The ASUS PRIME B660-PLUS D4 has allegedly been inadvertently sent instead of an ASUS Z690 motherboard to a reviewer for Alder Lake testing. The reviewer provided images of the product packaging to VideoCardz which clearly show a label indicating PCIe 4.0 support. This has come as a surprise as the Intel 12th Generation Alder Lake processors include attached PCIe 5.0 lanes separate from the chipset. The B660 chipset will target the mid-range market so the lack of PCIe 5.0 support on this specific motherboard may be a cost-cutting or artificial separation measure.

The first consumer PCIe 5.0 graphics cards and SSDs aren't expected to arrive until H1 2022 and will likely come at a significant premium so the exclusion of support could make sense for a more budget-oriented platform. Intel is also preparing to launch a higher-end H670 chipset which is expected to include PCIe 5.0 support. We cannot be sure if this label is accurate and if the lack of PCIe 5.0 support will apply to all B660 motherboards so take these rumors with a healthy dose of skepticism until the chipset and motherboards are officially unveiled.

EK, is now offering an EK-AIO LGA1700 upgrade kit for the new Intel LGA1700 socket, accommodating Intel Alder Lake processors. In light of reusability initiatives, EK is offering future and pre-existing customers an option to reuse the EK-AIO line of closed-loop coolers for new/upcoming CPUs. The EK-AIO LGA1700 upgrade kit is designed to offer optimal coverage of the CPU's IHS for all EK-AIO models. It includes a metal backplate, a rubber gasket, screws, washers, and thermal paste.

The EK-AIO LGA1700 upgrade kit is available in EK Webshop for free (Shipping fees are covered by the customer) and is limited to one piece per order. There is no need for proof of purchase or an invoice for an EK-AIO. If any customer requires this upgrade kit for multiple PCs, please reach out directly to our customer support team. The upgrade kit will also be available on multiple marketplaces and with select Europe and APAC-based resellers in the following weeks.

A couple of days ago, GIGABYTE boasted with an overclocking record made using one of the company's motherboards. Allegedly, the company has achieved a world record of Alder Lake overclocking, causing the CPU to go up to 8 GHz frequency. However, such a claim was rather sketchy, according to the CPU-Z developer "Doc TB." In the later investigation, he concluded that the submission took advantage of a false reporting algorithm that gave HiCookie and GIGABYTE a chance to submit a world record as validated by the CPU-Z validator program. Further investigation concluded that the program reported incorrect numbers, and GIGABYTE's world record of 8 GHz on Alder Lake had been made invalid as of now.

The CPU-Z validation team is working hard to update the validation algorithm and make it more challenging for false submissions to appear valid. One interesting thing to point out is that HiCookie and GIGABYTE have already attempted to post false records with the launch of AMD's Ryzen 5000 series of processors, where they claimed that the CPU managed to reach 6,362.16 MHz, where in reality it was running at 5,683.94 MHz. This overclocker submitted those faulty results to HWBot as fake at the time and has now done it again.

With Intel's Alder Lake processor generation launch, the platform merges support of two different DDR memory standards: DDR4 and DDR5. While there are motherboards that offer the latest DDR5 standard, there are boards that provide users to use the cheaper DDR4 memory option in their builds as we transition to the newer standard and newer memory becomes more available. The DDR5 products are currently on the expensive side, and DDR4 represents a good choice for creating a PC build in the following years, at least in the transition to DDR5 standard's better availability and lower prices.

According to Moore's Law is Dead Twitter account, the DDR4 support may reside for a little longer on Intel's platforms. As per their sources, Intel's 13th generation Core processors, codenamed Raptor Lake, will carry over DDR4 platform support and possibly retain compatibility with the 12th generation Alder Lake platform. That means that the Z690 and future H670/B660/H610 boards could be compatible with Raptor Lake-S and also carry support for the DDR4 memory protocol for it. This could indicate that Alder Lake-S buyers that build PCs with DDR4 memory could have a viable processor upgrade path without upgrading the memory. Of course, information like this should be taken with a grain of salt.

