Acer today announced the expansion of its Predator gaming portfolio with new Predator Orion 7000 series desktops, featuring powerful performance in a stunning design, and two smart 4K gaming projectors. Further enhancing the gaming experience is the Predator gaming desk, which offers two practical surface options and a convenient storage rack.

"Predator Orion 7000-series desktops are premium, powerful rigs for serious players who demand incredible performance from even the most demanding titles," said Jeff Lee, General Manager, Stationary Computing, IT Product Business, Acer Inc. "In order to offer that next-level performance, we're excited to be among the first companies bringing the new 12th Gen Intel Core CPUs to our product portfolio."

Microsoft on October 12 put out the first Cumulative Updates for the new Windows 11 operating system, since its October 5 release. The company's monthly update packages for Windows are unofficially dubbed "patch Tuesday" updates, as they're scheduled to come out on the second Tuesday of each month. Shortly after Windows 11 launch, AMD and Microsoft jointly discovered that Windows 11 is poorly optimized for AMD Ryzen processors, which see significantly increased L3 cache latency, and the UEFI-CPPC2 (preferred cores mechanism) rendered not working. In our own testing, a Ryzen 7 2700X "Pinnacle Ridge" processor, which typically posts an L3 cache latency of 10 ns, was tested to show a latency of 17 ns. This was made much worse with the October 12 "patch Tuesday" update, driving up the latency to 31.9 ns.

AMD put out a statement on social media, which surfaced on Reddit. The company stated that patches for the two issues have been developed, and specified dates on which they'll be released. The patch for the Preferred Cores (UEFI-CPPC2) bug will be released on October 21. Customers can request the patch even earlier. By "customers," AMD is probably referring to big enterprise customers running mission-critical applications on Threadripper or EPYC-powered workstations. The L3 cache latency bug will be fixed through the Windows Update channel, its release is scheduled for October 19.

AMD today celebrated 5 Years of Ryzen, with a special video presentation by John Taylor, AMD Chief Marketing Officer, and Robert Hallock, Director of Technical Marketing. The company confirmed that its next Ryzen processors will come out only in Q1-2022. These processors will feature updated CPU core complex dies (CCDs) that combine the existing "Zen 3" microarchitecture with 64 MB of additional 3D Vertical Cache memory. AMD claims that this change improves performance by anywhere between 4% to 25% for games, amounting to the kind of performance uplifts you'd expect from a new processor generation.

AMD did not reveal whether the updated processors will be branded within the existing Ryzen 5000 series, or newer Ryzen 6000 series. If you remember, the "Zen+" microarchitecture enabled AMD to come up with a whole new generation, the Ryzen 2000 series, despite modest 4% IPC uplifts, albeit significant improvements to the boosting behavior, resulting in improved multi-threaded performance. What remains unclear is whether the updated "Zen 3" chips with 3DV Cache will herald a new platform, or whether these chips will be built on the existing Socket AM4 with DDR4 memory and PCI-Express Gen 4.

AMD disrupted a decade of $350 quad-core from Intel with its path-breaking Ryzen processor and the "Zen" microarchitecture, which enters 5th year in the market (5 years since tapeout). AMD went into the Ryzen processor launch as a company that had been written off in the CPU space by PC enthusiasts, and "Zen" was at best expected to give AMD another round of processors to sell around $250. Boy was everyone wrong. The Ryzen 7 1800X eight-core processor brought HEDT-levels of performance to the mainstream desktop form-factor, and its HEDT counterpart, the Threadripper, dominated Intel's Core X series ever since.

Intel's first response to the 1800X was a 50% increase in CPU core counts calculating that AMD would only see marginal IPC increases going forward, and the superior IPC of "Skylake" cores, along with a 6-core/12-thread setup in the Core i7-8700K would see things through. This is roughly when Intel faced severe supply shortages that spiraled prices out of control, giving AMD space to come out with the Ryzen 7 2700X with a 4% IPC increase, and improved multi-threaded performance, but more importantly, predictable pricing at around $330. Months later, Intel refreshed its lineup with the 9th Gen, and finally attained parity with AMD in core counts, with the Core i9-9900K.

