Skip to main content

Intel Alder Lake box revealed, hinting at unique feature for flagship chip

After months of rumors, benchmark leaks, and architecture deep-dives, we finally have a glimpse at what Intel Alder Lake could look like. For the most part, Intel looks to be keeping with the box design of 11th-gen processors across the range. But the flagship Core i9-12900K appears to come with a special goodie — a golden wafer replica.

VideoCardz received and shared the photos of the packaging. Although it’s hard to tell, it looks like the flagship chip will come inside a wafer replica. In one of the images, you can see a line down the middle, and it looks like the wafer is being held in place in the center of the box. Intel hasn’t gotten this unique with its box designs since the Core i9-9900K.

Intel Core i9-12900K box.
VideoCardz

It signals a confidence from Intel, which the company has seemed to lack for the past two generations. Intel has traditionally marked its flagship chips with box designs different from the rest of the range, but nothing as unique as the polyhedron box design of the Core i9-9900K — and nothing as special as a replica of a golden wafer.

Also shared were photos of the boxes for the Core i7-12700K and Core-i5-12600K, which look identical to the boxes for Rocket Lake processors. The only difference is that the “11th Gen” tag now says “12th Gen,” and it’s located in the upper-right corner instead of the lower left. We also saw the Core i9-12900KF box, which, like the last gen, notes that it requires discrete graphics on the box.

The leaked images suggest that Intel won’t be launching an i3 model alongside the others. That lines up with previous rumors that Intel would only launch the Core i9-12900K, Core i7-12700K, and Core i5-12600K at the same time. It seems the i9-12900KF model will also launch, likely at a lower price than the i9-12900K.

Intel Core 12th-gen processor boxes.
VideoCardz

The boxes look legit, but it’s still important to note that Intel hasn’t officially released the packaging design yet, nor has it confirmed the model numbers for each processor.

We’re still waiting on the release date, which is what most people care about. Intel is set to host its Intel Innovation event starting on October 27, and we hope to find out the release date then. Current rumors point to the processors launching in November, but Intel hasn’t confirmed anything.

Alder Lake is Intel’s first step into the world of hybrid desktop CPUs. With two different core types and features like Thread Director, the upcoming generation looks like the boon the company has needed for the past few generations.

Editors' Recommendations

Jacob Roach
Senior Staff Writer, Computing
Jacob Roach is a writer covering computing and gaming at Digital Trends. After realizing Crysis wouldn't run on a laptop, he…
Intel’s upcoming laptop CPU may destroy even the best desktop chips
Intel Alder Lake mobility chip.

Benchmarks of the not-yet-released Intel Core i9-13900HX have leaked, and to call these results impressive would be an understatement.

It seems that Intel's upcoming laptop CPU may easily dethrone even some of the best desktop processors, let alone mobile chips. Even chips that are not out yet are already in danger, such as Apple's M2 Max.

Read more
Intel Raptor Lake CPUs: Everything we know about the 13th-gen processors
Intel Core i5-13600K installed in a motherboard.

Raptor Lake is Intel's 13th generation of processors, and it's one of the most exciting hardware launches of the year. Following up on the momentum it built with its Alder Lake line of CPUs, Intel is looking to retain some of the hard-fought performance crowns. It's got new and stiffer competition, though, in the form of AMD's Ryzen 7000 series of Zen 4 CPUs, which have already impressed for their efficiency and performance.

How will these new CPU lines fair when going head to head? Here's everything you need to know about Raptor Lake.
Pricing and availability

Read more
Intel Alder Lake BIOS source code was leaked — should you be worried?
An Intel Alder Lake Core i5-12600K CPU and its packaging.

It's official -- the source code for the Intel Alder Lake BIOS was leaked, and Intel has confirmed it. A total of 6GB of code used for building the BIOS/UEFI source code is now out in the wild, having been posted on GitHub and 4chan.

Intel doesn't seem too concerned, but security researchers are now hard at work trying to see if this can be used in a malicious way. If you own an Alder Lake CPU, should you be worried?

Read more