Here is a surprising information that fell in the middle of the “crazy” opening day of CES. Intel would release a specific Core i5 model for the Chinese market: the i5-12490f.
i5-12490F (china only)
12400F: 2.5-4.4 18MB L3
12490F: 3.0-4.6 20MB L3https://t.co/NjI7pNFGGq pic.twitter.com/MUbkTs5WUZ— HXL (@9550pro) January 5, 2022
This i5-12490F would have 6 cores and 12 threads with a base frequency of 3.0 GHz and a boost to 4.6 GHz…So what we find on the Core i5-12500. So we could say that this i5 intended for the Chinese market is only a renaming but we note however differences and they are not negligible. First of all we are in the presence of an F CPU, that is to say without graphics part, which is absolutely not the case of i5-12500. Last but not least, the Core i5-12490F has more L3 cache than the 12500 (20 MB against 18 MB). If we do some conversion between the Chinese currency and our euros, this 12490F would be positioned at 20-30€ above a 12400F On the other hand, if you have followed Intel’s announcements concerning the rest of its Alder Lake range, you will not find any trace of this i5-12490F. Another element confirming that this reference will be, at least initially, only reserved for the Chinese market.