Client-segment DDR5 memory is on the anvil, with Intel 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake-S" desktop processors that support them. It should come as little surprise then, that some of the first DDR5 memory kits will be outrageously pricey. One such product, a GeIL Polaris RGB DDR5-4800 2x 16 GB kit, saw an early listing on Newegg for $350. DDR5-4800 can be considered an entry-level memory speed (similar to DDR4-2400, when the DDR4 standard was new). DDR5 heralds 16 GB as the new mainstream module density, with "single rank" (two individual ranks for each of the two 40-bit channels per DIMM) being standard. 32 GB per DIMM will be the new premium density (four ranks, two each for the 40-bit channels per DIMM).

Given these, it's conceivable that the first DDR5 memory kits targeting gamers and PC enthusiasts will come with a heavy early-adopter premium. Luckily, the 12th Gen Core processors support both DDR5 and DDR4 memory standards, and there appears to have been a major attempt by Intel to get its motherboard partners to launch motherboards with DDR4 slots across a wide range of price-points, so people can keep using their existing memory, or buy the relatively more affordable memory kits out there. It remains to be seen just how much of a performance penalty using DDR4 attracts on the new processors.

Intel's upcoming Core i5-12400 "Alder Lake-S" processor could be an interesting piece of silicon. Apparently, not all 12th Gen Core i5 desktop chips have the same core-configuration. While the top Core i5-12600K is expected to have six "Golden Cove" P cores and four "Gracemont" E-cores, some of the lower variants, such as the i5-12400, will lack E cores, and be pure P core chips. In this case, the chip is 6-core/12-thread with just P cores; 1.25 MB of dedicated L2 cache per core, and 18 MB of shared L3 cache. You'll probably get all the next-gen I/O, including PCI-Express Gen 5 (PEG slot), a PCI-Express Gen 4 CPU-attached NVMe slot, and DDR5+DDR4 memory.

Given that the Core i5-11400 is a $190 part, even with a 10-15% price hike, the i5-12400 is expected to be under $220. The only drawbacks here are expected to be locked BClk multiplier, and rather low clock speeds of 4.00 GHz. A user on Chinese social media posted alleged Cinebench R20 results of the i5-12400. It scores 659 points in the single-threaded test, and 4784 points in the multi-threaded test. Wccftech tabulated this against known performance numbers of popular chips, and found that the i5-12400 might end up slightly ahead of the Ryzen 5 5600X, a currently-$300 part. The table also puts out leaked i9-12900K numbers, which indicate why AMD is rushing with "Zen 3+" with 3D Vertical Cache, instead of next-gen "Zen 4."

We have recently seen yet another performance benchmark leak for Intel's upcoming 12th Generation Alder Lake processors this time for the Core i7-12700K. The 12-core hybrid processor features 8 high-performance cores and 4 high-efficiency cores along with 20 threads running at 125 W TDP. The i7-12700K scored 800 points in the single thread CPU-Z benchmark which is just below the 825 points the flagship i9-12900K scored in the same test. The processor also achieved a multi-thread score of 9423 points which would put it just behind the Ryzen 9 5900X at ~9500 points. Intel is expected to announce the first Alder Lake desktop processors on October 28th with shipments beginning November 4th.

If you're looking at getting your hands on some DDR5 memory for your new Alder Lake build once it launches, a leak of validated RAM has popped up on Twitter, that should give you an idea of what to expect. The list is only a couple of weeks old and it's not what we'd call a long list, as it only covers five companies, out of which three are actual DRAM manufacturers and one is a subsidiary of one of those companies, there are no real surprises here.

All the DDR5 modules tested are rated at 4800 MHz and are either 8, 16 or 32 GB in size, with all modules using 16 Gbit chips. All modules were tested with timings of 40-39-39 at 1.1 V. Kingston is the only outlier here, since they're not a DRAM manufacturer, unlike SK hynix, Samsung and Micron/Crucial. Intel is listing all the modules as non ECC, which should put an end to the claims of all DDR5 being ECC memory.

