Skip to main content

One of the biggest sources of benchmark leaks just got plugged

Over the past few months, Geekbench has served as one of the main sources of Intel Alder Lake benchmark leaks. But it seems Primate Labs, the company behind the popular benchmarking utility, isn’t interested in meddling in prerelease matters anymore. Going forward, Geekbench will not accept results from prerelease chips.

The news was shared by @BenchLeaks on Twitter, a popular source for prerelease benchmarks. A page on the Geekbench website now reads: “Primate Labs prevents prerelease hardware benchmark results from being displayed on the Geekbench Browser. Pre-release hardware includes engineering samples (ES), qualification samples (QS), and retail hardware not yet available for sale.”

GeekBench logo on blue background.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Although disappointing, the change is probably for the best. We’ve seen numerous leaked Alder Lake benchmarks from Geekbench, and the results don’t say much. A trial run in August showed the Core i7-12700 falling short of AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800X in the single-care and multi-core benchmark. However, another run on the Core i9-12900K later in the month showed the upcoming flagship best AMD’s Ryzen 9 5950X.

Recommended Videos

These are prerelease benchmarks, so we always recommend taking them with skepticism. As the two results above show, prerelease benchmarks aren’t always the best way to gauge performance, even if they give enthusiasts something to pore over as they anticipate the launch of new hardware.

Geekbench has long served as a safe haven for prerelease benchmarks, from CPUs to graphics cards, and even smartphones. Primate Labs has shown that it’s willing to take steps to retain its credibility. In July, the company pulled the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro from its benchmark chart after it was discovered that the phone throttled apps outside of benchmarks.

For CPUs, the concern comes down to ES and QS hardware. These types of CPUs aren’t the final versions that will ship to retailers, and they’re subject to change. On top of that, ES and QS CPUs go out to manufacturing partners, engineers, and others that may need access to the CPUs ahead of launch and also need to disable cores or features.

The benchmark featuring the Core i7-12700, for example, showed the processor with eight cores and 16 threads. That CPU is rumored to launch with 12 cores and 20 threads, suggesting some of the cores were disabled during the test.

Ultimately, it’s a good decision from Geekbench. Although prerelease benchmarks offer a window into performance, they need context. Even accurate prerelease benchmarks don’t tell the full story. It’s about taking performance across multiple tasks and benchmarking utilities, not relying on a single source.

Still, we’ll have a harder time knowing how upcoming processors will perform, which is a shame given that RTX 40-series graphics cards and AMD Zen 4 CPUs are set to launch next year.

Jacob Roach
Former Lead Reporter, PC Hardware
Jacob Roach is the lead reporter for PC hardware at Digital Trends. In addition to covering the latest PC components, from…
The robot takeover comes another step closer — at Amazon
An Amazon robot working inside one of the company's warehouses.

Amazon is close to having more robots operating inside its warehouses than humans after the e-commerce giant announced this week that it now has more than a million robots working at its facilities around the world.

Over the years, Amazon has spent billions of dollars on the development and deployment of warehouse-based robots, which handle an array of tasks once performed by human workers.

Read more
This Lenovo ThinkPad laptop is over $1,400 off — hurry while stocks last!
The Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 5 Intel laptop on a white background.

Now's an excellent time to take advantage of laptop deals from Lenovo, which has slashed the prices of a wide range of devices for its Black Friday in July sale. Lenovo's ThinkPad laptops are up to 45% off, and here's one of the most interesting offers available with such a discount — the Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 5 at $1,440 off its estimated value of $3,199, so you'll only have to pay $1,759. That's an excellent price for this fantastic productivity tool, but you're going to have to push forward with your purchase as soon as possible because stocks may run out at any moment.

BUY NOW

Read more
Early Prime Day deal: Samsung’s 27-inch Odyssey G3 at its annual low price
Samsung Odyssey G3 gaming monitor on desk with keyboard and headset.

If you're ready to upgrade your monitor, this Samsung deal over at Amazon just might be your best bet. The 27-inch version of Samsung's Odyssey G3 is $130 right now, a full $100 off its regular $230 price and its lowest price of the year. It's a part of early Prime Day deals and a good sampling of what we can expect for the shopping holiday, which officially lands on July 8th. Tap the button below to see it for yourself or keep reading to see why we like this deal and why this should be your next monitor.

Buy Now

Read more