Intel Announces 5.5 Ghz Capable 12th Gen CPU

Global top chipmaker Intel has announced a new 12th-gen desktop CPU that is capable of boosting to 5.5GHz on a single core out of the box.

The news came during Intel's CES 2022 presentation when it said the KS-series desktop processor would be shipping later this quarter, but there was no mention of pricing.

The full name of the chip is the Core i9-12900KS, and Tom's Hardware notes the "S" suffix suggests it will be a limited edition.

As well as hitting a maximum of 5.5GHz on a single-core, an onstage demonstration of the new CPU powering Hitman 3 showed the processor running at a sustained 5.2GHz across all its performance cores, it added.

Intel executive vice president Gregory Bryant, during the presentation, noted only that the CPU would be shipping to "OEM customers", suggesting that, in the immediate future, users will have to buy a prebuilt PC to get their hands on one of the chips.