Intel's recently appointed CEO wasn't mincing words in a recent interview with CRN, where he claimed that Intel not only "have the best product" but also that "this period of time when people could say, "Hey, [AMD] is leading," that's over." We'd say them are fighting words, regardless of what various leaks have suggested, since Intel still has a lot to prove with its upcoming Alder Lake CPUs.

Gelsinger continues with "We have 80 percent market share. We have the best software assets that are available in the industry. We do the best job supporting our partners and our OEMs with it. We have an incredible brand that our channel partners, customers want and trust. Wow, that's a lot of assets in that. If the channel partner doesn't see value in that, I want to talk to him." It's pretty clear from this that Intel believes that they're doing a bang up job and if their customers don't see it, then they need a talking to.

Intel is set to launch their 12th Generation Alder Lake desktop processors on November 4th alongside the new Z690 chipset supporting DDR5 and PCIe 5.0. We have recently seen the first of these new Z690 motherboards from ASUS being listed for sale by PC Canada. The listings include TUF, ROG Maximus, ROG Strix, and Prime motherboards but we don't see any mention of Apex or Extreme boards so they may not be available at launch. The models all appear to retail for less than their Z590 counterparts except for some of the Prime series models which will come as a pleasant surprise to many. We are also aware that the VRM design for these boards will receive various upgrades according to a recent report from @Komachi. The Z690 Hero is set to feature a 20+1 phase design with 90 A Power Stages while the lower-end boards will get a 14+1 design.

Intel is expected to announce their desktop Alder Lake processors later this month on October 28th and it would appear that laptop processors could enter production as early as November. These revelations come from a leaked roadmap published by Wccftech that lists the Alder Lake-P and Alder Lake-M processor families for launch in Q4 2021 and Q1 2022 respectively. The production window for Alder Lake-P opens November 8th and closes March 13th while for Alder Lake-M that period is from January 17th to April 17th.

The roadmap lists Alder Lake-P processors as featuring a TDP between 12 W to 45 W and Alder Lake-M covering 7 W to 15 W. The two platforms will both feature up to 96 Xe graphics Execution units along with Thunderbolt 4 and WiFi 6E connectivity. Alder Lake-P will include PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 support with no mention of DDR4 compatibility while Alder Lake-M will get PCIe 4.0 and LPDDR4X/LPDDR5. The mobile lineup is divided into 3 groups of which the flagship H55 was not mentioned in the roadmap indicating a post Q1 2022 release.

Ahead of its launch, Amazon in The Netherlands started listing some of the first 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake" desktop processors, with the top Core i9-12900K getting listed at an exorbitant 847€ (including 21% cumulative tax). The Core i7-12700K is listed at 642€, making it a nearly 200€ cheaper. The mid-tier Core i5-12600K is listed at 324€, a price-point commanded by top Core i7 parts of the old.

Intel is expected to debut the 12th Gen Core processor family these three, along with their "-KF" variants that lack integrated graphics, which are expected to be priced anywhere between 30€ to 15€ less than their "K" counterparts. For those with discrete graphics who don't intend to use any of the media-acceleration features of the iGPU, "KF" variants could be a nice way to save a little.

We have seen numerous leaks for the upcoming Intel 12th Generation Core series of processes which are expected to launch on November 4th. The packaging for the flagship Core i9-12900K along with the i9/i7/i5 skews have now been leaked revealing the designs. The i9-12900K will receive a unique packaging design featuring a small wafer as a promotional display item to help differentiate the product on store shelves. The rest of the lineup will feature a uniform design reminiscent of previous generations with the same standard size packaging. The design for any potential i3 processors has not been revealed but we would expect it to be in line with the others. Intel is expected to announce the processors at an Innovation event on October 28th with shipments beginning November 4th.

