to the vendor's list pricing, the new CPUs won't be significantly more expensive than their Rocket Lake counterparts. That is, if you manage to place an order before scalpers start sending their bots to work.
| Model | Boxed Price (w/o VAT) | Tray Price (w/o VAT) | Cores/Threads | L3 Cache Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core i9-12900K | $604.89 | $605.92 | 16/24 | 30MB |
| Core i7-12900KF | $578.13 | $578.49 | 16/24 | 30MB |
| Core i7-12700K | $422.17 | $420.26 | 12/20 | 25MB |
| Core i7-12700KF | $395.61 | $392.26 | 12/20 | 25MB |
| Core i5-12600K | $288.77 | $283.59 | 10/16 | 16MB |
| Core i5-12600KF | $261.77 | $263.15 | 10/16 | 16MB |
It looks like the Core i9-12900K and Core i9-12900KF hybrid CPUs will set you back $604.89 and $578.13, respectively. That's for the boxed models, but it appears that tray pricing is only a few dollars less. This is interesting, because Intel is said to debut redesigned "Laminar" stock coolers with the new CPUs that should perform close to AMD's Wraith series.
These prices are lower than those revealed in a separate leak. At the same time, the listed Alder Lake-S CPUs still carry a noticeable premium compared to the street prices of Rocket Lake equivalents.This is to be expected due to the new hybrid design and supposedly better performance-per-watt of Intel's 12th generation CPUs.
At $288.77 and $261.77, the Core i5-12600K and Core i5-12600KF look quite attractive for people who want to upgrade their aging PC or build a new one without breaking the bank. If performance is also on point when compared to the Core i5-11600K or AMD's Ryzen R5 5600X, the new CPUs might have a chance at slowing AMD's gains in the gamer/enthusiast processor space.