Intel's 12th Generation Alder Lake Packaging Looks Pretty Nice

An anonymous tipper has sent VideoCardz renders of what could be the packaging for Intel's looming 12th Generation Alder Lake processors. It’s not a drastic redesign, but the new packaging looks pleasing to the eyes.

The Core i9-12900K, which is the flagship of the Alder Lake lineup, will likely be the only SKU that sports special, retail packaging. It's not as exotic as the dodecahedron packaging that came with the Core i9-9900K, though. Nonetheless, the Core i9-12900K packaging features different tones of blue to stay within Intel’s theme. The biggest novelty with the design is sides that emulate a window-like view into the packaging. One side of the box shows a partial picture of a wafer.

The other K-series chips will arrive in standard, compact boxes that lack any sort of eye candy. The dimensions of the packaging insinuate that unlocked Alder Lake processors will arrive without a stock cooler, a trend that Intel started back in the Skylake days.

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Curiously, VideoCardz didn’t receive a render of the packaging for the Core i3 models. Therefore, Intel may forsake the Core i3 on this generation or perhaps the lower end SKUs will arrive later on. There are already more than a dozen Alder Lake chips thanks to the hybrid design, potentially not leaving any room for a Core i3 chip. A couple of U.S. retailers have already shared their pricing for the Alder Lake stack, and neither of the stores remotely mentioned any Core i3 SKUs.

As far as Intel goes, the chipmaker only committed to a Fall 2021 launch for Alder Lake. However, the hardware circles have been speculating that Intel will  announce the hybrid desktop chips at its upcoming Intel Innovation event that runs from October 27 to 28. 

Early rumors on the Internet claim that Alder Lake will hit the market on November 19.  Subsequently, MSI announced that Coreliquid AIO owners can apply for LGA1700 mounting kits starting November 4, adding another potential launch date to our calendar.