Videocardz today reported on one of the fundamental questions regarding Intel's upcoming Alder Lake: its release date. According to the publication, and citing industry sources, Intel is planning to launch Alder Lake-S come November 4th, 2021. The 12th Gen family of Intel core processors can not come soon enough for the blue giant, who sees itself embattled against the David-like rise of AMD via its Zen architecture. Especially if they do materialize with a 27% single-thread performance improvement over Zen 3.

The release date was first originally referenced by an MSI press release regarding the availability of an upgrade kit for its MAG Coreliquid K and MPG Coreliquid X - both AIO solutions will require new mounting mechanisms for Alder Lake's LGA 1700 socket, and their release is pegged to November 4th as well - this prompted the industry insider sources to confirm the release date. According to WCCFTech, the actual release timeline for the announcement and pre-orders is set for October 27th, whilst the actual product launch and review embargo lifts on November 4th, which is the market availability date.

The complete lineup of Intel's Alder Lake T-Series processors has recently been revealed by FanlessTech showing seven models ranging from the quad-core i3-12100T to the 16-core i9-12900T. These new processors are the low-power desktop variants of the upcoming 12th Generation Alder Lake hybrid family and are primarily designed for use in small form factor and fanless devices. Alder Lake introduces several advancements including PCIe 5.0, and DDR5 support in addition to a new hybrid design with a mix of high-performance and high-efficiency cores.

The 35 W TDP is a significant reduction from the 125 W and 65 W power budgets for the unlocked and normal variants of the processors and has resulted in a reduction in boost clocks. The flagship i9-12900T features eight high-performance and eight high-efficiency cores with a maximum boost-clock of 4.9 GHz paired with 20 MB of L3 cache. We also see that all the i3 and i5 models only feature high-performance cores with only the i7 and i9 getting additional high-efficiency cores. FanlessTech reports that these new processors should be available to purchase in early 2022, the complete lineup can be viewed below.

The market launch of the Intel Alder Lake series is expected soon. Along with the new CPUs, Intel is also introducing the new LGA1700- socket with changed hole spacing on the motherboard as well as changes in CPU cooler mounting height. Starting in mid-October, ARCTIC will provide mounting kits for all Freezer 34 models, the entire Liquid Freezer II series, the Freezer 50 as well as Freezer i13 X and Freezer i13 X CO. Replacing the mounting parts will enable our customers to use their ARCTIC coolers with the new Intel processors. In the future, most of the current CPU coolers will be delivered with the mounting set for the Intel 1700 socket.

The mounting sets will be available in the ARCTIC web shop for a service fee of 5,99€, and customers will receive the set completely free of charge upon presentation of a corresponding processor purchase receipt. ARCTIC will soon launch a new CPU air cooler with Alder Lake compatibility from the factory - the i35 A-RGB. The launch of the new Intel cooler with addressable RGB is expected at the end of October.

Here's the first picture of Intel's upcoming mainstream desktop processor socket, the LGA1700, which was until now only seen in renders or technical drawings. The socket is characterized by a more rectangular contact pad than previous Intel sockets. The Socket H family (LGA115x and LGA1200) that ruled Intel MSDT sockets for over a decade, has a largely square pad. Intel's HEDT sockets such as the LGA1366, LGA2011 and LGA2066, on the other hand, had a rectangular pad, though not as pronounced (slender) as the LGA1700.

From the looks of it, the retention mechanism of the LGA1700 appears similar to that of Socket H and most other Intel LGA sockets (though dissimilar from the LGA2011/LGA2066). In its client desktop avatar, the LGA1700 has 100 unused pins. This is because the socket is physically identical to the LGA1800, which is speculated to be left for future generations of Intel processors with additional power or I/O pins. The Z-height of LGA1700 is lower than that of Socket H, which entails a major change in the retention module design of most aftermarket CPU cooling solutions.

