Intel Core i9-12900K Review: Alder Lake Arrives

Starting with the top-of-the-line Cadre i9-12900K CPU, we tin can finally bear witness y'all how Intel's new 12th generation Alder Lake processor compages performs. The chip is priced at $650, which ways Intel has positioned their new flagship desktop CPU squarely between the Ryzen 9 5900X and 5950X, which will currently set you back $520 and $750, respectively.

Today is all nigh real-world performance as we had already covered the 12900K's specifications, for all that goodness check out our Alder Lake preview here.

The Core i9-12900K is an interesting fauna, packing viii functioning cores forth with 8 efficient cores for a total of 24 threads, which seems like a foreign number and that's because those efficient or "E-cores" don't back up Hyper-Threading.

The P-Cores clock up to v.2 GHz with the E-Cores express to 3.ix GHz. There's 30 MB of L3 cache, a total of 14MB of L2 enshroud, 16 PCIe 5.0 lanes from the CPU and four PCIe 4.0 lanes. Another new characteristic is DDR5 memory support, though Alder Lake also supports DDR4. You'll have to option which retentiveness technology you desire to pair your 12th-gen processor with though since you cannot mix the two.

	Intel Core i9 12900K	Intel Core i7 12700K	Intel Cadre i5 12600K	Intel Core i9 11900K	Intel Core i7 11700K
MSRP $	$650	$450	$320	$540	$400
Release Date	November 2022			March 2022
Cores / Threads	16 / 24	12 / 20	10 / sixteen	8 / 16
Base of operations Frequency	ii.iv / 3.4 GHz	2.7 / 3.vi GHz	2.viii / 3.7 GHz	3.5 GHz	3.6 GHz
Max Turbo	3.9 / 5.two GHz	3.viii / v.0 GHz	3.6 / 4.nine GHz	5.iii GHz	5.0 GHz
L3 Cache	thirty MB	25 MB	20 MB	xx MB	16 MB
Memory	DDR5-4800 / DDR4-3200			DDR4-3200
Socket	LGA 1700			LGA 1200

The stock retention support includes either DDR4-3200, or DDR5-4800 and today we'll be testing both, though nosotros won't carp with DDR5-4800 and instead to maximize what this new memory applied science actually offers, nosotros accept equipped our Alder Lake CPU with Yard.Skill's Trident Z5 DDR5-6000 CL36 memory.

Equally for the motherboards, nosotros're using the MSI Z690 Unify for DDR5 testing and the MSI Z690 Tomahawk WiFi DDR4 for our DDR4 exam system. Both motherboards work exceptionally well and we appreciate the fact that MSI has nailed their BIOS out of the gate. All application and gaming data was nerveless using the Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics menu.

Due to the hybrid core pattern of Alder Lake, the 12900K along with most of the 12th-gen processors require Windows xi and its improved thread scheduler for optimal functioning. Therefore we've tested using a fresh install of Windows 11 and take updated all other benchmark data for Ryzen and other CPUs running Microsoft's latest Os.

The Ryzen examination arrangement is running the Asus ROG Crosshair Eight Dark Hero motherboard with the latest BIOS update, and of course, all the latest Windows updates and drivers. Information technology'southward been a mammoth task getting all this data done in time for the Alder Lake launch, and yes, there is more to come up as we're working on reviews for the Core i7-12700KF, followed by the Core i5-12600K review, and much more than.

Application Benchmarks

We'll showtime with Cinebench, and right off the bat nosotros can tell you these results are very impressive. The 12900K manages to make the Ryzen 9 5950X look slow, boosting multi-core performance by xiii%.

Nosotros're likewise looking at a 76% performance improvement from the 11900K (!) and that affair was released but nine months agone for $550, only $100 less than the 12900K.

Nosotros did strongly recommend to avoid the 11900K like the plague, and seeing these results just confirms our initial opinion.

A 76% increment is a massive generational leap and even so Intel'south charging less than a 20% premium, so already the 12900K is looking solid.

It'due south interesting to note that DDR5 did nothing to improve the performance of the 12900K in this exam, but that'south not terribly surprising as nosotros know Cinebench isn't a particularly retentiveness sensitive test.

For this test, Cinebench R23 uses the P-cores and every bit you tin can see these big cores are fast, actually fast. When compared to the Cadre i9-11900K we're looking at an 18% increase in single core operation and a 23% increase over AMD's Zen 3 architecture.

