Forceful Intel Core i9-12900KS smashes through its first benchmark chart even though it's UserBenchmark

It’s well-known by now that comparing Intel chips with AMD processors via UserBenchmark can be a fruitless task, with the site frequently accused of showing heavy bias in favor of Team Blue and criticized for its scoring system that leaves multi-core scores judged as not important as 1-core and 2-core results. However, the site is still useful for spotting new SKUs making an appearance and for at least comparing Intel CPUs with each other. The Alder Lake Intel Core i9-12900KS, which was recently launched at an MSRP of US$739, has made its first visits to the site and has already shaken the average bench chart apart with its impressive performance.

As is expected considering the i9-12900KS is as high-end as it gets with Intel’s 12th generation of desktop chips, the 16-core (8x Performance + 8x Efficient), 24-thread processor has flexed its unlocked muscles on UserBenchmark and produced a dazzling average bench of 124%. To put this into perspective, fellow Alder Lake high-fliers i9-12900K and i9-12900KF both rest on 114% (for the sake of transparency the highest-listed AMD part, the Ryzen 9 5900X, has been awarded 102%). Only two samples of the Intel Core i9-12900KS have been tested on the site so far, so the average bench might fall a little yet. However, it is still a remarkable initial feat to put a full 10% difference between it and the next chips listed on the benchmark chart.

It's not clear what speeds the processor reached during testing, as the entries simply state base clocks of 3.2-3.4 GHz and a peak clock of 4.8 GHz (average). The i9-12900KS is capable of reaching 5.50 GHz using Intel’s Thermal Velocity Boost, which is dependent on the system’s cooling solution in regard to hitting the peak frequency and for how long it remains there. The Intel Core i9-12900KS adds 8% to its 1-core/2-core “normal” test over the i9-12900K (129% vs. 121%) and somewhat ironically, considering the benchmark, gains from hitting high 64-core “server” marks (213% vs. 198%). Regardless of personal opinions about UserBenchmark, it can’t be argued that Intel has delivered the goods with the i9-12900KS for those who lust after pure single-core processing speed.

Buy the Intel Core i9-12900K on Amazon