Intel Core i7-12700K - Core i7 12th Gen Alder Lake 12-Core (8P+4E) 3.6 GHz LGA 1700 125W Intel UHD Graphics 770 Desktop Processor - BX8071512700K

Pros: Great performance, decent thermals I haven't had it configured long but in geek bench (not perfect I know) I got 1915 ST/14043 MT with stock settings and air cooling (Noctua NH-D15). I got these scores with DDR4, so the speed is great even without DDR5 which was a lot cheaper since I could use my existing RAM. I ran a CPU stress test for a while and it maxed out at around 67-68 degrees Celsius.

Cons: Power usage is higher than AMD 5800X/5900X, but not dramatically so from what I have seen so far.

Overall Review: After reading reviews of the I9-12900k, this seems like a better choice to me regardless of price. I am seeing very little difference in single threaded benchmarks, and maybe 15-18% faster multi threaded performance on the I9-12900k. But that comes at the price of using a lot more power and hitting over 90 degrees Celsius in some cases on temperatures when stress testing. While I don't normally overclock my system, I bet you could likely hit those performance numbers with an overclock on the 12700K if you really wanted to.

Pros: Easy install Fast gaming

Cons: Dont use a old version of windows. Newer drivers werent compatible

Overall Review: Worth the upgrade for me. Coming from a i5 8500

Pros: This processor can complete an infinite loop in about 4 and 1/2 hours. Seriously, this is an amazing fast processor at a price that cannot be touched. Recently I was a AMD fanboy but this processor got me back to Intel.

Cons: Doesn't make omelettes.

Overall Review: Very highly recommended.

Pros: I had no idea how much my 2700k was holding my GTX 1080ti back because my framerates went up 50% in some games. It's almost like I got a new CPU and Graphics card which is great because I won't have to upgrade my 1080ti for a while. My multicore benchmark scores went up 4 fold which is crazy. I guess I was long overdo for an upgrade. There is a myth that Alder Lake processors run hot and eat electricity 100% of the time. Alder Lake processors only run hot when they're pushing benchmarks or running programs that use AVX-512. If you look up benchmarks, you'll see the 12700k uses about the same amount of power as AMD's Zen 3 processors in gaming.

Cons: You need either DDR5 RAM or really fast 4000mhz or better DDR4 memory to get the most out of Alder lake. I wanted to pair this up with the Maximus z690 Hero but I couldn't find the Hero in stock so I went with the Apex. Then after a few weeks of not being able to find a kit of DDR5 memory, I returned the Apex and I went with an MSI DDR4 motherboard.

Overall Review: If you're still running with an old i7 or i5 processor then now is the perfect time to upgrade.

Pros: Gaming with this cpu has been a real treat. Most games Ive played hasnt been able to push the i7-12700k to its limits, and Im talking games like Tarkov, Apex, etc.. for that reason it stays moderately cool with my Corsair AIO cooler, and I am positive a big air cooler would perform just as good to keep it cool. The efficiency cores and performance cores are a cool new idea to processing power, and its nice to have for having multiple things open at once. Ive only gamed on an amd 8350x and an i5-9600k in my life up until now and I can see the difference in what this cpu can make for what I use a computer for. I wish I could have gotten the DDR5 model motherboard but didnt want to wait.

Cons: None so far.

Overall Review: Ive paired this cpu with a RTX 3070 and dual channel 2x16 DDR4-3600 MHz memory sticks. Im sure the DDR5 model would give that extra oomph in system performance but if you dont want to wait and can get a set of good DDR4 RAM I dont think itll hurt the gaming performance.

Pros: - Fast and able to handle many tasks at a time - Price, not much more than 11th gen for about 20% increase in performance

Overall Review: For my first time PC build, I decided to upgrade from the Stone Age to gen 12 Alder lake. Was so close to going gen 11 Rocket Lake, but I'm glad I treated myself for a little bit more in terms of price for a huge leap in performance. It does require windows 11 and as of now I'm having difficulties with my peripherals (Razor Kraken Tournament edition) and the mic settings. That being said I'm coming from windows 7. If you have experience with windows 10 you'll be in a much better stand point of navigating and interacting with windows 11.