New Intel Alder Lake rumor suggests CPU launch is imminent
Launch and pre-orders kick off next week on October 27, in theory
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AnotherAlder Lakerumor has been aired with sources claiming to have confirmedIntel’s intended launch date is indeed November 4, as waspreviously rumored for the 12th-gen processors.
Note that this isn’t an official confirmation at all, just an indication fromWccftechthat its sources for Intel leaks are apparently sure that November 4 will be the day that the new CPUs are available to buy, and that Intel will launch Alder Lake a week before that (as evidenced by a leaked document – or rather, a snippet of one – Wccftech published).
To be precise, the claim is that Alder Lake processors will be revealed on October 27 at the Intel Innovation event (part of the Intel ON series), and the chips will then be up for pre-order running up to the on-sale date of November 4. Naturally, Z690 motherboards will be out too, as you’ll need a new board for the redesigned Alder Lake chips (which are a different shape).
This falls in line with what the rumor mill has been consistently saying for some time now, and makes sense given the frequency – and kind – of leaks we’ve been seeing around Alder Lake. More andmore spillage has been happening of late, and we’ve started to see game benchmarks too.
The leak also shows which processors Intel will deploy in this initial release, and it’ll be just the main chips of the range, with K (unlocked) and KF (unlocked, with no integrated graphics) CPUs. Namely the Core i9-12900K (and KF), Core i7-12700K (and KF), plus Core i5-12600K (and KF).
Analysis: Staged rollout of chips, as expected
After those initial CPUs have been pushed out, the sources here reckon that the other Alder Lake chips will debut in the ‘following weeks’, probably around CES 2022, meaning the start of January. In other words, it might be a couple of months before more 12th-gen models hit the market, like the wallet-friendlier Core i3 chips and the likes of the Core i5-12400 – theprocessor that could be AMD’s worst nightmare– as well as the ‘T’ variants for Alder Lake.
Withcomponent supply issues still very much a big problemfor the tech industry at large, it’s hardly surprising that Intel would choose to focus on a small amount of core processors for Alder Lake to begin with, to ensure these are out in a decent quantity (with the Core i9 and i7 offerings also being the biggest money spinners in terms of the profit made on these premium products, to boot).
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Speaking of profit, perhaps the biggest remaining unknown with Alder Lake is how much Intel is planning to charge for 12th-gen models. Sadly, the buzz on the grapevine thus far indicates that we could be looking at a hike from current Rocket Lake pricing, andmaybe a bigger one than some folks will be comfortable with. As ever, though, we can’t get carried away around any of these rumors, this launch one included…
Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - ‘I Know What You Did Last Supper’ - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).
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