The Intel Core i7-12700F is a desktop processor featuring 12 cores, which was introduced in January 2022 with a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of. This processor belongs to the Core i7 series and is built on the Alder Lake-S architecture, utilizing Socket 1700. It incorporates Intel Hyper-Threading technology, effectively doubling the core count of the Performance Cores to achieve a total of 20 threads. The Core i7-12700F is equipped with 25 MB of L3 cache and operates at a base frequency of 2.1 GHz, with the capability to boost up to 4.9 GHz depending on the workload. Manufactured using a 10 nm production process, the specific transistor count remains undisclosed. Additionally, the multiplier on the Core i7-12700F is locked, which restricts its potential for overclocking.

The Core i7-12700F operates with a thermal design power (TDP) of 65 W, which aligns with the standard power consumption expected from contemporary personal computers. This Intel processor is compatible with both DDR4 and DDR5 memory, utilizing a dual-channel architecture. For interfacing with other system components, the Core i7-12700F employs a PCI-Express Gen 5 connection. It is important to note that this processor lacks integrated graphics, necessitating the use of a dedicated graphics card. Additionally, the package includes not only the processor itself but also a Laminar RM1 cooler.

The Core i7-12700F features hardware virtualization, significantly enhancing the performance of virtual machines. Furthermore, it supports IOMMU virtualization (PCI passthrough), allowing guest virtual machines to directly access host hardware. Applications that utilize Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) will benefit from improved performance on this processor, particularly for computation-intensive tasks. In addition to AVX, Intel has also incorporated the more recent AVX2 standard; however, AVX-512 is not included.

Processor