Intel has given a whole punch on the table with Alder Lake-S, and it seems that it is going to force AMD to give its best by looking at the results of the first early tests that have been leaked and that compare models like the Core i3-12300 and Core i3-12100 with other Ryzen processors.
After a first batch of overclocking-oriented Alder Lake-S processors, those that will be blocked will arrive shortly (those that do not belong to the K and KF series). The models to come may not offer as many options, but still many of them promise to offer a lot of power to perform heavy tasks (including gaming) and can be ideal for pre-assembled equipment. If the results that we have echoed are confirmed, we could be before the doors of an exciting moment in the competition between the two giants of x86 processors. Seeing the large number of processors that Intel plans to launch, let’s focus on some of the most interesting.
On the one hand we have the Intel Core i5-12400, a processor of the Alder Lake-S generation that has six physical Golden Cove cores (high performance, remember that the low consumption ones are Gracemont), 12 threads (two threads per core), 18MB of level 3 cache, a base frequency of 3GHz, a maximum speed of 4.6GHz and a TDP of 65 watts.
On the other hand we have the Core i3-12300 and i3-12100. Both have four physical Golden Cove cores, eight threads (two threads per core), and 12MB of Level 3 cache, but the former runs at 4.4GHz and the latter at 4.3GHz. Counting all the new processors, models below the Core i5-12600 will feature a UHD730 graphics chip, while the more powerful will have a UHD770 iGPU. At the price level, the standard variant of the Core i3-12100 will cost 140 US dollars and the F (without integrated graphics) 110 dollars, while the price of the i3-12300 will be 150 dollars. As is usual, it is important to take these data with a grain of salt for the reference market for Spain, which is the Eurozone.
On the comparisons between Alder Lake-S Core i3 and i5 processors and some Ryzen models, for the former an Apacer NOX DDR4-4266 board with 16GB of RAM was used, while for the latter it was an ASRock X570 Taichi accompanied by a RX 6800 XT Taichi from the same manufacturer.
The first thing you can see from the leaked tests is that the Core i5-12400 manages to be more or less on par with the Ryzen 5 5600X with Power Boost Overdrive (PBO) enabled. Intel’s model only yields 5% more than AMD’s, but if we say that the first costs 180 dollars and the second 299Intel clearly wins this battle with value for money.
Another interesting detail is efficiency, where AMD has been improving in recent years both to dispel old myths and to surpass Intel. However, with Alder Lake-S the trend could change, since the Core i5-12400 consumes 73W at maximum load, while the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X with PBO consumes 119W of power. Intel Core i3 chips draw 61 to 64 watts or so compared to 52.6 watts in the Ryzen 3 5350G, but their performance is 30 to 40 percent higher.
Returning to the initial comparison, the Core i5-12400 of the Alder Lake-S generation has run at 58ºC under full load, while the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X has marked 86 degrees Celsius. However, the result obtained by the Intel processor could be a bit misleading, since according to the forums Voice, of Vietnamese origin, with the stock heatsink it has worked at temperatures of between 70 and 80 degrees Celsius at full load. In other words, an alternate heatsink was used in the first leaked tests, which is not surprising within Intel’s spectrum as stock heatsinks have never had a good reputation.
In short, and after a few years in which it seemed that the competition was clearly outpacing it in terms of innovation and room for evolution (let’s not forget Apple Silicon processors), Intel is beginning to reap its head or at least give the appearance of be doing it. We leave you with a table with all the blocked Alder Lake-S processors of which there is evidence with their known characteristics.
