A brand new Intel Alder Lake-S Desktop CPU entry has appeared within the UserBenchmark data-base which appears to be a Core i5 model. The chip was spotted by TUM_APISAK and is an early ES variant.

Intel Alder Lake-S Core i5 Desktop CPU Spotted: 6 Cores, 12 Threads, Up To 4.25 GHz Early Clocks

The Intel Alder Lake-S CPU was spotted and tested on the reference ADP-S test platform which is DDR4 and DDR5 memory compliant. This specific configuration was running DDR4-3200 memory and during the recent Architecture Day 2021, Intel confirmed that Alder Lake-S Desktop CPUs will feature both DDR5-4800 and DDR4-3200 memory support.

Intel has confirmed that its desktop Alder Lake CPUs will feature both DDR5 and DDR4 memory.

The CPU itself features 6 cores and 12 threads which suggests that it only features 6 Golden Cove cores enabled with no Gracemont core active. This configuration has indeed been rumored for the Intel Alder Lake lineup and would be part of the Core i5 segment. This particular configuration can be seen on the next-gen Core i5-12500 or Core i5-12400 CPU considering the Core i5 'K' series part is expected to feature 6 Golden Cove cores and 4 Gracemont cores for a total of 10 cores and 16 threads. Following are the expected Alder Lake-S desktop CPU configurations:

Intel Core i9 K-Series (8 Golden + 8 Grace) = 16 Cores / 24 ThreadsIntel Core i7 K-Series (8 Golden + 4 Grace) = 12 Cores / 20 ThreadsIntel Core i5 K-Series (6 Golden + 4 Grace) = 10 Cores / 16 ThreadsIntel Core i9 A-Series (8 Golden + 8 Grace) = 16 Cores / 24 ThreadsIntel Core i7 A-Series (8 Golden + 4 Grace) = 12 Cores / 20 ThreadsIntel Core i5 A-Series (6 Golden + 0 Grace) = 6 Cores / 12 ThreadsIntel Core i3 A-Series (4 Golden + 0 Grace) = 4 Cores / 8 Threads

Intel Alder Lake-S Core i5 6 Core & 12 Thread Desktop CPU Spotted (Image Source: TUM_APISAK)

This configuration would also pack 18 MB of L3 cache and a 32 EU GT2 graphics chip based on the Xe architecture. As for clock speeds, the chip has a base clock of 2.60 GHz and a boost clock of up to 4.25 GHz. These are preliminary clock speeds considering this is still an ES chip but we've heard reports that QS variants have already been shipped out and we can expect final clock specs in few weeks.

In terms of performance, the Alder Lake-S Core i5 is currently at least 20-30% slower than the Core i5-11600K which is obviously due to the much lower clock speeds and performance that were measured with baseline DDR4-3200 memory. Also, UserBenchmark isn't the best benchmark when it comes to comparing CPUs so expect the final performance of Intel's Alder Lake CPU lineup to be much better.

Intel Mainstream CPU Generations Comparison: