Intel Core i9-12900K

Finally, Team Blue’s Hybrid 10nm design is here

- JACOB RIDLEY

ALDER LAKE is Intel’s first desktop processor to use the Intel 7 process node, which was previously referred to as Intel 10nm SuperFin, and also the first in a long time to not use the 14nm process node.

Oh, how times have changed. Intel has finally broken free from the shackles of 14nm and managed to escape the node that was once so congested it caused an embarrassing pile-up for the chipmaker. With Alder Lake, Intel is no longer tied to that node and so it is free to do more in the space it does have. The company says it even expects to shift plenty of Alder Lake chips this side of New Year. So, perhaps this is some silicon you will actually be able to buy at launch.

The most notable change of all for Intel Alder Lake, though, is the hybrid Core architecture. What this means is that Intel is stuffing all of the K-series 12th-Generation chips, those that are arriving at launch, with two types of cores: Performance Cores (P-Cores) and Efficient Cores (E-Cores).