First look at the Intel Core i9-12900K, ASUS ROG Maximus Hero Z690, & Geil Polaris DDR5 RAM

We've finally got our hands on the next generation of hardware, taking a closer look at the new flagship Alder Lake CPU, Z690 and its new LGA1700 socket, plus some DDR5 memory

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The team over at ASUS were kind enough to send over their next-gen press box, containing some rather exciting hardware. We’ve finally got our hands on the new flagship Intel Core i9-12900K CPU, an Asus ROG Maximus Hero Z690 motherboard, some Geil Polaris RGB DDR5 memory, and the ASUS ROG Ryujin II 360mm with an LGA 1700 bracket to top it all off.

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The press box made it feel like Christmas morning here in the office *nerd alert* and we didn’t waste a second to get stuck into benchmarking the new hardware.

There is a real buzz around Intel’s new 12th gen Alder Lake processors, and for good reason, with benchmarking leaks showing some very interesting results when compared to the 11th gen and flagship AMD Ryzen 9 processors.

The Intel Core i9-12900K which features 16 cores (8 for performance and 8 for efficiency) and 24 threads will come in at $589 MSRP, that’s an increase of around $50 on the 11900K.

• Where to buy Intel Core i9-12900K & 12900KF
• Where to buy Intel 12th Gen CPUs

We were also sent the ASUS ROG Maximus Hero Z690 motherboard, a premium model supporting 128GB of DDR5 RAM that can run up to 6400MHz, PCIe 5.0 support, Wi-Fi6, and that rectangular LGA1700 socket.

• Where to buy Z690 motherboards

ASUS also supplied us with the Ryujin II 360mm cooler and LGA 1700 bracket to mount the cooler with the Z690, happy days.

Lastly, we received some Geil Polaris RGB DDR5 RAM to test out and complete the next-generation build. The memory is a 32GB (2 x 16GB) kit, with CL40-40-40-77 timings, 4800MHz speed, and a voltage of 1.1. Sure this is Geils slowest SKU but who cares, it’s shiny and new.

• Where to buy DDR5 RAM

We are going to be benchmarking the Intel Core i9-12900K, with the Z690, and DDR5 RAM over the next few weeks, focusing on game and synthetic performance. We want to delve in and find out the performance increases from 11th-gen Intel to 12th-gen, while also looking at the effects of Windows 11 Vs Windows 10 in the process.

We are going to be comparing the new Intel SKUs against their AMD counterparts too, while also taking a closer look into DDR5 RAM and its effects in comparison with DDR4 where possible.

After engaging with the community, we also decided to benchmark the iGPU onboard the new flagship Intel processor. Throughout every test, we are going to be paying close attention to the new big-little architecture (performance/efficiency cores) and record the difference when the efficiency cores are turned off. There is a lot of testing to get through here at the office but we are as excited as ever to see what Intel has brought to the table this year.