Intel debuted its 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake-S" desktop processor family late last month with only the unlocked "K" and "KF" SKUs targeting gamers and PC enthusiasts, alongside only the top Z690 chipset motherboards. The company is preparing to expand the lineup early next year with the addition of at least seven more SKUs (excluding additional "F" variants that lack integrated graphics). These processors could also introduce more value-conscious motherboard chipsets, such as the B660 and H670. momomo_us on Twitter, a reliable source with hardware leaks, predicts specs and a possible mid-January launch date for these chips.

The lineup possibly includes the Core i9-12900 and i9-12900F at the top, followed by the i7-12700 and i7-12700F, and the meaty Core i5 lineup that includes the i5-12600 and i5-12600F; the i5-12500, and the i5-12400/F. At least two Core i3 series SKUs could also be launched. The possible clock-speeds, and L3 cache sizes for the SKUs are tabulated below. What stands out from these SKUs is the specs of the Core i5-12600. We earlier thought it would be based on the larger "C0" silicon, with 6 P-cores and 4 E-cores, but it turns out, that the SKU is based on the smaller "H0" silicon with just 6 P-cores and no E-cores. Read more about the two silicon variants of "Alder Lake-S" in our older article. The i5-12600 will have significantly different performance and energy efficiency numbers than the i5-12600K.The Core i5 SKUs bound for January, based on the "H0" silicon, physically feature just six "Golden Cove" P-cores, and no E-core clusters. The six cores each feature 1.25 MB of L2 cache, and share 18 MB of L3 cache. The rest of the silicon includes a Gen12 Xe LP iGPU, and DDR5+DDR4 memory interface. A big unknown with the "H0" silicon is PCI-Express Gen 5 support. We hear rumors that the mid-tier B660 chipset lacks Gen 5 PEG support, limiting the PEG interface to Gen 4. It remains to be seen if the PCIe and DMI interfaces of the "H0" silicon are the same as "C0," or if there are some gotchas, such as Gen 4 PEG and 4-lane DMI 4.0.

Another interesting set of SKUs are the 12th Gen Core i3. In the past, Intel segmented its desktop Core i3 processors into two sub-classes, the i3-xx300, and the i3-xx100 series, with the two being differentiated using specs such as the L3 cache size. The truncated rumored specs suggest that even the entry-level i3-12100 could get 12 MB L3 cache, and it's conceivable that both the i3-12100 and i3-12300 are based on the "H0" silicon with two of the four P-cores disabled. Intel probably went with a 4+0 core approach for the 12th Gen Core i3 instead of innovating a third silicon type that has 2 P-cores and 4 E-cores because the entry level userbase probably sticks to older software such as Windows 10, and would run into compatibility or optimization issues. Core i3 could very likely lack exotic I/O such as PCIe Gen 5 PEG, although it may retain DDR5 support for compatibility with LGA1700 motherboards that have DDR5 slots.