Intel Core i9-12950HX

The Intel Core i9-12950HX is a high-end mobile CPU for laptops based on the Alder Lake architecture. It was announced in mid 2022 and offers 8 performance cores (P-cores, Golden Cove architecture) and 8 efficient cores (E-cores, Gracemont architecture). The P-cores support Hyper-Threading leading to 24 supported threads when combined with the E-cores. The clock rate ranges from 2.3 to 5 GHz on the performance cluster and 1.7 to 3.6 GHz on the efficiency cluster. The performance of the E-cores should be similar to old Skylake cores (compare with the Core i7-6920HQ). All cores can use up to 30 MB L3 cache. As a HX-variant, the CPU offers an open multiplicator and therefore the possibility to overclock the CPU cores. Compared to the similar i9-12900HX, the 12950HX supports vPro and ECC memory (successor of the Xeon line) but the CPU overclocking is limited.

Performance

Mid 2022, the i9-12950HX is one of the fastest mobile CPUs. Thanks to the additional 2 performance cores and a higher TDP, the 12950HX should be clearly faster than the 12900HK in multithreaded workloads. 

Features

The integrated memory controller supports various memory types up to DDR5-4800 and DDR4-3200. The Thread Director (in hardware) can support the operating system to decide which thread to use on the performance or efficient cores for the best performance. For AI tasks, the CPU also integrates GNA 3.0 and DL Boost (via AVX2). Quick Sync in version 8 is the same as in the Rocket Lake CPUs and supports MPEG-2, AVC, VC-1 decode, JPEG, VP8 decode, VP9, HEVC, and AV1 decode in hardware. The CPU supports 48 PCIe lanes consisting of 16 Gen5 (x16 or 2x8), 20 Gen4 and 12 Gen3.

The integrated graphics card is based on the Xe-architecture and offers 32 EUs (Execution Units) operating at up to 1.55 GHz.

The CPU is rated at 55 W base power (157 W PL2). The SoC is manufactured in a 10nm process at Intel, which is known as Intel 7.

Series	Intel Alder Lake-S
Codename	Alder Lake-HX
Series: Alder Lake-S Alder Lake-HX Intel Core i9-12950HX « 1.7 - 5 GHz 16 / 24  30 MB L3 Intel Core i9-12900HX 1.7 - 5 GHz 16 / 24  30 MB L3 Intel Core i7-12850HX 1.5 - 4.8 GHz 16 / 24  25 MB L3 Intel Core i7-12800HX 1.5 - 4.8 GHz 16 / 24  25 MB L3 Intel Core i7-12650HX 1.5 - 4.8 GHz 14 / 20  24 MB L3 Intel Core i5-12600HX 1.8 - 4.6 GHz 12 / 16  18 MB L3 Intel Core i5-12450HX 1.8 - 4.4 GHz 8 / 12  12 MB L3
Clock Rate	1700 - 5000 MHz
Level 1 Cache	1.4 MB
Level 2 Cache	14 MB
Level 3 Cache	30 MB
Number of Cores / Threads	16 / 24
Power Consumption (TDP = Thermal Design Power)	55 Watt
Manufacturing Technology	10 nm
Max. Temperature	100 °C
Socket	FCBGA1744
Features	Thread Director
GPU	Intel UHD Graphics 770 ( - 1550 MHz)
64 Bit	64 Bit support
Architecture	x86
Announcement Date	05/10/2022

Benchmarks