Alder Lake takes the lead over Ryzen in most workloads, but it isn't a slam dunk in every regard — we ran into several odd performance trends with Windows 10, and a few programs even refused to run correctly.We do expect those issues to be fixed sooner rather than later, though, as the industry adapts to the hybrid architecture.

All models support: MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX, AVX2, AVX-512, FMA3, MPX, Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology (EIST), Intel 64, XD bit (an NX bit implementation), Intel VT-x, Intel VT-d, Turbo Boost, Hyper-threading, AES-NI, Intel TSX-NI, Smart Cache. Cutress, Ian (October 8, 2018). "Intel Announces 9th Gen Core CPUs: Core i9-9900K (8-Core), i7-9700K, & i5-9600K". AnandTech. We'll be testing more Denuvo-protected titles in the coming weeks to get a more complete picture of how widespread the issue may be on both Windows 10 and Windows 11, but until then we would advise gamers to use this list to look for (possibly) unlaunchable titles. Intel's chips are competitively priced, but PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 are also significant cost-adders for motherboards. All signs point to DDR5 kits being expensive in the early days, so it's good that some motherboards support the more affordable DDR4.I rather buy an inferior product than step over my principles and dignity and s*** up to those 2 companies and give them my money for a minority performance advantage (at a point in time). Nvidia is actually worse than intel, but intel is bad enough still. Overall, there's little contest to be shown here; overwhelmingly, the Intel Core i9-12900K, with its 16 available cores and 24 available threads, was able to beat out the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X's 32 threads in almost every content-creation task we threw its way. And that's without Thread Director in play. All models support up to DDR5-5200, LPDDR5-6400, DDR4-3200, or LPDDR4X-4266 memory, up to 16 lanes of PCI Express 5.0, and up to 4 lanes of PCI Express 4.0. Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics only: to use the Intel® Iris® Xe brand, the system must be populated with 128-bit (dual channel) memory. Otherwise, use the Intel® UHD brand.

New Intel Core X-Series Processors: Scale, Accessibility and Performance Go Extreme". Intel. May 30, 2017 . Retrieved June 2, 2017. All models support: SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX, AVX2, FMA3, Speed Shift Technology (SST), Intel 64, XD bit (an NX bit implementation), Intel VT-x, Intel VT-d, Intel TXT, Hyper-threading, Turbo Boost 3.0, AES-NI, Smart Cache, Thread Director, DL Boost, and GNA 3.0.All models support up to DDR5-5600, or DDR4-3200 memory, up to 16 lanes of PCI Express 5.0, and up to 4 lanes of PCI Express 4.0. The issue with games like Assassin's Creed: Valhalla arises either on launch or on load, because Denuvo thinks that the P-cores and E-cores belong to two separate systems, rather than two different core types on the same chip. Once it detects that some portion of the load has been split between the P and E cores, it sees the new cores as a new license holder (a separate system), and force-quits the game to prevent what it believes is two PCs trying to play one game on the same key.

No, your eyes don't deceive you: Intel has carried its wins from content creation right on through to gaming, and for the first time in too long, has released a desktop gaming CPU that's competitive with AMD on both price and performance. Sure, games like F1 2021 are a "gimme" due to their RAM sensitivity, but both the 3DMark and Rainbow Six Siege results leave us optimistic that Intel can keep pace in the gaming race for at least the next several months (if rumors of Zen 4's launch date prove true). One Gaming Caveat, Though... With the introduction of hybrid architecture to the desktop market, however, Intel had to get creative. On a chip where the cores aren't homogenous, without a little extra help, Windows won't know which cores it can send programs to most optimally. Enter Thread Director. All models support: SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX, AVX2, FMA3, Speed Shift Technology (SST), Intel 64, XD bit (an NX bit implementation), Intel VT-x, Intel VT-d, Hyper-threading, Turbo Boost 3.0, AES-NI, Smart Cache, Thread Director, DL Boost, and GNA 3.0.All Alder Lake chips support DDR4-3200 or up to DDR5-4800 memory, but caveats apply. Alder Lake chips expose up to 16 lanes of PCIe 5.0 (technically for storage and graphics only, no networking devices) and an additional four lanes of PCIe 4.0 from the chip for M.2 storage. We'll cover those details further below. Intel's Thread Director technology is the quiet star of the Alder Lake show. This technology works by feeding the Windows 11 operating system with low-level telemetry data collected from within the processor itself, thus informing the scheduler about the state of the cores, be it power, thermal, or otherwise, and the type of workload being executed by any given thread. The Windows scheduler then uses this additional information to make real-time intelligent decisions about thread placement. The Core i9-12900K is Intel's first truly innovative high-end desktop CPU in years, showing great potential in its performance/efficiency mixed-core design and support for DDR5 memory. Just expect a high initial cost of adoption—and, perhaps, some PC-gaming growing pains. TIE: Intel Core i9-12900K wins for Windows 11 users, AMD Ryzen 9 5950X wins for cost-conscious content creators

Ryzen, Ryzen, Ryzen! With apologies to The Brady Bunch: For more than a few years now, everywhere you look, AMD has been dominating the content-creator market for desktop CPUs. Through multiple generations of the Zen architecture, starting in 2017, AMD has defined new limits of cores-for-the-money, revolutionizing the kind of desktop power available for media-minded applications. Professional creative users and prosumers alike couldn't be happier with the trend. The CPU is rated at 65 W base power and 202 Watt maximum Turbo power. It is manufactured in 10nm, called Intel 7, process at Intel.It took until late 2021, but chip giant Intel finally has a credible response to that marching line of Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 9 chips treading across its traditional lawn. Take its new desktop-CPU flagship: Its first real contender in quite some time is the Core i9-12900K, part of a six-CPU launch for 12th Generation Core processors (dubbed the "Alder Lake" family) that establishes the groundwork for how Intel Core chips on the desktop will look and work for years to come. so far. And that is what matters to me. It's not like I'm losing so much performance if I use AMD, like it was the case 5-7 years ago, they are either on top or very close to the top, depending on the generation.