US electronics retailer Provantage allegedly leaked the retail pricing of the upcoming Intel 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake-S" desktop processors. The list confirms that the company will only be debuting the unlocked "K" and "KF" SKUs in 2021, with locked 65 W SKUs joining in only in 2022. Pricing was put out for both boxed, as well are tray (per-piece) prices. The lineup begins with the Core i5-12600KF boxed processor at $261.77, a 6+4 core (P+E), 16-thread processor with 20 MB of L3 cache, and 4.90 GHz maximum boost frequency for the P cores. As a "KF" SKU, it lacks an iGPU. The i5-12600K, which has the same specs and an iGPU on top, is priced at $295.49.

The Core i7-12700KF and i7-12700K are 8+4 core (P+E), 20-thread chips with 25 MB of cache, and 5.00 GHz boost frequency. The two are differentiated by iGPU. The i7-12700KF is priced at $395.61, and the i7-12700K at $422.17. Leading the pack, are the Core i9-12900K and i9-12900KF, which max out the silicon, with 8+8 (P+E) core, 24-thread, and 30 MB of cache. These boost up to 5.20 GHz, but we've heard rumors of the Thermal Velocity Boost feature driving frequencies beyond this. The i9-12900KF is priced at $578.13, while the i9-12900K goes for $604.99. Tray pricing of these chips is more or less similar, with price difference being under $5. The boxed SKUs don't include a cooler, so from a bill-of-materials standpoint, this price difference only accounts for the paperboard box. Intel is expected to formally launch these chips in late-October (which is probably when reviews go live), with retail availability in mid-November.

Today, we got ahold of the first picture showing Intel's upcoming Z690 chipset, the highest-end chipset offering for the Alder Lake lineup of processors. From previous leaks, we have concluded that Intel has enabled the Z690 chipset to be a very powerful offering. Featuring support for running either DDR4 or DDR5 memory, the Z690 chipset will allow motherboard AIBs to offer motherboards with both the new and current DDR standards, easing the transition to the new DDR5 memory. As far as PCIe connectivity, this high-end chipset produces 12 PCIe Gen5 lanes, along with 16 PCIe Gen3 lanes. This is, of course, just an addition to the 16 PCIe Gen5 lanes that the Alder Lake processor provides, enabling a wide portfolio of PCIe lanes for connecting SSDs and graphics cards.

Below, you can see the Z690 chipset image (热心市民描边怪 image), compared to the Z590 (AnandTech image) chipset, where there is a clear difference in size. The new Z690 chipset seems quite a lot bigger, and that is really not a surprise given the new technology stack that it brings.

With its new Socket LGA1700 heralding the first change in the physical dimensions of the processor's integrated heatspreader (IHS), Intel will introduce the first major redesign of its boxed retail stock cooling solution in over a decade. The Socket H-series (LGA115x/LGA1200) stock fan-heatsink has undergone several minor redesigns over the years, with regards to heatsink mass, the presence or absence of a copper core, the spiral or radial orientation of the aluminium heatsink forks (which affect surface-area and mass); although with what we're seeing in leaked Intel slides, the company's next stock coolers could look significantly different.

The Intel Laminar L-series fan-heatsinks come in three distinct variants based on the TDP of the processor they're bundled with. The Laminar RH1 (H equals "high") could be bundled exclusively with Core i9 SKUs that have 65 W TDP on the box, but have PL2 values well above 200 W. The Laminar RM1 (M equals "mainstream" or "medium"), will be bundled with Core i7, Core i5, and Core i3 SKUs that have the same 65 W TDP, but slightly lower PL2 (or at least a trade-off for higher noise). The Laminar RS1 (S equals "small"), targets entry-level Pentium and Celeron chips.

The top Intel 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake-S" 8+8 (P+E) cores processor will cost 741€ including taxes, according to a leaked document revealing retail channel prices of various upcoming 12th Gen Core desktop processors. It also speaks of the i9-12900KF, the "almost-flagship" part that comes with a disabled iGPU, going for up to 708€ (incl taxes).

