Leaked Intel Alder Lake pricing indicates premium markup over Rocket Lake, but this could be deliberate strategy to match AMD Zen 3's inflated prices

Intel 12th gen Alder Lake parts are not too far from launch. We have been seeing several leaks of a few Alder Lake processors in the wild. Now, prices for Intel's 12th gen processors also seem to have leaked online via several European retailers. These prices seem inflated, but it looks like Intel has already started asking dealers to be ready for Alder Lake's launch.

According to information shared by @momomo_us on Twitter, the pricing for the Core i9-12900K with 16 cores and 24 threads ranges between €540 and €612 excluding VAT and between €653 and €741 with VAT. On average, the Core i9-12900K seems to be priced about €587 without VAT and €710 with VAT. Intel has also KF variants of these processors on offer — these lack the iGPU and are about €30 cheaper.

@momomo_us has also posted what appears to be USD listings for the Core i9-12900K (US$705.64), Core i9-12900KF (US$674.96), Core i7-12700K (US$495.60), Core i7-12700KF (US$464.92), Core i5-12600K (US$343.38), and Core i5-12600KF (US$312.70) from another retailer.

Overall, these prices do seem to be on the higher side but also seem to be matched to Zen 3's increased pricing, especially in the mid-range. The Core i5-12600K at an indicative price of US$343 (€347 incl. VAT) offers 10 cores and 16 threads compared to the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, which is an 8C/16T part currently going for US$394 on Amazon.

Do note that a straightforward conversion between USD and Euro cannot be applied here. It can be expected that Intel would designate lower official MSRPs given that retailers may be looking to offer these SKUs early at higher prices to make a quick buck.

However, if the performance uplifts we are seeing so far are indeed true, Alder Lake may indeed be quite a bargain at official MSRPs. We should hopefully be knowing more come October 27.

Buy the Intel Core i9-11900K on Amazon