Gadgets
Intel ‘Alder Lake’ 12th Gen Core i9, i7, i5 CPUs Launched: Up to 16 Cores
New 12th Gen ‘Alder Lake’ CPUs will have a mix of two different core types, which Intel is calling ‘Performance Hybrid Architecture’. This works in much the same way that ARM-based smartphone processors have been developed for several years now. This single architecture will serve all Intel’s consumer CPU categories, with different mixes of cores types. All 12th Gen Core CPUs will be manufactured on the newly renamed 10m ‘Intel 7’ process.
Prices in the US range from $589 (approximately Rs. 43,380 before taxes) for the top-end Core i9-12900K to $264 (approximately Rs. 19,445 before taxes) for the Core i5-12600KF. Models without graphics capabilities are priced slightly lower than their counterparts with integrated GPUs. These are prices per 1000 units, and might not reflect retail prices. Intel has said it expects robust retail availability despite the global semiconductor shortage, and multiple PC OEMs are also on board to ship pre-built desktops. Official prices in India are yet to be confirmed but some retail listings without prices appeared online as early as last week.
The new ‘Golden Cove’ Performance (P) cores succeed the ‘Willow Cove’ cores in the current ‘Tiger Lake’ architecture, while the ‘Gracemont’ Efficiency (E) core architecture can be considered a descendant of the erstwhile Intel Atom CPU range. Intel’s first hybrid CPU, codenamed ‘Lakefield’, was launched in 2020 but has been seen in very few actual shipping devices. The 12th Gen desktop Core i9 CPUs announced so far feature 16 cores (8 P + 8 E), while Core i7 models get 12 cores (8 P + 4 E) and Core i5 models have 10 cores (6 P + 4 E).
While P cores are intended to handle high-impact lightly threaded workloads, background tasks and more multi-threaded tasks can be delegated to E cores. Also, P cores continue to benefit from Hyper-Threading, allowing two threads to run simultaneously, but E cores do not, so 12th Gen Core CPUs will have non-linear core/thread counts. To balance workloads and ensure that the optimal tasks are assigned to each type of core, Intel has developed a new dynamic scheduler that it calls Thread Director. This requires Windows 11, and Intel says that performance will not be as optimised on Windows 10 or other operating systems. Thread Director will first favour the P cores, then the E cores, and only once those are saturated will threads be assigned to the Hyper-Threading capacity of the P cores.
Each P core has its own L2 cache, while clusters of four E cores share their L2 caches. These feed in to a common L3 cache, allowing for quick transfers of data and low latency in workloads optimal for each core type. CPUs without the -F suffix will also feature integrated Intel UHD 770 graphics, based on the Xe LP architecture.
The new Z690 platform controller has been introduced, and 12th Gen Core desktop CPUs use a new, larger LGA1700 socket. Platform-level features for this generation include the first use of DDR5 RAM, with official support going up to 128GB (dual-channel) at 4800MT/s wit h XMP 3.0 profiles. DDR4-3200 RAM is also supported, and motherboard manufacturers will decide which standard to go with on each model. Alder Lake CPUs support up to 16 lanes of PCIe 5.0, doubling the bandwidth of PCIe 4.0. New CPU and RAM overclocking controls have also been introduced.
The Core i9-1200K is described as “the world’s best gaming processor” and Intel says it delivers significant gains in gaming as well as content creation workloads compared to the octa-core Core i9-11900K. It can run at up to 5.2GHz. The two different core types run at different Base and Turbo speeds: 2.4-3.9GHz for the E cores and 3.2-5.1GHz for the P cores. Base and peak power ratings are 125W and 241W respectively.
Intel claims 19 percent gen-on-gen performance improvements for the P cores. The Core i9-12900K is said to deliver 50 percent higher multi-threaded performance than the Core i9-11900K at a slightly lower 241W peak power consumption compared to 250W. At the rated 125W stock TDP, performance is up to 30 percent better, while the same level of performance can be achieved within a 65W power limit. When gaming and streaming simultaneously, Intel claims up to 84 percent better frame rates. When exporting edited video while processing RAW images, that figure is said to be 47 percent. Even running these tasks sequentially rather than simultaneously is said to be faster.
The rest of the lineup includes the Core i9-12900KF with nearly identical specifications; as well as the Core i7-12700K, Core i7-12700KF, Core i5-12600K, and Core i5-12600KF. The -F suffix indicates a lack of integrated graphics capabilities, while the -K suffix indicates that these are all unlocked and overclockable models. Lower-end versions of these CPUs should be launched in Q1 next year, potentially as early as CES 2022.
