Intel Core i7-12700 + Intel B660 Review

Today we take a philharmonic review of all-new Intel hardware, starting with our first wait at some affordable LGA 1700 motherboards designed for Intel's latest generation Alder Lake processors. These will go well with locked non-K CPU models such equally the Core i7-12700 that we have on mitt for today's testing. Finally, nosotros likewise have i of the new Intel box coolers, the creatively named RM1, which should be interesting.

Starting with the motherboards, as usual MSI's been on their game past quickly sending over the Magazine B660M Mortar WiFi DDR4 and equally it stands this is the simply B660 lath nosotros have for testing, so nosotros're happy to have it. The residual of Intel's partners seem to have gotten into the holiday spirit, forgetting that this launch is happening. Only no matter, the B660M Mortar WiFi DDR4 is a great starting point and is ideal for showing off the new Core i7-12700.

Now let'due south rapidly go over the ix new 65 watts CPUs, minus the F variants, of which there are four. The sole Core i9 model is the 12900, and when compared to the 12900K, information technology'south clocked just 100 MHz lower and this drops the max turbo power rating from 241 watts down to 202 watts, a significant 16% reduction in usage for merely a 2 - ii.v% driblet in frequency.

There's also a single Core i7 model, the 12700 which we're testing today. It'due south clocked 100 MHz lower than the G-SKU for the P-cores, and 200 MHz lower for the E-cores. This sees the max power drib from 190 watts to 180 watts.

At that place are three Core i5 models: the 12600, 12500 and 12400 and apparently the but F-SKU will be the 12400F. The 12400'southward clocks up to four.4 GHz, the 12500 4.6 GHz and the 12600 iv.8 GHz, which is just 100 MHz beneath the 12600K.

The parts that nosotros can consider truly new are the Core i3, Pentium and Celeron models. At that place are two Cadre i3'southward, the 12300 and 12100, both pack four P-cores plus SMT with no Eastward-cores with a 12MB L3 cache. The 12300 clocks up to 4.4 GHz, while the 12100 clocks to 4.three GHz and that model is available as an F-SKU.

The Pentium Golden G7400 is a dual-cadre with 2 P-cores for 4 threads, no Eastward-cores, it has a six MB L3 cache and runs at three.vii GHz. Then finally, the Celeron G6900 is a lowly dual-core packing 2 P-cores without SMT, so information technology's a 2-core/2-thread processor with a 4MB L3 enshroud running at 3.four GHz. That's the spider web browsing and email edition Alder Lake processor.

Intel B660 chipset

Intel is launching new affordable chipsets, we're getting the B660 which we'll exist looking at today along with the H670 and H610. In addition to the Z690, at that place are now 4 600-series chipsets and all support integrated Intel WiFi 6E, Intel Rapid Storage Applied science v19, and PCI Express 4.0.

Focusing on B660, when compared to Z690 information technology is heavily cut down. Naturally, in true Intel form, CPU overclocking is off the tabular array, but y'all can at least overclock the memory which is more useful these days anyhow. From the CPU, but x4 DMI Gen 4 lanes are supported, halving the PCIe 4.0 connectivity when compared to Z690, only that won't be an issue for most users.

This means the chipset PCIe 4.0 lanes take been slashed from 12 to vi, while the PCIe 3.0 lanes are reduced from xvi to 8. There are one-half every bit many USB three.2 Gen twenty Gbps ports at just two, the potential 10 Gbps ports have been slashed from x to four, and the 5 Gbps ports from 10 to 6. The but other noteworthy feature is PCIe RAID which isn't supported on B660 or B610 boards.

Now, whereas the default power mode for K-SKU CPUs sees them maintain the maximum turbo power or PL2 land indefinitely (PL1 = PL2), the locked processors similar the Core i7-12700 work as previous generations have, that ways PL2 is a temporary boost state and later a certain menstruation the CPU drops to PL1, which in the case of the 12700 is 65 watts.