7-Zip results are somewhat strange, merely we did become back and double check them just to be sure. Hither we're looking at a massive difference in operation for the 12900K using DDR4 and DDR5 memory in the 7-Zip compression test. Using DDR4-3200 memory, the 12900K was comparable to the 10900K, making it quite a bit slower than the 12 and 16-core Ryzen processors.

Yet, using DDR5-6000 memory additional performance past a whopping 50%, allowing the 12900K to jump ahead of the 5950X which is quite incredible.

We're non seeing the same improvement for decompression performance and here the 12900K is quite average, lagging miles behind AMD despite offer a little over forty% more performance when compared to the 11th generation.

Moving on to the Corona benchmark, we see that the 12900K is slightly slower than the 5950X taking 8 to 12% longer to complete the return, depending on the memory used, with DDR5-6000 improving operation past 4%. Then when compared to the 5900X the 12900K reduced render time past at least 8%, so here it does slot in well between the ii Ryzen CPUs which is where information technology's MSRP places information technology.

Performance in Adobe Premiere Pro 2022 is quite strong, roughly matching the 5950X when paired with DDR4 memory. Then we're looking at a modest 5% performance boost with DDR5 retentivity and while that'due south enough to place the 12900K alee of the 5950X, information technology'south not nearly enough to justify the electric current price premium DDR5 retention commands.

That strong unmarried-core performance is on full display in Photoshop 2022 with the 12900K'south DDR4 configuration boosting functioning by 14% over the Ryzen 9 5950X and 5900X.

Then with DDR5 memory the score is improved by a further 7%, making the 12900K the dominant desktop processor in this application.

The Adobe After Effects 2022 results are interesting. Here the 12900K offered an 11% performance increase over the 5950X when paired with DDR4 retentivity, while DDR5-6000 additional performance past a further 7% making this configuration almost 20% faster than the 5950X.

Factorio is a new addition to our battery of benchmarks and this simulation game hasn't been included with the residue of the games as we're non measuring frames per second, only rather updates per second. This automated benchmark calculates the time it takes to run one thousand updates. This is a single thread test which plain relies heavily on cache capacity.

Equally y'all can see the 12900K performs exceptionally well relative to the 5950X and in particular its predecessor, the 11900K. The upgrade to DDR5 memory additional performance by a mere 3%, but the 12900K was 22% faster than the 5950X and 30% faster than the 11900K regardless.

When it comes to lawmaking compilation performance, the 12900K is no slouch, delivering 5950X-similar performance, at least when using uber expensive DDR5 memory. Using DDR4 retentivity the 12900K performance is more comparable to that of the 3950X equally the faster DDR5 memory additional performance by ten%. Overall a adept result equally the 12900K again finds itself positioned between the 5900X and 5950X.

The last application we're going to look at is Blender, where the 12900K finds itself positioned betwixt the 5900X and 5950X. That means it was over 50% faster than Intel'southward previous generation flagship part, the 11900K.

Power Consumption

As groovy as application functioning looks, it does come up at the price of enormous power usage. Whereas the 5950X saw total system consumption reach 221 watts with a bit faster performance, the 12900K peaked at over 350 watts. That'south a sixty% increase in total system power usage which is an astronomical departure.

Power usage with either DDR4 or DDR5 memory was the same.

Finally, for those wondering how the 5950X consumed less power than the 5900X, this isn't a new thing, it is to exist expected and it's due to the higher silicon quality of the xvi-cadre part.

For those wondering about clock speeds, here'southward a expect at the 12900K under all-cadre load in Cinebench R23. Equally you can see the P-cores clocked to roughly 4.nine GHz at 4888 MHz with the E-cores at iii.7 GHz, so both are close to the maximum clock frequency as we're not running with whatsoever enforced power limits which is now the default behavior.

Then for single cadre load the 12900K is clocking to five.ane GHz for the P-cores and 3.9 GHz for the E-cores in this workload.

As for operating temperatures, the 12900K is a ability hungry CPU for these kinds of all-core workloads and as such I was unable to avoid intermittent throttling with the Corsair iCUE H115i Aristocracy Capellix installed equally the CPU regularly ran at or very near 100C. These coolers practise have mounting force per unit area issues with the 12900K, just I did my best to address that while likewise including ample thermal paste, but ultimately this kind of setup isn't ideal for prolonged all core load.

Switching over to the MSI CoreLiquid S360 did help and the mounting pressure was more than consistent across the IHS. This cooler did avert throttling of any kind, but the core temperature notwithstanding peaked at 96C, though temperatures for the most office hovered in the mid to low 80s.

