CES 2022: More Intel 12th Gen CPUs revealed for gaming laptops and cheaper PCs Rock Paper Shotgun Support us Join our newsletter Visit our store Sign in / Create account If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy. CES 2022: More Intel 12th Gen CPUs revealed for gaming laptops and cheaper PCs Alder Lake reinforcements include budget chips without E-cores News by James Archer Hardware Editor Published on Jan. 4, 2022 2 comments The vanguard of Intel's 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs had some seriously good chips in it – including two of the best CPUs for gaming overall – though there weren't many models for aspiring PC builders on tight budgets. Now, though, Intel has used CES 2022 to launch the rest of the 12th Gen desktop lineup, adding loads of more affordable Core i5 and Core i3 processors on top of new Core i7 and Core i9 options. Intel also unveiled its new H-series, 12th Gen gaming laptop chips, which use the same hybrid architecture (combining powerful P-cores with smaller, less energy-intensive E-cores) as their Alder Lake desktop cousins. That said, many of the latest, more affordable desktop chips – which are out now, by the by - use a modified architecture that lacks the dinkier E-cores. They still employ the very gaming-friendly P-core design, so while they're unlikely to reach the same performance highs in games that are heavily multithreaded, they still could be good alternatives to the new Ryzen 6000 APUs that AMD announced earlier. Especially if you're speccing out a PC for games alone, and don't need the multitasking prowess that the extra E-cores can provide. There's a honking great 22 desktop chips joining the range (the initial Alder Lake launch had six), for which the full specs are listed below. As you can tell from the lack of Ks in the names, none of these are unlocked for overclocking, though some variants offer the choice of F- and T-series models. F-series CPUs are identical to their suffix-deprived versions, save for a lack of integrated graphics and a slightly lower price, while T-series chips trade away a little bit of clock speed for better overall efficiency. Notably, all of these – even the 16-core Intel Core i9-12900 – have drastically lower base power usage ratings than their closest equivalents from the first, more enthusiast-focused round of Alder Lake CPUs. Click to embiggen! Potential highlights include the i5-12600, a locked, less PSU-hungry version of the outstanding Core i5-12600K, and the i5-12400F, which hopefully continues the tradition of Intel's '400F' chips being good-all-round gaming CPUs for those with limited upgrade funds. Speaking of which, the 12th generation finally has some Core i3 representation, albeit entirely without E-cores. Still, the entire lineup features other Alder Lake additions, including bonus PCIe lanes for more extensive expansion support, and compatibility with both DDR4 and DDR5 RAM. Though, uh, don't feel obliged to switch to DDR5 if you're upgrading. As for the new H-series mobile CPUs, these introduce Intel's P-core/E-core architecture to gaming laptops while making other key improvements on the previous 11th Gen Tiger Lake's feature set. Intel Thread Director, for example, feeds Windows extra data so that the OS's task scheduler can more effectively assign workloads to the different threads. LPDDR5 support is also included, something that failed to materialise for Tiger Lake. At the top of the stack is the Core i9-12900HK, which with its six P-cores and eight E-cores should take the place of the old Core i9-11980HK in top-tier gaming laptops like the MSI GE76 Raider. There's also a non-overclockable version of the same chip, alongside six more split evenly between Core i7 and Core i5 models. All eight have a base power rating of 45W, though I'm curious to see how such core-heavy designs fare with battery life. It's not like they're skimping on speeds either, though in fairness, it's long been standard procedure for gaming laptops to conk out after a couple of hours away from the mains anyway. The more intriguing mystery is how well all these chips perform. Intel says with a discrete RTX 3030 GPU, the Core i9-12900HK can outpace the Core i9-11980HK by up to 20% in League of Legends, with smaller yet still meaningful improvements across the likes of Hitman 3, Far Cry 6 and Crysis Remastered. Intel's official benchmarks should usually be taken with a few shipping containers of salt, mind, so I'll be looking to test these myself ASAP. More News Jack King-Spooner's next handcrafted game has a teaser demo out Judero brings chat and action in the Scottish Borders Alice O'Connor 17 hours ago 1 If you were hoping for any Overwatch 2 balance changes then you'll have to wait until season two The next season begins in December CJ Wheeler 18 hours ago 3 The Dead Space remake will chuck random Necromorphs at you as you wander the Ishimura In space, no one can hear you proper bricking it CJ Wheeler 18 hours ago 8 Valve register mysterious new Neon Prime trademark in the US It doesn’t seem to be for a particularly colourful Steam Deck CJ Wheeler 20 hours ago 11 Latest Articles What are we all playing this weekend? Well? Alice O'Connor an hour ago 22 Past Wordle answers Here's an archive of previous Wordle words Ollie Toms 2 hours ago 1 Wordle answer today (Saturday 15 October) Hints and the answer to today's Wordle word Rebecca Jones 9 hours ago Overwatch 2 hero tier list Which are the best heroes in Overwatch 2? Ollie Toms 16 hours ago Supporters Only You're probably better than me at One Many Nobody You go on without… uh, you? Sin Vega 17 hours ago Supporter podcast - The Nate Files episode 13: dry bones Bad science is also FUN science! Alice Bell 18 hours ago Japanese dating show Love Wagon has surprising parallels with Yakuza and Persona My new obsession Ed Thorn 2 days ago If you're hankering after Bayonetta 3, Valkyrie Elysium might be a good substitute It's not out on PC until next month, but the console demo has been a surprise charmer Katharine Castle 1 week ago 4 We've been talking, and we think that you should wear clothes Total coincidence, but we sell some clothes Buy RPS stuff here