Intel 12th Gen Alder Lake-HX Core i5, Core i7 CPUs With 55W TDP Launched For High-End Performance Laptops: Specs

Intel has unveiled its new top-tier 12th Generation Alder Lake HX series mobile CPUs. This lineup contains seven new Core i5, Core i7, and Core i9 processors ranging in capacity from eight cores and 12 threads to 16 cores and 24 threads. These new Alder Lake HX processors have PCIe 5.0 and a TDP of 55W, with a maximum TDP of 157 W (turbo), which were limited to Desktop CPUs.

Intel 12th Gen Alder Lake HX Series CPU Features

When it comes to design, the Alder Lake HX series merges the chip maker’s hybrid desktop design (ADL-S) into a smaller BGA package with up to 16 cores that are better suited for mobile devices. These chips are marketed as performance-driven high-end CPUs that consume a fraction of the power of full-fledged desktop processors. These new Alder Lake-HX processors include Intel Speed Optimizer and Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU), which allow for easy overclocking of these CPUs.

The Core i9-12950HX and Core i9-12900HX chips of the Alder Lake HX range include eight performance cores and eight efficiency cores for a total of 16 cores and 24 threads. Both have a base core frequency of 2.3 GHz (P cores) and 1.7 GHz (E cores), with turbo rates of 5.0 GHz (P cores) and 3.6 GHz (E cores).

Moving down the series, there are three Core i7 models from Intel—the Core i7-12850HX, Core i7-12800HX, and Core i7-12650HX. The top two variants in the Core i7 HX series include eight performance and eight efficiency cores, 24 threads, 25MB of L3 cache, and a 32 EU iGPU.

The Intel Core i7-12650HX contains eight efficiency cores and two performance cores, for a total of 14 cores and 20 threads. It features the same base clocks on both cores as the Core i7-12800HX, but with a lower turbo frequency of 4.7 GHz (P cores) and 3.3 GHz (E cores) and somewhat lower L3 cache levels (23 MB versus 24 MB).

The Core i5-12600HX and Core i5-12450HX are the final CPUs. The Core i5-12600HX processor includes four performance and eight efficiency cores, 16 threads, 18MB of L3 cache, and a 32 EU iGPU. The Core i5-12450HX, on the other hand, features four performance and four efficiency cores, 12 threads, 18 MB of L3 cache, and a 32 EU iGPU.

In a nutshell, the 12th Gen Alder Lake HX series processors have up to 16 cores (eight Performance and eight Efficient) and 24 threads, with a CPU base power of 55W. For improved bandwidth and faster data transfers, they get x16 PCIe Gen 5.0 from the processor and 44 PCIe Gen 4.0 via a separate platform controller hub (PCH). They are the first mobile CPUs in the industry to offer overclocking and support up to 128GBs of DDR5/LPDDR5, DDR4 RAM with Error Correcting Code (ECC) capabilities.

Intel 12th Gen Alder Lake HX Series CPU Availability

This year, prominent OEMs such as Dell, HP, and Lenovo are expected to introduce more than ten workstation and gaming configurations powered by 12th Gen Intel Core HX CPUs. Expect more vendors to announce their own models with the Core HX CPUs over the coming weeks.