Performance reviews of the Intel 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake-S" processors are out, and spell big trouble for AMD Ryzen 5000 series processors at their current prices. Until the company can refresh these processors, it must content with price-cuts. Early signs of these are already out. American retailer Micro Center just put out a sub-$300 price for the Ryzen 7 5800X, at $299. Prices of the Ryzen 9 5900X and Ryzen 5 5600X remain unchanged, at $500 and $280, respectively, but it's only conceivable that these too will change. At current prices, the Core i7-12700K offers 15% higher performance per Dollar than the Ryzen 7 5800X.

For those who do not familiar with PC DIY users, MSI also offers pre-built systems. The only thing that customers should worry about is what games you should play and MSI will take over the rest parts. MSI desktop line-up fully implements the concept of G.A.M.E. unlimited into the products, including performance, aesthetics, connectivity, and experience. A prebuild PC user only just enjoys the plug-and-play experience, the rest of the software and hardware integrated MSI will help you to complete the processing, while you get the product.

The new MSI gaming desktops are equipped with Intel's latest 12th Gen Alder Lake processors. The advanced Intel 7 process technology with hybrid architecture combining P-Core (Performance) and E-Core (Efficiency) increases multi-thread performance by up to 47%. The gaming performance also has more than 13% increase compared to the previous generation. The full lineup of K Series gaming desktops adopted DDR5 memory with read speed up to 60% higher than the previous generation equipped with DDR4. This can provide players with faster data reading. In addition, the MSI 12th Gen gaming desktops are all equipped with Windows 11. The Direct Storage technology can help players quickly read the games while the Auto HDR function can even improve SDR game scenes to HDR quality. This time MSI launched the all new 12th Gen Series Intel unlocked processors models including MEG Aegis Ti5, MEG Trident X and MAG Codex X5. All of these models embody the G.A.M.E. Unlimited sprit to bring gamers to the new era of gaming.

PNY today announces specifications and availability for its upcoming Desktop Performance and XLR8 Gaming DDR5 memory products. The three models include the overclocked XLR8 Gaming MAKO and MAKO RGB models, running at 5600 MHz and a CAS latency of 36, as well as the PNY Performance model that follows JEDEC standards.

The XLR8 Gaming MAKO and MAKO RGB modules have been designed to meet the needs of gamers and enthusiasts. The designs for both modules feature aluminium heat spreaders with elements inspired by the powerful, fast and aggressive Mako shark from which they get their name. An XLR8 logo and GAMING text is proudly emblazoned on the side of the module and silver angled relief lines are machined into the heatspreader to reflect other components' lighting and provide unmatched flair and style.

The launch of Intel's Alder Lake processsors has opened an exciting chapter for team blue and motherboard makers who are finally transitioning to new technologies like DDR5 and PCIe Gen5 standards. Today, GIGABYTE AORUS has prepared a complete lineup of motherboards designed to satisfy all kinds of workloads powered by Alder Lake processors as these AORUS Z690 motherboards are about to hit the market. These new boards include an upgraded feature set like 16+ phases power delivery on all boards, upgraded heatsinks to keep VRM temperatures under control, and built-in DDR5 overclocking features.

The event will be live-streamed on YouTube, so tune in to the First Look Event as the AORUS team gives an in-depth overview and cover the performance increase you can experience with Intel 12th gen CPU and DDR5 memory on the AORUS Z690 platform. They will be going over the new platform's entire lineup and feature set, so make sure you get to the event on time. It will start at 18:00 UTC zone, and you can tune in to watch here: AORUS Z690 First Look Event.