The Core i7-12700K, the 8+4 (P+E) cores part that lacks Thermal Velocity Boost, will go for up to 524€ (incl taxes). Its "KF" twin will be about 20€ cheaper. The mid-tier Core i5-12600K processor (6 P-cores and 4 E-cores), is going for up to 365€. Not long ago, this was the roughly the price of Intel's top mainstream-desktop processors (such as the i7-7700K). The iGPU-devoid i5-12600KF will go for 333€. Intel is expected to debut its 12th Gen Core desktop processors and compatible Socket LGA1700 motherboards in Q4-2021, along the sidelines of the Windows 11 launch. The first wave of processors are expected to only be unlocked K or KF parts, with locked ones only arriving in early Q1-2022.

Intel's upcoming Alder Lake processor family is set to bring a mixture of big and little cores, combined into one package designed for the hybrid way of computing. Alongside the CPU cores, Intel is also etching integrated graphics into the Alder Lake silicon. However, according to Komachi (@KOMACHI_ENSAKA), there will be Alder Lake SKUs that don't feature a working integrated GPU. Just like we witnessed Intel produce "F" models for its past few generations of Core processors, we could see a re-appearance of the F SKUs with Alder Lake as well. In the leaked listing, Komachi notes the appearance of Intel Core i5-12600KF, Core i7-12700KF, and Core i9-12900KF.

All of the listed models are overclockable SKUs, just with their integrated graphics disabled. Just like the previous generation, Intel decided to introduce this SKU, giving customers a few benefits with the non-functional iGPU. As there is no GPU to produce heat, overclocking efforts could be much better on the "F" SKUs. In addition to that, these SKUs could be a bit cheaper compared to the regular models, saving the buyers some spare cash if they are going to purchase a 3rd party dedicated GPU anyway.

ENERMAX, a leading designer and manufacturer of high-performance PC hardware products, confirms compatibility with the upcoming Intel 12th Gen Alder Lake CPU and announces the availability of LGA 1700 mounting kits for its current and future multi-socket desktop CPU coolers.

ENERMAX's LGA 1700 mounting kits will offer full compatibility with the new LGA 1700 socket for its CPU cooler lineups. In addition to LGA 1700, the coolers will continue to include mounting hardware for the previous generation Intel platform (LGA 2066, LGA 2011, LGA 1156, LGA 1155, LGA 1151, LGA 1150, LGA 1200) as well as AMD (AM4/AM3+/AM3/AM2+/AM2/FM2+/FM2/FM).

CPU-Z, the software of choice for monitoring the CPU and its attributes, has yesterday been updated to version 1.97, which brings much-needed and interesting features. For starters, the new version adds support to detect Intel Core i9-12900K, Core i7-12700K, and Core i5-12600K "Alder Lake" CPUs and the Intel Z6xx chipset platform. Those specific SKUs are the top of the line in their respective categories, and it is only logical that support for the new generation starts there.

Next up, the software now supports detection of the latest DDR5 DRAM technology, which can now also be detected along with the new XMP 3.0 profile format. Last but not least, the software is adding detection for AMD's Radeon RX 6600 XT GPU as well.

To download the latest update, head over to our downloads section. If you wanna get pinged automagically when a new version is released, select the yellow "Get Notified" button on that same page.

The 8 "Golden Cove" performance cores (P-cores) present on 12th Gen "Alder Lake-S" desktop processors offer an IPC gain of 19% over the "Cypress Cove" cores powering current 11th Gen "Rocket Lake-S" processors, claims Intel. This would put them at roughly 35% higher IPC than the "Skylake" cores that powered Intel client desktop processors until as recently as 2020, with the 10th Gen "Comet Lake." This 19% number, however, is presented as a geomean of performance improvement at iso-frequency, across a wide selection of tests that include SPEC CPU 2017, SYSmark 25, Crossmark, PCMark 10, WebXPRT3, and Geekbench 5.4.1.

The high IPC of the P-cores, coupled with the high rumored frequencies for the enthusiast i9-12900K part running well into 5.30 GHz or beyond, begins to explain how 8 of these "Golden Cove" cores, coupled with 8 fairly fast "Gracemont" cores, closes in on the 16-core AMD Ryzen 9 5950X at Cinebench R20.