Intel Core i9-12900K Alder Lake-S Qualification Samples available on black market for 1064 USD

Intel Core i9-12900K QS is now available on the black market

According to Yuuki_AnS, qualification samples of Intel Alder Lake-S processor are now available on the black market in China.

The leaker claims that samples of Core i9-12900K are now available for around 6900 to 7500 CNY (1064 to 1157 USD) on the Chinese black market. We have confirmed that Qualification Samples are indeed available for sale, however, the quantity of these samples is still limited, greatly increasing the risk of the sample’s source being revealed. This is why the sellers and leakers are still reluctant to share photos of the Alder Lake-S processors.

Core i9-12900K QS on sale, Source: YuuKi_AnS

It is quite a common theme to see engineering and qualifications samples showing up on the black market and even services like eBay. Those products are often offered with slightly different specifications than retail samples, for example, different clock speed, or disabled functionality, however by design they are often identical to the final product.

At this moment purchasing a qualification sample or signing the embargo with Intel are the only ways to get access to Alder Lake-S processors. Neither the series nor the LGA1700 platform has been released yet, which means that the potential buyer is also required to obtain a next-gen motherboard, which may be even harder than finding an i9-12900K sample for sale.

The specifications of the Core i9-12900K processors are already known. This SKU offers 8 high-performance Golden Cove cores and 8 high-efficiency Gracemont mini cores. In total the processors offer 16 cores but since Gracemont does not support HyperThreading, the 12900K only offers 24 threads.

Intel Alder Lake-S Engineering Sample, Source; VideoCardz

In terms of clock speeds, leaks have revealed that the i9-12900K QS has a boost clock up to 5.3 GHz for big cores and 3.7 GHz for small cores. The power limits are 125W and 228W for PL1 and PL2 values respectively. Intel Alder Lake-S desktop series is now expected to debut in the fourth quarter of this year, however, Intel is also preparing mobile S series and vPro models, both rumored to arrive next year.

Source: Yuuki_AnS via Tom’s Hardware