We're ready for the launch of Intel's 12th Gen Core processor, Alder Lake! We can announce that almost the entire current Alphacool range of CPU coolers and CPU AIOs are compatible with the LGA socket 1700. A mounting kit included in the scope of delivery enables immediate use on Intel's LGA 1700 socket. The compatible CPU blocks include: Eisblock XPX, Eisblock XPX Pro Aurora, Eisblock XPX Aurora, Eisbaer (Solo), Eisbaer LT (Solo), Eisblock XPX 1U, Eisblock XPX Pro 1U, Eisblock Aurora XP³, and NexXxoS XP³. The compatible AIO coolers include: Eisbaer, Eisbaer Aurora, Eisbaer Extreme, Eisbaer LT, and Eisbaer Pro Aurora. The complete list can be found below.

Cooler Master announces today it will be providing mounting upgrades for Intel's Alder Lake LGA1700 release. Cooler Master will provide mounting kits for Intel's new 12th Generation Alder Lake LGA1700 CPUs, allowing customers to use existing coolers with the new platform. Additionally, Cooler Master's current coolers will soon include LGA1700 mounting hardware directly out of box.

The LGA1700 mounting kits will be provided for the majority of current coolers on market with the launch of LGA1700 CPUs and motherboards. The LGA1700 brackets will be available from Cooler Master's online store for North America and Europe regions and customers. Brackets will be available for North America customers on the online store.

Thermaltake, the leading PC DIY premium brand for cooling, gaming gear, and enthusiast memory solutions, is pleased to announce their product compatibility with the latest Intel 12th Generation Alder Lake desktop processors and the availability of LGA 1700 mounting kits for its current desktop CPU coolers. All Thermaltake TOUGHAIR and TOUGHLIQUID coolers come bundled with the LGA 1700 socket bracket and fully support users upgrading to the new platform. Thermaltake also provides free upgrade kits for existing CPU cooler customers on qualifying products. Customers will need to contact Thermaltake to get their free LGA 1700 upgrade kit.

Intel Alder Lake desktop processors utilize a new socket, LGA 1700, which has more pins and is more prominent in size than the previous editions, will require a new mounting bracket to be compatible with the existing Thermaltake coolers. In the pursuit of creating the perfect user experience, Thermaltake TOUGHLIQUID and TOUGHAIR are ready for socket LGA 1700 out of the box, and the LGA 1700 bracket is included in the package. Meanwhile, users who have already purchased TOUGHLIQUID and FLOE RC liquid cooler can contact Thermaltake to receive an LGA 1700 free upgrade kit. Thermaltake Customer Support can be contacted by the direct line at +1 (800) 988-1088, live chat or via request form here.

Intel's 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake-S" silicon apparently comes in two variants based on core count. The first one is a larger variant with 8 P cores and 8 E cores, while the second variant is a visibly smaller die with only 6 P cores, no E cores. This was revealed by an MSI Insider video presentation where pictures of LGA1700 packages with the two die types were shown off.

MSI also confirmed die-sizes and dimensions of the two. The larger C0 die measures 10.5 mm x 20.5 mm, working out to 215.25 mm² area. The smaller H0 die measures 10.5 mm x 15.5 mm, and a die area of 162.75 mm². The H0 silicon completely lacks "Gracemont" E-core clusters, and physically features six "Golden Cove" P cores. It's possible that given the 3 MB L3 slice size on the larger C0 silicon, the smaller H0 silicon physically features 18 MB of shared L3 cache.

Today, PC system integrator MAINGEAR announced that all-new 12th Gen Intel Core processors are available for pre-order across its product line of award-winning custom gaming desktop PCs and workstations — including the recently launched MAINGEAR R1 | RAZER Edition. 12th Gen Intel Core (Alder Lake-S) processors are built for the next generation of gaming, featuring Intel's new performance hybrid architecture on unlocked processors. Performance-cores and Efficient-cores (P-cores & E-cores) combined into a single CPU divide and conquer workloads, for multitasking that does not compromise on performance in gaming or productivity tasks. MAINGEAR will offer the following 12th Gen Intel Core processors as a configuration option across their stable of gaming desktops and workstations: the Intel Core i9-12900K, Intel Core i7-12700K, and Intel Core i5-12600K.