Although we've just had time for limited testing information technology does appear as though 240mm AIO liquid coolers are out of the question as 12900K owners will crave larger 360mm versions. That means for a decent libation you'll be paying over $100 with virtually of the Corsair and MSI models priced at or higher up $200. Meanwhile, the Ryzen 9 5950X can be kept cool with a one-half decent air-cooler.

Gaming Benchmarks

Plenty serious business, now information technology'south fourth dimension to play.

Starting with F1 2022, we come across some odd data that probably should be sorted by the 1% low results. When sorted by the boilerplate frame rate like what we see here, the Ryzen nine 5900X and 5950X are the faster gaming CPUs, breaking the 400 fps barrier.

The 12900K using DDR4 retention was comparable to the 10900K, at least when looking at the average frame charge per unit. If we look at the 1% low we see that the 12900K is actually 28% faster and 15% faster than the Ryzen 9 processors. Interestingly, DDR5 slightly additional the average frame rate, but it also slightly reduced the 1% low. And then the strong 1% depression event tin can't be attributed to the use of DDR5 retentivity, given DDR4 was faster.

Side by side upwardly nosotros accept Tom Clancy'southward Rainbow Half dozen Siege where the 12900K mixes it upward with the 5950X and 5900X. It was slightly slower when paired with DDR4 retentiveness, though we're talking most a minor two.5% difference to the 5900X. So when compared to the 11900K, the 12900K was 22% faster on the average and a massive 43% faster for the 1% low.

Despite using dialed down quality settings, we encounter that Horizon Zero Dawn for the most role remains GPU limited. As a result, the 5900X, 5950X and 12900K all delivered comparable operation with ~190 fps on average. Needless to say, when GPU express DDR5 has no adventure to offer any extra performance.

It's a similar story when testing Borderlands 3. These high-stop CPUs are more than powerful enough to go the most out of the 6900 XT using what are medium-type quality settings. The 12900K was slightly better when it came to 1% depression performance, and again this isn't due to the adoption of DDR5 memory as we see much the same when using DDR4.

Moving on to Watch Dogs: Legion we have some eye-catching numbers. This is the first example where DDR5 offers a noteworthy functioning uplift, boosting the boilerplate frame charge per unit from 142 fps to 164 fps, a substantial 15% performance boost.

The 12900K was comparable to the 5900X and 5950X using DDR4 retention, but xv% faster using DDR5, if only DDR5 were just 15% more expensive.

We're back to GPU express results in the new Curiosity's Guardians of the Galaxy. For those wondering why I'd include such a title in our suite of game benchmarks, that'southward considering this accurately represents how most games play. That is to say, they're entirely GPU limited when using high-finish CPUs, despite the fact that we have dialed down quality settings with a 6900 XT at 1080p.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider tin can exist very CPU enervating and here we're non using the built-in benchmark simply the hamlet section. The 12900K performed very well, taking out the top spot on our graph, but quite oddly this was using DDR4 retention.

When paired with DDR5, the 12900K was a match for the 5950X when looking at the average frame charge per unit, while the 1% low was 4% faster. But the point here is that nosotros take an example where the 12900K was faster using DDR4 retentivity and by a substantial 9% margin.

Moving on to Hitman 3 nosotros find the 12900K at the meridian of our graph again, this time using either DDR4 or DDR5 retentivity. Nosotros're looking at Ryzen nine 5950X or 5900X-like performance, which is very good only AMD wasn't blown out of the h2o in this instance.

In Historic period of Empires four we find the 12900K offering a substantial performance improvement, specially when it comes to 1% depression performance. Interestingly, DDR4 offered the best performance in this title, boosting the average frame rate by 6%.

The 12900K was 20% faster than the 11900K and 25% faster than AMD's 5950X and 5900X. And so some seriously impressive results there for the new twelfth gen processor.

Despite being a very CPU intensive championship, Cyberpunk 2077 remains GPU express in our testing, even with slightly dialed downwards visual quality settings. There's not much to learn from these results, though it was interesting to again see DDR5 slightly downwards on DDR4 by a few frames.

Ability Consumption in Gaming

When we checked out Blender before we saw how extreme the power requirements are for the Cadre i9-12900K relative to parts like the Ryzen ix 5950X. However, while that data is relevant and accurate for high core count workloads like Blender, it's not accurate when looking at gaming.

Virtually games don't fully utilize viii-cadre processors, let alone xvi-core processors and while some like Cyberpunk 2077 can spread the load quite evenly beyond a wide range of cores, they're never going to exist fully or even heavily utilized by even today'south most demanding games.

