Intel Core i9-12900K swats Ryzen 9 rivals and i9-11900K away with blazing CPU-Z single-thread benchmarks

Expert data-miner APISAK has offered up two more benchmark results for the Intel Core i9-12900K, and they reveal single-thread benchmark results that are nothing short of spectacular. It wasn’t that long ago that the Rocket Lake i9-11900K was ripping up the rulebook on the same benchmark, but the Alder Lake chip has destroyed its predecessor’s current CPU-Z chart entry. The i9-12900K features in two separate tests where it achieves an 800+ score in both runs. Considering the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X, Ryzen 9 5950X, and the i9-11900K are all in the chart with scores below 700, it is an astonishing appearance by the high-end hybrid processor.

Of course, there are examples of Ryzen 9 5900X and i9-11900K chips achieving higher results than those shown in the CPU-Z chart, but this is how things look at the moment: The i9-12900K managed 813 points and 834 points. Using an average of 823.5 points, this would leave the Alder Lake part with these incredible performance differences: +20.75% over the i9-11900K, +27.08% over the Ryzen 9 5900X, and +27.28% over the Ryzen 9 5950X. The multithread results are also strong, with the 8C+8c/24T processor scoring 11,244 points and 11,719 points in the two benchmarks – much higher than any of the other chips in the select group of CPUs using 24 threads (Ryzen 9 5900X @9,544 points).

Considering the US$589 price tag for the Intel Core i9-12900K there would be high expectations for its 8 P-cores and 8 E-cores to deliver the goods – at least in terms of synthetic benchmark performances. But as most people interested in processor development and the CPU market will know, this Intel single-thread superiority always comes at a power cost. The Zen 3 chips from AMD have a 105 W TDP whereas the Alder Lake flagship part starts off at 125 W base and can reach all the way up to a hefty 241 W under turbo usage (330 W has even been recorded for an overclocked sample). The result here is still a feather in the cap for the i9-12900K, with Alder Lake looking like a sturdy offering from Intel.

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