This is a scrap complex and messy, that's anything but consumer friendly. Intel fixed this for the Yard-SKUs, merely the locked parts are all over the place. For example, if you install the 12700 on any Z690 motherboard with the exception of entry-level models from Asrock, information technology volition run in the PL2 state indefinitely, despite the fact that it's a locked office. This can also happen on some B660, H670 and H610 boards. For example, the MSI B660M Mortar WiFi DDR4 runs without power limits past default.

This means the 12700 can consume equally much power as information technology likes on the B660M Mortar and typically this should run into package power up around 180 watts. But if you were to install it on some of the most entry-level B660 boards, the default would probable be for PL2 to hitting 180 watts for a limited menstruation of time before dropping to PL1, or 65 watts. What that does to clock speeds depends on the workload and for today's review we'll be testing the 12700 at the max power state likewise as the 65 watt spec.

In brusque though, this means the 12700 could be over 30% faster on some B660 boards depending on the ability state. And this gets worse if y'all use a 1000-SKU with a 125w base spec. Anyway, we'll probably swoop more than into that in the time to come.

For now, let's go over the test system. We have refrained from testing DDR5 which seems like a waste of time for now and we know all we need to in terms of DDR4 vs DDR5 operation. For testing the Cadre i7-12700, we're using the MSI B660M Mortar WiFi DDR4 with 32GB of dual-rank, dual-channel DDR4-3200 CL14 retention, the same hardware nosotros use for all our DDR4 testing and information technology's typically faster than single-rank DDR4-3800 CL18 memory in terms of performance.

The Thousand-SKU Alder Lake CPUs take been tested on the MSI Z690 Tomahawk WiFi DDR4 using the same memory and all boards were updated to the latest BIOS revision. We've also updated our Ryzen information using the MSI X570S Tomahawk WiFi.

All gaming data has been updated for the AM4 and LGA 1700 CPUs with Resizable BAR enabled. The plan was to practice the same with the Intel 10th and 11th gen Core processors every bit well, but performance went backwards in all instances with ReBAR enabled, then for at present I've left this PCI Express feature disabled on those platforms.

Finally the terminal test organisation notes worth mentioning is the fact that all application and gaming data has been collected using the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics bill of fare and the operating arrangement of option was Windows 11. Okay I remember that covers it, let's swoop into the results…

Benchmarks

Starting with Cinebench R23 multi-cadre results, we discover that the 12700 is capable of producing a score of 21407 pts when paired with a quality cooler, on a B660 motherboard, and that means it was just 6% slower than the 12700K. Moreover, it was able to match the Ryzen 9 5900X while crushing the older Core i9-10900K.

When using the RM1 box cooler without any power limits, the 12700 was thermally limited to a score of 19714 points. That's an viii% reduction when compared to what nosotros saw with the Corsair H170i.

With the 65w spec enforced, the score dropped to 16017 points, which is a similar level of performance to that of the Ryzen 7 5800X and Core i9-10900K. A very respectable result given how little power the 12700 is using here.

When it comes to single core performance, power and thermal limits aren't an outcome as the 12700 can clock to iv.9 GHz using the RM1 box cooler inside the 65w ability budget. As a issue, all three configurations delivered similar performance and this meant the 12700 was just 3% slower than the 12700K, making information technology a massive sixteen% faster than the Ryzen 9 5900X.

Moving on, we observe that the seven-Zip File Manager compression operation is much the same regardless of the cooling and power configuration, suggesting that utilization isn't that loftier.

The aforementioned is truthful for the decompression results as well, regardless of the configuration used, the 12700 is comparable to the Core i9-10900K and only 4% slower than the K variant.

Next we have Corona, and we find with an upgraded cooler the 12700 is able to basically friction match the 12700K, taking but 3% longer to consummate the workload. With the stock RM1 cooler, merely with no power limited, performance is thermally limited, increasing the render fourth dimension to 77 seconds, so a 13% increase in completion time.

And so with the 65w spec enforced, the render fourth dimension blows out to 88 seconds, almost a 30% increase in render time when compared to the H170i configuration. That said, we're still looking at comparable performance to that of the Ryzen 7 5800X and Core i7-11700K.

The Adobe Premiere Pro workload is a mix of single and multi-core tasks. Using the H170i liquid cooler the 12700 was only ii.v% slower than the 12700K, which is a great result. We find using the box cooler only reduced performance past 2%, a respectable result.