That being the instance, ability usage isn't what you might wait and equally you can run into here the 10900K, 11900K, 12900K and Ryzen nine 5950X are all comparable. Even the 5900X, which uses less power when gaming, isn't noticeably better in this regard, lowering total system usage by just vii% when compared to the 12900K using DDR5. And then for gamers the whole power consumption argument is a bit pointless, at least until games fully utilize these CPUs, at which point y'all'd desire something faster anyhow.

10 Game Average

Intel seems right to merits the world'south best gaming performance once once again, fifty-fifty if it'due south by a small two.5% margin on boilerplate if we employ the collected data so far. If we focus on the ane% low data, and so the Core i9-12900K with DDR5 memory was vii% faster than the 5950X, which is a decent performance gain.

Speaking of DDR5 memory, nosotros're looking at a minor 2% increment over DDR4 performance, seen when looking at the 1% lows, and nosotros're using farthermost DDR5-6000 CL36 memory that will probably toll more than most Z690 motherboards.

Truth exist told, at that place's no difference in gaming performance between nearly of these high-end CPUs every bit y'all'll almost end upwardly GPU limited in today'due south games, even with an RTX 3090 or 6900 XT at 1080p with dialed-downwardly quality settings.

Windows 10 Performance

Before wrapping up this review, we wanted to take a quick look at Windows x performance to see if there's any divergence to using Windows xi with the Core i9-12900K and DDR5-6000 retentivity. Starting with the Cinebench R23 multi-core examination, we run into that functioning drops past 5% under Windows ten, not a huge decline but it is noteworthy.

As you can encounter by the single cadre data that the driblet in operation seen for the multi-core test is a effect for the Windows scheduler which wasn't prioritizing the P-cores equally well. For the single core test we're simply using the P-Cores and so performance remains much the same.

Interestingly, 7-cypher compression and decompression performance goes unchanged when using Windows 10. We expected to encounter a modest decline, but that wasn't the case.

The DDR5 configuration was slower than DDR4 when tested with Windows 11 in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and that's interesting because here nosotros're seeing better functioning under Windows x and this outcome is comparable to Windows 11 using DDR4. It's a substantial difference as well, the one% depression is 10% greater using Windows x, for case.

This made no sense, so we went back to Windows 11 for a re-test but the data was all authentic. And so for whatsoever reason the 12900K is performing meliorate in this CPU demanding title under Windows 10.

Information technology seems performance is a bit all over the identify when comparing Alder Lake on Windows 11 vs. Windows 10 -- this might deserve a detailed 30-xl game benchmark comparing the two in the nearly future. But for now, we've too got some Rainbow Six Siege benchmarks which propose stronger performance using Windows 11, which is what Intel recommends. In this test, Windows 11 boosted operation by 6% for the average frame rate and 9% on the 1% depression.

Is Intel Dorsum? What We Learned.

That's all the Core i9-12900K tests we have run and then far, and we tin draw some pretty solid conclusions based on them. Of course, at that place are many more than tests we'd like to conduct and no doubt volition in the future, but we didn't want to bog this review downward with stuff like memory scaling, IPC testing, tinkering with cores, and so on. We've likewise skipped overclocking for now equally it'southward extremely underwhelming and this CPU is power hungry and hot enough as it is.

Do expect u.s. to cover these and more topics soon, but for now let'south focus on the data we have at hand to make up one's mind if the Core i9-12900K is worth buying, and if information technology is, who should buy information technology?

DDR4 vs DDR5

Kickoff things starting time, DDR4 vs DDR5. This volition help simplify the discussion. DDR5 offers very little extra functioning over quality DDR4-3200 memory, and let's remember we used DDR5-6000, which is about as practiced as it gets right now, and expensive, too.

For gaming, you're looking at a few percent functioning boost with the best example seen in Picket Dogs which saw up to a twenty% comeback with DDR5, simply this was an outlier in our testing, though it's probable a good indication of how they will compare in the futurity. How relevant that is in the short term is difficult to say, merely probably not very.

Simply even if nosotros pretend that in CPU limited scenarios DDR5 memory will regularly deliver up to xx% greater gaming performance, it's nonetheless not worth the premium from a value standpoint. Right now you lot tin can purchase a quality DDR4-3200 memory kit like the one we used for $190, with more than sensible CL16 versions going for merely $100. DDR5 on the other hand appears to be starting at $280 for a 5200 CL40 kit, which is much slower than what we used for testing.