“At Xbox, we believe that with better tools, creators can make even more extraordinary games,” Haiyan Zhang, GM, Xbox Gaming AI, said in a blog post. “This partnership will bring together: Inworld’s expertise in working with generative AI models for character development, Microsoft’s cutting-edge cloud-based AI solutions including Azure OpenAI Service, Microsoft Research’s technical insights into the future of play, and Team Xbox’s strengths in revolutionizing accessible and responsible creator tools for all developers.”
The aforementioned AI design copilot is a toolset that will help game designers turn prompts into scripts and dialogue trees. In contrast, the character runtime will enable dynamically generated plot beats and quests. We’ve already seen heavy AI integration in games by way of procedural generation — a more recent example being the 1000+ planets in Starfield. Not to mention, enemy AI has been around for way longer.
Inworld made headlines in August when it launched a modded story mode for Grand Theft Auto V, Sentient Streets, in which players had to investigate the rise of a bizarre AI-worshipping cult — a segment loaded with characters that spoke in AI-generated dialogue, on the fly. The mod was later taken down by publisher Take-Two, leaving a permanent strike on the creator Bloc’s YouTube channel. As per The Verge, Inworld’s AI technology can also be used for narration in top-down RPGs to warn players about any events awaiting off-screen and respond to questions like we’ve seen in the past year with AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Bing Chat. Microsoft has also been heavily banking on artificial intelligence, having made a $10 billion (about Rs. 83,254 crore) investment in OpenAI. The company has also integrated AI tools into its popular suite of services and also added an AI copilot to Windows.
Despite being a Microsoft-affiliated AI toolset, it would be interesting to see whether titles using them will be allowed to thrive on other platforms. In July, Valve claimed that it would be cracking down on games that included AI-generated assets if the developer didn’t own the copyright to the piece of art. For the uninitiated, when you insert a prompt to create something in AI, the software simply repurposes existing assets found online and mushes them together — basically stealing from other artists and writers without appropriate commercial licenses. Infringing them would lead to the game not being distributed on Steam, forcing the developers to seek proper licenses for the asset by reaching out to the AI companies involved. It’s unclear how Microsoft’s partnership will play out — as long as AI content is being used as a catalyst to innovate and create something new, it should be fine.
In a post on X shared by BSNL’s Andhra Pradesh (@bsnl_ap_circle) unit, the company confirmed that BSNL users can upgrade their older 2G or 3G SIMs to a 4G SIM for free. Not only will the upgrade be free, but a promotional image shared with the post suggests that users who opt for the upgrade will also receive 4GB of free data that will be valid for three months. It is speculated that BSNL is aiming to boost its upcoming 4G services with this offer. The announcement was first spotted by Telecom Talk.
To access the free data offer and the free upgrade, BSNL users are requested to get in touch with executives at BSNL’s Customer Service Centre, franchisee or retailer stores, or contact one of their Direct Selling Agents (DSA). The promo image also adds in a finer print that the offer is available with certain terms and conditions, but hasn’t detailed any, so far.
Reliance’s Jio recently launched the 4G-supported Bharat B1 feature phone in India. The handset is priced at Rs. 1,299 in India. Alongside 4G connectivity, the phone comes with JioCinema and JioSaavn applications pre-installed.
The Jio Bharat B1 is equipped with the JioPay application, which is said to allow users to make UPI payments. Aiming to increase accessibility, the phone supports 23 languages overall, including multiple regional languages.
Realme, via Weibo, announced the arrival of the Realme GT 5 Pro in China. The display of the handset is confirmed to offer 3000 nits peak brightness. It has also been teased to offer heat dissipation with a surface area of around 10,000mm2. It is confirmed to ship with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC. The post doesn’t specify the exact launch date of the smartphone, however, given the release of the teasers, the launch could be just around the corner.
The Realme GT 5 Pro has been in the news a lot lately. It is expected to feature a 6.78-inch (1,264×2,780 pixels) AMOLED display and is tipped to come in 8GB, 12GB, and 16GB RAM options along with 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB inbuilt storage options.
For optics, the Realme GT 5 Pro is said to have a triple rear camera unit comprising two 50-megapixel sensors and an 8-megapixel shooter at the rear. The camera setup might include a Sony LYTIA LYT808 sensor, an OmniVision OV08D10 secondary sensor, and a Sony IMX890 telephoto sensor. For selfies, there could be a 32-megapixel sensor at the front. It is said to carry a 5,400mAh battery with support for 100W wired charging and 50W wireless charging.
The Realme GT 5 Pro is expected to come with upgrades over Realme GT 5. The latter was launched in China in August with a price tag of CNY 2,999 for the base model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.
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