Power limiting the 12700 to the 65w spec saw the score fall to 723 pts which is a 14% reduction from the H170i configuration, and again this placed the 12700 or par with the 5800X.

Moving on to Adobe Photoshop, this is an application that relies on unmarried core performance for the most part. Therefore thermal and power headroom is a not-effect every bit you tin can max out a unmarried core within the 65w ability upkeep and the RM1 easily deals with that thermal load. It also means that the 12700 was just 2% slower than the 12700K in this test.

Adobe After Effects, similar Photoshop, largely relies on single core performance. Using the H170i the 12700 matched the 12700K, while the power limited 65 watt spec using the RM1 reduced the score past just 4%, a negligible difference and so the 12700 scored amend than fifty-fifty the Ryzen 9 5900X which is very impressive.

We're including the game Factorio in the application benchmarks every bit we're non measuring fps, only rather updates per second. This automated benchmark calculates the time it takes to run k updates. This is a single threaded test which apparently relies heavily on cache functioning.

The 12700 performed much the aforementioned regardless of cooler and power state due to the single cadre nature of the test. It was 7% slower than the 12700K, but however managed to outperform the Ryzen 9 5900X, which is a great result for Intel's locked Cadre i7 part.

When it comes to code compilation performance, the Core i7-12700 is a beast, at least when paired with an upgraded cooler. Taking 4058 seconds meant it basically matched the 12-cadre Ryzen ix 5900X and took just four% longer than the 12700K.

Then thermally limiting with the RM1, it took 5% longer to complete the workload and and so 28% longer running at the 65w spec. Only even here it was all the same able to roughly lucifer the Core i9-11900K, an impressive result in terms of efficiency.

The concluding application benchmark nosotros're going to look at is Blender and these margins are similar to what nosotros've seen in a number of the cadre-heavy benchmarks. Without any power or thermal limits, the 12700 matches the 12700K, and when thermally express with the RM1 box cooler the render fourth dimension increased by 12%.

This time the 65 watt spec did heavily reduce operation, increasing the return fourth dimension past a massive 46%, making the 12700 one of the slowest CPUs tested. This is due to the apply of AVX instructions which blows out the power upkeep, and therefore heavily reduces the frequency at which the cores can operate when limited to a package power of 65 watts.

Power Consumption

When measuring total system power usage, we come across that the Cadre i7-12700 consumes slightly less power with the H170i when compared to the RM1, despite the fact that the liquid cooler enables a college level of functioning.

We believe this is explained by the fact that with the box cooler the CPU hits the thermal threshold of but over 100c more than quickly, and with the cooler unable to efficiently extract that much heat, much of it ends up beingness dumped into the PCB, and this increases VRM temps, reducing VRM efficiency, and therefore pushing full organisation usage college.

Gaming Benchmarks

Time to check out gaming performance and nosotros'll showtime with F1 2022. The 12700 was within a percent of the 12700K when looking at the boilerplate frame charge per unit and with almost 400 fps on average, information technology's fair to say performance is more than sufficient here.

Even with the 65w spec enforced, the 12700 averaged 364 fps which is just a 7% dip from the H170i configuration. It too meant when power limited the 12700 was able to match the 10900K and 11900K.

The Core i7-12700 performed well in Rainbow Six Siege with 566 fps on average, the same level of functioning seen from the 12700K. In the 65w mode the 12700 was 7% slower and while that did make the Ryzen 7 5800X faster, we're however talking about over 500 fps on average.

Interestingly, the margins in Watch Dogs: Legion are a lot smaller and hither we're dropping only 5% with the 65w mode, limiting the 12700 to 5900X and 5800X-similar performance. Merely with the power limits removed and the H170i installed the 12700 was just 2 fps slower than the 12700K, and so they're basically identical.

Next up we have Shadow of the Tomb Raider and here the 12700 managed to match the 12700K with 186 fps on boilerplate and with the RM1 box cooler installed performance only dropped by 2%, though you lot could certainly hear the CPU cooler.