12th Gen Intel Core series CPUs are now available for pre-order as a configuration option across multiple custom MAINGEAR gaming desktops and workstations — including PC Mag's Editor's Choice award-winning VYBE, RUSH, MAINGEAR Pro Max workstations, and the newest MAINGEAR R1 | RAZER Edition. The purchase of any MAINGEAR Intel-based system additionally includes a game bundle featuring the Crysis Remastered Trilogy and Humankind. MAINGEAR PCs featuring new 12th Gen Intel CPUs can be equipped with a selection of Z690 Motherboards from MSI and ASUS, DDR4 memory, and paired with MAINGEAR's exclusive APEX hand-crafted water cooling solution that unlocks the top performance potential of any PC.

Kingston Technology, revealed today it has unleashed its cutting-edge Kingston FURY Beast DDR5. Kingston FURY Beast DDR5 arrives in sync with the launch of the Intel Z690 Chipset and 12th Gen Intel Core processors (code-named "Alder Lake-S"). This marks the first platform to utilize the new memory standard, bringing the performance and data integrity advancements of DDR5 to a global audience.

Taking speed, capacity, and reliability even further, Kingston FURY Beast DDR5 delivers an arsenal of enhanced features like on-die ECC (ODECC) for improved stability at extreme speeds, dual 32-bit subchannels for increased efficiency, and on-module power management integrated circuit (PMIC) to provide juice where it's needed most. When gaming at the most extreme settings, live streaming at 4K+ or pushing large animation and 3D rendering, Kingston FURY Beast DDR5 is the level-up needed while seamlessly linking style and performance.

EK, the premium liquid cooling gear manufacturer, and MSI, a world-leading gaming brand, have partnered up once again to launch the next-gen MSI CARBON motherboard and EK-Quantum monoblock combo. The brand new EK-Quantum MSI MPG Z690 CARBON EK X D-RGB is based on the latest Z690 chipset and supports Intel 12th gen Alder Lake CPUs, this motherboard offers unparalleled cooling for the CPU, VRM section, and the first slot m.2 SSD thanks to the purpose-designed monoblock.

MSI's world-class engineering team and EK's industry-leading thermal engineers worked together to improve the previous-gen solution and bring even more benefits to the newest Intel Alder Lake platform. The MPG Z690 Carbon EK X allows maximum performance without the noisy environment, providing you with countless hours of uninterrupted gameplay while monitoring the flow in your loop via the integrated flow indicator. And to make sure your first assembly goes without a hitch, an EK-Leak Tester was included in the package.

Intel today formally launched the 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake" desktop processors. With it, Intel claims to have developed not just the best processors for gaming, but also close the overall performance gap with AMD, even against its top 16-core chips. "Alder Lake" is Intel's first Hybrid core architecture for the desktop, with 8 "performance" cores sitting next to 8 "efficient" ones in a configuration not unlike Arm big.LITTLE. The Intel Thread Director middleware gives the operating system awareness of the Hybrid core topology. Intel is only debuting the unlocked "K" and "KF" models spanning the Core i9, Core i7, and Core i5 brand extensions today, along with the top Z690 chipset. The rest of the lineup will join the product stack in 2022. Intel claims that its performance cores with near-30% IPC gains, and efficiency cores capable of Skylake-like IPCs, it is able to close the performance gap against AMD. The processors also herald a new socket, the LGA1700, along with next-gen platform I/O that includes DDR5 and PCI-Express 5.0.

We prepared a preview article with the limited amount of information we're allowed to publish today. Read it here.

Update Nov 4th: The reviews embargo has finally expired, we have the following Alder Lake reviews for you today: Core i9-12900K, Core i7-12700K, Core i5-12600K, ASUS ROG Maximum Z690 Hero, Intel Z690 Motherboard Comparison

After the recent release of our EK-Quantum Velocity² water blocks that are specifically engineered for the new LGA 1700 CPU socket and Intel Alder Lake processors, we are also happy to announce that the original Velocity water block is also able to support this new platform. The cold plate is large enough to accommodate the larger CPU IHS found on LGA 1700 CPUs and the only required part is the LGA 1700 compatible backplate.

