Electronics retailer Micro Center may have leaked the launch date and a couple prices for Intel’s upcoming Alder Lake desktop processors.
On Friday, Twitter users spotted listings on Micro Center's website for two Alder Lake products—a Core i9-12900K that’ll retail for $669.99 and a Core i7-12700K that’ll go for $469.99. Both listings also say the chips will arrive on Nov. 4.
If the pricing is real, that means the i9-12900K will cost $130 more than the original Intel Rocket Lake Core i9-11900K chip, which launched earlier this year. The i7-12700K, on other hand, will cost $70 extra over the Core i7-11700K.
Micro Center has since taken down the web pages, but not before internet users and journalists grabbed screenshots. The images show the Core i9-12900K will feature 16 CPU cores with a 3.2GHz base clock speed, and a 5.2GHz turbo boost speed, according to VideoCardz.
Meanwhile, the Core i7-12700K will come with 12 cores, a higher base clock speed at 3.6GHz, but a lower turbo boost speed at 5.0GHz.
However, it’s important to note that Alder Lake chips will feature a combination of “Performance Cores” and “Efficiency Cores.” Unfortunately, the listings from Micro Center don’t offer a breakdown on the exact mix for each chip.
Still, Intel plans on announcing official details about the Alder Lake processors during its Innovation Day event on Oct 27. The Micro Center listings signal that actual sales will begin a week later.
The listings add that Alder Lake chips can use both DDR4 or newly released DDR5 RAM. However, motherboard maker MSI is warning that DDR5 memory modules will initially cost 50--60% more than DDR4. So early adopters should prepare to pay up. Stay tuned for our reviews examining whether Alder Lake is worth a buy.