Whoops! Intel Core i9-12900K CPUs have already been sold somehow

Whoops! Intel Core i9-12900K CPUs give birth already been sold somehow

Intel Core i9-12900K leaked picture of CPU close-up

(Image mention: Seby9123 (Reddit))

Intel's Core i9-12900K, the Alder tree Lake flagship which has still yet to be formally revealed (that might happen following week), has actually been purchased by one propitious punter.

Good, we say lucky, but US-founded Redditor Seby9123 would be upgrading their Essence i9-10900K (with RTX 3090, by the bye) right now, but for the fact that they get into't have a corresponding Alder tree Lake (Z690) motherboard, which is required for the 12th-gen chips (as they habit a different socket to Rocket Lake).

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Techspot highlighted this, and in actualised fact, Seby9123 claims to have bought two of the flagship processors, with (convincingly real) photos provided to illustrate this. Ostensibly the selling price was $610 (around £440, AU$815) before task for a single Central processor from an unspecified retailer.

The provided photos founder trace with a previously seen packaging leak (from VideoCardz), and they testify a nifty looking box seat, with a selfsame different touch being the inclusion of a mock-up of a gelatinous gold wafer, which is really a very fancy container for the CPU itself (the wafer opens up).

Intel Core i9-12900K leaked picture of box — (Image credit: Seby9123 (Reddit))

If you were hoping for ratification of the spec of the 12900K, sadly on that point are none details of clock speeds, operating room straight the nub and thread counting, anywhere on the box (or accompanying hand-operated for that matter). Mystic. Perhaps there's no postulate to bedazzle people with beefy specs, when you can dazzle them with a fully grown glittery gold circle instead.

Incidentally, you may recall that with the most recent 11th-gen launch, Rocket Lake processors were accidentally sold early by German retail merchant Mindfactory, although in that case, not the flagship, but Core i7-11700K chips. So this International Relations and Security Network't the first time we've had these false starts from retailers.

Analysis: Deserving its weight in gold?

Let's tackle the big question that everyone's now asking: What is that mock gilded wafer made out of? Advance, you desire to know, don't you? Well, it's not historical gold, or even golden-plated (shockingly), although the Redditor does pronounce that it sort of feels the like tinny. IT is, as you mightiness require, plastic, but convincingly solid, with a "small rotating mechanism to lock IT closed", and the 12900K splintering nestling inside.

Depending on your viewpoint, this either looks pretty cool – it's certainly something different for a flagship product – or a waste of plastic and resources in the main. But A we've said before, information technology will certainly help Intel's top dog Alder Lake chip stand out from the CPU crew.

Atomic number 3 for the pricing, interestingly, the purported sale price of $610 (around £440, AU$815) matches a previous leak from another US retailer bang-on, which is rather skittish. Is this what we could be looking at for the actual retail asking price?

In the US, the Core i9-11900K comes with a suggested Price of $549 (around £400, Astronomical Unit$735), so the rumored figure in all probability would roughly fit with the benignant of modest hike Intel mightiness follow mulling for a premium CPU, if the central processor is indeed Eastern Samoa promising an advance A close to of the leaked benchmarks suggest. Remember, the Ryzen 9 5950X – which leaks exhibit the 12900K outclassing, even in multi-threaded (just) – sells for about $750 in the US (around £545, AU$1,000).

That said, the recommended price and the actualised price when retailers are struggling to get stock, and 12900K units are perhaps flying off the shelves, could finish beingness very different, American Samoa we're visual perception only too more these days with the inflated Price tags connected PC components. Sadly, scalpers may so already Be viewing the 12900K As meriting its weight in gold for marking au fait eBay.

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Darren is a freelancer writing news program and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of calculation topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has inscribed all but technical school for the best part of terzetto decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette U.K. in 2013).