Then with the 65w spec, performance dropped by 7% downward to 173 fps and here the 12700 sat between the 5800X and 11900K. Not a bad issue given the power limit.

The Riftbreaker is a super CPU intensive game and a new addition to our bombardment of benchmarks. This one heavily favors Alder Lake over Zen 3 and even Intel'due south 11th-gen Rocket Lake parts perform really well. Once more, the 12700 matched the 12700K, both with the H170i and the RM1, while the power express configuration was just 4% slower, matching the 11900K.

When compared to Ryzen, the 12700 was 23% faster than the 5900X, so this isn't a peachy championship for AMD despite performance overall being adequate.

The 12700 again matched the 12700K when cooled using the H170i, though the RM1 box cooler only dropped a few frames for what really was basically the same level of operation. Enabling the 65w spec dropped frames past 10% downward to 189 fps, and again that's the same level of performance seen from the 11900K.

Moving on, we accept Age of Empires IV and this data can't exist compared with the previous set of results from this game as we're using a completely different test, and resizable BAR is at present enabled for Alder Lake and Zen iii. In terms of performance, Alder Lake and Zen 3 are like and with this being a mostly single core game, the 12700 performs the same for all three configurations.

Far Weep vi is another single core game and this ane really favors the stiff single cadre performance of Alder Lake. Fifty-fifty with the 65w power limit, the 12700 was 12% faster than the 5900X. Because the game is merely leaning heavily on a single cadre, the 12700 tin still clock very aggressively inside that 65w ability budget.

Horizon Zero Dawn doesn't utilize the CPU all that heavily, so the 65w spec still delivers great results and allowed the 12700 to edge out the 11900K. Although Ryzen takes the cake on this one, the 12700 was just 6% slower, matching the 12700K.

Last upwards we have Cyberpunk 2077, which despite the dialed downwardly quality settings is still mostly GPU limited with these college-end CPUs, the Ryzen seven 3700X excluded. Ability limiting the 12700 did reduce performance by 8%, making it slower than even the Cadre i7-10700K. Only without any limits information technology matched the 5900X and was simply a few frames slower than the 12700K.

Before jumping to the x game average data, here'southward a look at total system power consumption when running our Cyberpunk 2077 benchmark. Again, the RM1 increases total system usage and this is due to the CPU heating up the VRM, causing information technology to run less efficiently.

Merely with a practiced cooler the Core i7-12700 matched the 5800X and 10700K for ability usage and and so when ability express, matched the 3700X, solid results given the performance.

10 game boilerplate

Here's a await at the x game average information and every bit expected the Core i7-12700 without any power limits is right there with the unlocked K version, making it a smidgen faster than the Ryzen 9 5900X.

So with the 65w spec enforced, the 12700 averaged 200 fps, placing it on par with the 5800X and merely two.5% slower than the 5900X. It was also impressive to run across that with the 65w limit the 12700 was some 5% faster than the 11900K.

Intel Box Libation: Laminar RM1

Some other new component we're testing in this review is the Intel Laminar RM1 box cooler. There's also a larger RH1 version that comes with the locked Cadre i9 parts, and so the more than basic RS1 version that comes bundled with Pentium and Celeron parts. They're all technically 65 watt coolers, and then the RM1 is designed to work with the 12700 merely when the 65w spec is enforced.

In terms of heatsink blueprint, the RM1 isn't overly different to previous box coolers that featured the copper slug, that said the copper slug is much bigger and this helps have the overall weight from 226 grams to 346 grams, a massive 53% deviation. The libation also looks meliorate and features a more robust mounting system. Overall this is a much better production, but it's but rated for 65 watts then don't expect anything amazing.

Taking a quick expect at cooling functioning using the RM1 box cooler at the 65w spec, in a 21C room with the components installed inside the Corsair 500D with the doors airtight. We're looking at a 76C operating temperature under an all-core workload in Cinebench R23, looped for an hr, and that's a respectable outcome.

With the power limits are removed, the CPU core temperature quickly hits 100C and this introduces throttling. The amount of frequency taken out of the CPU will depend on the workload, and of course, we've already looked at awarding performance when thermally limited using the RM1 cooler.