The backplate is available in the EK webshop, free of charge, and it will also be available free of charge at major partnering retailers for the end customers. The EK-Quantum Velocity Backplate - LGA1700 is limited to one piece per order, but if any customer requires this upgrade kit for multiple PCs, please reach out directly to our customer support team.

Intel's upcoming Alder Lake-S lineup of processors is shaping up to be a rather good generational improvement. With wonders of the Intel 7 process, previously called 10 nm Enhanced SuperFin (10ESF), the processor lineup will deliver new hybrid technology, mixing new big and small cores into one package. Today, some new CPU-Z validation tests have shown up for the Intel Core i5-12600K CPU, which directly replaces the previous Core i5-11600K Rocket Lake model. With six high-performance Golden Cove and four efficient Gracemont cores, the Core i5-12600K CPU is a ten-core design with 16 threads. And compared to the 6C/12T i5-12600K CPU, the performance is much higher.

According to CPU-Z scores, the new Alder Lake processor scored 7220 and 7156 points for a multi-threaded benchmark in two tests. Compare this to the previous-generation model, which scores 4731 points, and the new chip is almost 50% faster. According to CPU-Z, the new CPU achieved this while running at a boost frequency of 4.5 GHz to 4.7 GHz.

The Intel Core i5-12600K is set to feature 6 high-performance cores and 4 high-efficiency cores running at base speeds of 3.7 GHz and 2.8 GHz respectively. These cores can boost to 4.9 GHz and 3.6 GHz with Turbo Max Boost 3.0 however we don't expect much more speed can be extracted out of them using overclocking so default performance with sufficient cooling should be close to max. We have recently seen some CPU-Z test scores for the processor from prominent leakers which show the chip scoring 746 and 7058 points in the single-threaded and multi-threaded tests when running stock on Windows 11. The processor was also tested with an unknown overclock on Windows 10 where it scored 79X and 72XX points respectively.

These scores are extremely competitive with them easily beating the Ryzen 5 5600X by 19.5% and 46.7% in single-threaded and multi-threaded tests. We still don't know where Intel will position the Core i5-12600K in the market so any judgment on the value of these processors will need to wait until release. While we don't currently know the expected MSRP for the Core i5-12600K we have seen pricing for the Core i7-12700K and Core i9-12900K at 469.99 USD and 669.99 USD respectively. Intel is expected to announce these Alder Lake desktop processors during an event on October 27th with general availability expected November 4th.

DeepCool, a global brand and manufacturer of computer hardware and peripherals for enthusiasts, today announced that it will provide free-of-charge mountings kits for Intel's upcoming LGA1700 platform, enabling customers to continue using their existing DeepCool CPU coolers on the new 12th generation Intel Core CPUs (Alder Lake S). Additionally, current and future DeepCool coolers will also include the new mounting hardware.

Intel's new CPU will follow a new hybrid architecture that will be more powerful than previous generations through the use of high-performing, efficient cores. This new architecture will have a direct impact on the appearance of the CPU, as Alder Lake features an additional 500 contacts compared to its predecessors (i.e., 1200 to 1700); as a result, the socket had to be greatly enlarged.

Intel Corporation today reported third-quarter 2021 financial results. "Q3 shone an even greater spotlight on the global demand for semiconductors, where Intel has the unique breadth and scale to lead. Our focus on execution continued as we started delivering on our IDM 2.0 commitments. We broke ground on new fabs, shared our accelerated path to regain process performance leadership, and unveiled our most dramatic architectural innovations in a decade. We also announced major customer wins across every part of our business," said Pat Gelsinger, Intel CEO. "We are still in the early stages of our journey, but I see the enormous opportunity ahead, and I couldn't be prouder of the progress we are making towards that opportunity."

