Intel Core Ultra 7 265U vs Intel Core i9-12900 vs Intel Core i9-12900K

Intel Core Ultra 7 265U

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265U is an upper mid-range CPU with 12 cores from the Arrow Lake U series, which was introduced at the beginning of 2025. The SoC is based on a tile/chiplet design. The chip is similar to the Meteor Lake U series, but the compute part is manufactured using the modern Intel 3 process and therefore offers higher clock rates.

The smaller compute tile (compared to the H processors) offers 2 performance cores (P cores, Redwood Cove architecture, SMT) and 8 efficiency cores (E cores, Crestmont architecture). The P-cores support hyperthreading (therefore 14 threads together) and clock up to 5.3 GHz. The E-cores clock at a maximum of 4.2 GHz. In addition, there are now two more low-power efficiency cores on the low-power island, so the compute tile can be completely deactivated when idle and during simple tasks in order to save power.

Performance

Thanks to the significantly higher clock rates, the Core Ultra 7 265U should be significantly faster than the old Core Ultra 7 165U (12 cores, max 4.9 / 3.8 GHz, 12 MB cache). Due to the 12 cores, the multi-thread performance is very good, but can be limited by the low TDP (especially under long load).

Graphics unit

The Core Ultra 7 265U offers a new Arc-based iGPU called Intel Graphics with 4 Xe cores and 64 EUs that reach a maximum of 2.1 GHz. However, the performance is clearly below the new Arc iGPU in the H series.

Features

Arrow Lake-U has integrated WiFi 6E (WiFi 7 optional) and Thunderbolt 4 (4x). The integrated memory controller now supports LPDDR5/x-8400 or DDR5-6400 (max. 128 GB). A dedicated NPU (2x Gen3 Neural Compute Engines) is now used. The Xe Media Engine supports MPEG-2, AVC, VC-1 Decode, JPEG, VP8 Decode, VP9, HEVC and AV1 Decode up to 8K 10-bit HDR. The chip now supports PCIe-5.0 (x8 for GPU) and PCIe-4.0 (three x12 for SSDs).

Power consumption

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265U is specified with 15 watts TDP (base) and 57 watts (PL2) max. turbo power. Meteor Lake consists of five individual chips, whereby the processor part is manufactured in the new Intel 3 process (5nm). The graphics unit is produced at TSMC in N5 and the SoC and I/O tile in the older N6 process. These 4 chips are then applied to the 22nm base tile using the Foveros process.

Intel Core i9-12900

The Intel Core i9-12900 is a high end CPU for desktops based on the Alder Lake architecture. It was first announced in November 2021 and offers 8 performance cores and 8 efficiency cores. The performance cores (P-cores) support HyperThreading, leading to 24 Threads that can be processed at once. The performance cores can clock with up to 5.1 GHz, the efficiency cores can clock with up to 3.8 GHz. All cores can use 30 MB Smart Cache. The integrated memory controller supports up to 128 GB DDR5 with 4800 MT/s (dual channel).

The Thread Director (in hardware) can support the operating system to decide which thread to use on the performance or efficiency cores for the best performance.

For AI tasks, the CPU also integrates GNA 3.0 and DL Boost (most likely only using 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 integrated graphics card is based on the Xe-architecture and called Intel UHD Graphics 770. It clocks between 300 and 1.55 GHz.

The CPU is rated at 65 W base power and 202 Watt maximum Turbo power. It is manufactured in 10nm, called Intel 7, process at Intel.

Intel Core i9-12900K

The Intel Core i9-12900K is a high end CPU for desktops based on the Alder Lake architecture. It was first announced in November 2021 and offers 8 performance cores and 8 efficiency cores. The performance cores (P-cores) support HyperThreading, leading to 24 Threads that can be processed at once. The performance cores can clock with up to 5.2 GHz (Turbo Boost Max 3.0), the efficiency cores can clock with up to 3.9 GHz. All cores can use 30 MB Smart Cache. The integrated memory controller supports up to 128 GB DDR5 with 4800 MT/s (dual channel).

The Thread Director (in hardware) can support the operating system to decide which thread to use on the performance or efficiency cores for the best performance.

For AI tasks, the CPU also integrates GNA 3.0 and DL Boost (most likely only using 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 integrated graphics adapter is based on the Xe architecture and called Intel UHD Graphics 770. It clocks between 300 and 1.55 GHz.

Performance

The average 12900K in our database nearly matches the Ryzen 9 3950X and the Ryzen 9 5950X in multi-thread performance. This is a great result, as of mid 2022.

Learn more by reading the Corsair One i300 review.

Power consumption

This Core i9 series chip has a Base power consumption of 125 W, with 241 W being its "Maximum Turbo" power consumption.

The i9-12900K is built with Intel's 4th generation 10 nm process marketed as Intel 7 for lower than average, as of mid 2023, energy efficiency.