To avoid throttling, a basic belfry style air cooler will suffice, we're looking at only slightly more power depict than the Ryzen ix 5900X, and quite a bit less than the Core i7-11700K.

MSI B660 VRM

At this point nosotros've seen how the Core i7-12700 performs on the MSI B660M Mortar WiFi DDR4, but how does the lath perform? Nosotros don't mean storage, USB or audio operation, but rather the all of import VRM. Was the board on the verge of cooking itself, or are you lot good to run anything right upward to the 12900K on it?

To detect out, I threw it in our Corsair Corsair iCUE 7000X VRM test system and ran Cinebench R23 on a loop for an hour. For recording temperatures we're using a digital thermometer with G-Type thermocouples and nosotros'll exist reporting the peak rear PCB temperature. Finally, I'm not reporting Delta T over Ambient, instead I maintain a room temperature of 21 degrees and ensure a consistent ambient temperature a thermocouple is positioned side by side to the test arrangement.

With the 12900K, the B660M Mortar peaked at just 79C, which is a great result and it ways even in a 30C room the peak PCB temperature will be well under 100C, and typically y'all won't run into VRM throttling unless temperatures go over 100C, with 125C becoming dangerous.

This outcome means the Mortar isn't much hotter than entry-level Z690 boards and is worlds better than the Asrock Z690 Phantom Gaming 4, a board I purchased for testing but oasis't yet covered in particular, and so spoiler alert I guess. In terms of performance, the Mortar got the near out of the 12900K after the hour stress examination, and was 7% faster than the Asrock Z690 Phantom Gaming 4. So a great effect for what I'm expecting to be a mid-range B660 board.

What We Learned

That's been our await at the Intel Core i7-12700, MSI's B660M Mortar and Intel new RM1 cooler. The box libation is certainly an upgrade, information technology's not a game changer, and nosotros expect the vast bulk of you to throw it aside in favor of a more capable cooler. Even a $20 tower-way libation will be an upgrade.

For those running at the 65 watt spec, it does work and doesn't expect awful. Given the size constraints information technology's actually a overnice solution, only won't be specially appealing or useful for well-nigh enthusiasts.

The Core i7-12700, on the other hand, is extremely highly-seasoned and likely going to be a become-to option for many PC builders. When fully unleashed with a good cooler, the 12700 was only ~7% slower than the 12700K in applications, so for those not interested in overclocking, that should brand the 12700 a much better deal.

When it comes to gaming, the 12700 and 12700K are for the most role duplicate. The locked role was at near seven% slower, but typically the margin was less than a few percent and overall less than a pct separated the two beyond the x games tested. So in terms of value the 12700 is going to make a lot more sense for those not interested in CPU overclocking.

Speaking of pricing, at the time of writing this review, we don't accept official pricing information from Intel, but if we look at the 11th-gen 11700 series, nosotros tin make some estimates. The MSRP for the 11700K is $400, the 11700KF $375, $320 for the 11700 and the $300 for the 11700F. And so the 11700 is xx% cheaper than the 11700K. Assuming nosotros'll come across a similar margin with the 12700K and 12700, that would place the 12700 at around $330 at retail, but Intel might end up being less aggressive on pricing for this generation, given its competitiveness.

Bold Intel does hitting $330 for the 12700 or the 12700F, and a board like the B660M Mortar can be had for effectually $170, that's an infrequent $500 package, and less than what you'll pay for just the Ryzen ix 5900X which at present costs $540.

Meanwhile, the 5800X is $370, add $150 for a decent and comparable quality B550 lath and that philharmonic comes out slightly more expensive for an junior package. So volition Intel be that ambitious on pricing? Impossible to say right at present, but we'll have an thought shortly after this review goes alive, and a actually good idea over the next few weeks.

If ane matter'due south for sure, AMD is set up to be obliterated in the value segment with these thirteen new locked CPUs from Intel. Assuming the Blue Squad can meet demand, and assuming B660 boards are priced competitively, parts similar the 12400F are going to be particularly deadly and we're swell to take a look at that before long.

Bottom line, the Core i7-12700 and in particular the F variant look to be an awesome value options for high-cease gaming.