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Luke and Leo Get Technical (Ep8) – Intel Alder Lake

We are finally back in person for another Leo and Luke discussion (rambling) about some exciting tech topics. We start this batch out with a talk on Intel's upcoming 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs. These will represent a long overdue updated architecture for Intel in the consumer desktop CPU space, and we will also see the introduction of DDR5 memory. There's plenty to be excited about, so let's speculate rampantly. 

Video Timestamps:

00:00 Start
00:15 A bit of waffle on Alder Lake and events
04:25 Leo shows Luke his motherboards
05:54 Intel Thread Director – busy October
07:33 New Process  – and which is the best Intel CPU?
09:15 AMD Ryzen 7 5801X/T 3D?
09:53 Intel Dying? – Steve Burke interview from a few years ago
12:15 12th Gen Alder Lake – will it be good?
13:25 Intel v AMD …. mmm Leo’s point testing processors
16:55 Adobe or Adobe?
17:23 Travelling to events and (funny) launch discussions
20:09 Memory standards
21:55 Alder Lake memory support
23:10 Easy Tiger
24:00 Alder Lake is coming

Video Points

We're back in person!
  • It certainly has been a while, and the world has definitely changed, but we are back in person for the first time since CES in January 2020!
  • Will in-person events be a thing again, or has business travel for all industries changed forever?

Intel Alder Lake is coming soon

  • Performance and Efficiency cores seem a lot like Arm big.LITTLE
  • Z690 likely in October
  • DDR5 for the first time to desktop consumers
  • Brand new Intel architecture!
  • Windows 11

MSI EK liquid cooled motherboards

  • Z490 10th Gen
  • Z590 11th Gen
  • X570S
  • Do consumers care about current Intel platforms?
    • Will intel 12th Gen change that?

Testing Intel Alder Lake

  • Thread Director and Windows 11 should be interesting if they function well early on
  • How exciting will Alder Lake be?
    • Finally a new CPU architecture, new platform, DDR5, and new Windows OS
  • New transistor process node – Intel 7…
    • … yep, still confusing naming!

Which is the best Intel CPU right now?

  • Core i5 on balance
  • 11900K or KF?
  • What about the 10-core 10900K and 10850K?
  • 11th Gen has PCIe Gen 4, though
  • A tough choice – will Alder Lake solve that or add more confusion?

AMD with some tricks up its sleeves?

  • What will the AMD CPU with 3D cache be called?
    • 5800XT? 5800X 3D? 5801X? 6800X?
  • Could AMD be poised to counter-punch Alder Lake quickly?

Intel, Intel, Intel

  • How long will Intel's challenges continue?
    • Intel is not dying!
  • Intel HEDT is no match for Threadripper in 2021
  • It has been a tough few years for Intel!

Will 12th Gen Alder Lake be good? 

  • Can 12th Gen Alder Lake be the initial step towards positive change for Intel?
  • Is 12th Gen being ‘not rubbish‘ on the desktop good enough?
    • Especially if mobile laptop chips are good.
  • Perhaps P-cores and E-cores will be the joker card that Intel needs

Processor testing

  • Will 8-core 11th Gen be quicker than 8-core 12th Gen?
    • In high-end workloads, potentially
  • Please share your love for Handbrake!
    • Leo is giving me too much hassle for loving the tool!
  • How on earth will Leo differentiate between P-core workloads, E-core workloads, and simultaneous workloads?
  • Do you use any AI or AVX-512 workloads?

Intel's 12th Gen event

  • The Americans won't let Leo in!
  • It's a virtual event anyway, phew!
  • Working on a launch review whilst being 5000 miles away from the UK base is possible, right? Right?
    • And then the new BIOS comes and messes up the plan!

New DDR5 memory is exciting!

  • New CPU architecture, new Windows OS, why not new system memory also?
    • Roll on DDR5
  • DDR4 has been around since 2014 for consumers
    • That DDR4 launch on Intel's X99 platform was tough!
  • Surely there will be some headaches with the introduction of DDR5?
    • Intel deserves massive praise if it is a seamless integration
  • Will DDR5 buck the trend and be much better than mature DDR4 right away?
    • Perhaps all the smartphone experience with DDR5 will help
  • Of course, you can still use DDR4 with Alder Lake, motherboard dependent

Leo brings out the tiger!

  • £18?!?! Easy Tiger!

Alder Lake is just around the corner

  • We're really excited to see what Alder Lake offers
    • Will it be the most exciting Intel product in many years?
  • Announcement in a few weeks hopefully
    • And the same pricing would be nice!
  • Leo will have his hands full during October!

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: Will 12th Gen Alder Lake be the brand new shot in the arm that Intel desperately needs on the desktop consumer market? New architecture, new platform, and DDR5 memory – there is certainly a lot to be excited about!

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