Meanwhile, Corsair's Dominator Platinum DDR5-5200 CL38 memory is selling for $330, and that's still slower than what nosotros used. But if we compare that to DDR4-3200 CL16 retention, it ways you're paying over 3x more for at all-time 20% greater operation. However, the reality of the situation is about a ~2% performance improvement on average.

And fifty-fifty that could exist seen as an exaggeration as nosotros're testing at 1080p, with dialed downwardly quality settings with an 6900 XT. Then if you were to employ this farthermost graphics card at 1440p, with the same quality settings, at that place's almost no situation where DDR5 will offering whatever performance improvement, allow alone 20%.

Frankly, the only people who should consider DDR5 are those who buy 6900 XTs or RTX 3090s and stick them on overkill $700 motherboards. For everyone else, DDR4 makes fashion more sense. That being the instance, we're going to recommend all prospective Alder Lake buyers go with DDR4 for now, and merely consider DDR5 in one case information technology gets very close to DDR4 in terms of pricing.

Core i9 vs. Ryzen 5000

The Core i9-12900K costs $650, making information technology 13% cheaper than the Ryzen ix 5950X and 25% more than the 5900X. If nosotros factor in the price of a motherboard, we notice that Intel Z690 boards kickoff at $200 for products such equally the Gigabyte Z690 UD, followed past the $220 MSI Z690-A. Those are entry-level boards though. At minimum you'd desire to spend closer to $300 on something similar the Gigabyte Z690 Aero G for $280, or the Asus Prime number Z690-A for $300 to pair it with your flagship Core i9 CPU.

On the AMD side, we know that the Asus TUF Gaming X570-Plus for $160 is an excellent motherboard and for those seeking a college end option the MSI X570 Tomahawk WiFi is great at $260. At that place are cheaper B550 options, but nosotros feel those investing in a 5900X or 5950X are better off going X570.

Based on this data, it looks like you're only saving $20-$40 on the motherboard when going with AMD, which is not a big deal at the high-end.

Now, if you're merely gaming, the 12900K is great, just it's not amazing as it does cost 25% more the 5900X and we saw a iv% performance increase on average, in a suite of mostly CPU intensive gaming. So if you're seeking high-cease gaming functioning without venturing beyond the betoken of diminishing returns, the 5900X may exist a meliorate bargain or really even the 5800X or i of the lesser Alder Lakes (which we'll review soon). Simply if you're seeking ultimate gaming operation then sure, the Core i9-12900K is it.

Then for workstation-type CPU intensive applications, our original assessment of DDR5 memory stands, you're meliorate off with DDR4 for the most part. But if your workload does benefit from DDR5 and fourth dimension is money, well so it's a no-brainer, become with the newer and faster retentiveness. For everyone else, DDR4 volition make more sense.

All that Ability

The elephant in the room is power consumption, and this is of particular concern for core- heavy workloads. Productivity operation was fairly similar between the Ryzen ix 5950X and Core i9-12900K, but the AMD scrap consumes significantly less power for these workloads. That will be a merchandise off, and depending on your particular apply instance AMD might exist faster anyhow. We call up the 16 performance cores of the 5950X that sip ability relative to what we see from the 12900K is the better bet, but it volition exist workload dependent. The Ryzen 9 5950X is also much easier to keep cool given information technology'due south sucking down around 130 watts less.

Still, the Cadre i9-12900K is a mighty impressive CPU and it certainly signals Intel'due south back and one time once again competing with AMD in the loftier-cease desktop PC segment.

Deal or No Deal?

Then would we buy the Core i9-12900K? If nosotros were in the process of piecing together a high-terminate gaming PC, nosotros retrieve nosotros might. It's non the obvious choice, merely assuming motherboard pricing is competitive in your region, it'south without question a viable choice.

If waiting is an option, we'd probably experience it necessary to wait and come across what AMD'due south V-Cache brings early next yr. AMD's updated platform later adjacent year which will support DDR5 as well, simply that'southward likely a year away at this betoken.

Right now we could easily go either mode, the Ryzen ix 5900X or the more modernistic Core i9-12900K, we don't think you tin go wrong with either choice. This kind of tight competition is great and if one brand wants to guarantee the sale, they'll accept to become more ambitious on pricing.

That's all we have to say on the Core i9-12900K for now. Tomorrow we'll be checking out the Cadre i7-12700KF and then the Core i5-12600K, followed by an avalanche of Alder Lake benchmark content. Stay tuned for that.