Does the Intel “Alder Lake” Core 12000 series live up to your expectations?

Intel just launched the “Alder Lake” Core 12000 series, with which it resumes its performance battle against AMD. With the processor family come many innovations, including the 10 nanometer manufacturing technology (Intel 7) and the new hybrid architecture with an increasing number of cores. Prior to the launch, expectations for “Alder Lake” were high, as it was expected to be the company’s biggest performance move in several years.

► Intel is back with better performance with Core i9-12900K and Core i5-12600K “Alder Lake”

However, it is not only the processors themselves that are new, the whole platform offers news and raises expectations even more. The processor provides support for PCI Express 5.0 and the DDR5 memory standard, while the Z690 control circuitry enables a large number of solid-state drives connected via PCI Express through an M.2 connection.

The Core i9-12900K and Core i5-12600K toured the test lab with impressive results, except for the flagship model’s modest power efficiency. The processors themselves are also priced well, compared to competing models from AMD.

On the other hand, it feels more expensive on both the motherboard and front memory, as DDR5 memories are especially hard to come by. In general, new processors do not seem to be flying off the shelves and many retailers still have well-stocked warehouses. How do you feel that “Alder Lake” lived up to the expectations you had prior to launch? Is there something special you’re missing or do you feel like a full bowl?