In the third quarter, the company generated $9.9 billion in cash from operations and paid dividends of $1.4 billion. Intel CFO George Davis announced plans to retire from Intel in May 2022. He will continue to serve in his current role while Intel conducts a search for a new CFO and until his successor is appointed. Third-quarter revenue was led by strong recovery in the Enterprise portion of DCG and in IOTG, which saw higher demand amid recovery from the economic impacts of COVID-19. The Client Computing Group (CCG) was down due to lower notebook volumes due to industry-wide component shortages, and on lower adjacent revenue, partially offset by higher average selling prices (ASPs) and strength in desktop.

Intel has had a little streak of quirky, over-the-top retail packages for its flagship desktop processors since the 9th Generation Core i9-9900K, which carries on into the 12th Gen with that of the Core i9-12900K. Overclocking.com posted a set of unboxing images. It's important to note here, that these are images of the retail i9-12900K, and not some special package sent to reviewers.

The package involves a hard paperboard hollow cube with two open sides. You undo a set of pull-tabs that are probably held together by factory seal, to pull out a pair of plastic stands holding what looks like a stack of silicon wafers in place. This decorative plastic canister is painted in gold-chrome and disperses colors like a fabricated wafer does. You open the two halves of this "wafer" to find your processor inside, with some Styrofoam cushioning. A separate compartment in the paperboard housing contains the documentation and a case-badge.

Another day, another Intel Alder Lake leak, although this time it seems to be the same Core i9-12900K retail CPU that is being tested in China. Some additional details have been provided on its ability to overclock and although it's perfectly possible to overclock these upcoming CPUs from Intel, it's going to be hard to cool them, even for very small gains in clock speeds.

An all core P-core overclock, with the E-cores at default requires quite the Voltage bump as well, since according to the leaked information, going from 4.9 GHz and a power draw of 233 Watts, with a CPU Voltage of 1.275 V to 5.2 GHz, sees a jump of almost 100 Watts. The CPU Voltage also has to be bumped to 1.38 V in the sample used. However, pushing the CPU to 5.3 GHz requires 1.44 V and pushes the CPU power to a massive 400 W, which is high-end GPU territory. That said, we're hearing that not all CPUs need this high Voltage to hit 5.2 GHz, although we also understand that 5.3 GHz is not a speed that will be easily attained. Apparently the best way to get the most performance out of these news CPUs will be to tune the turbo settings, rather than to try and overclock them.

Here are some of the clearest shots of retail (non-ES) production versions of the upcoming Intel Core i9-12900K and i5-12600K "Alder Lake-S" desktop processors. Posted to the web by "DDAA117" on Chinese social media Zhihu, the pictures reveal the long and slender packages, with their S-spec codes: SRL4H for the i9-12900K and SRL4T for the i5-12600K. Based on what we know from older reports, the i9-12900K maxes out the "Alder Lake-S" silicon, featuring all 8 P-cores, and 8 E-cores. The i5-12600K, on the other hand, features 6 P-cores and 4 E-cores. Other areas of segmentation between the two include clock speeds, and possibly boost algorithms. The chips will be open to pre-orders from October 27, and generally available from November 4.

With only about two weeks until Intel's official launch of its Alder Lake CPUs and the Z690 chipset, it would appear that the leaks are getting kicked up a notch and the latest leak is a rather intriguing one to say the least. Gigabytes Z690 Aorus Xtreme is a rather unusual looking motherboard, in as much as you can make a motherboard that look unusual, least not with regards to the slot placement, but also for the peculiar cover over the DRAM slots.

It's not quite clear what the function of the memory cover is beyond aesthetics, if any, but it seems unlikely that it has an integrated LCD screen, although not unthinkable. Pretty much the entire board is covered in either metal or plastic, which makes this look like a real chore to build, at least if you're planning on using M.2 SSDs. The standout feature here is that the board features a pair of PCIe 5.0 x16 slots, although as per current consumer boards, the bandwidth would be shared between the slots if the second one is used, so both slots end up as x8 slots. There's also a third PCIe x16 slot, but no indication of the bandwidth available to it.