Intel Core i5-12600H vs Intel Core i9-12900HK

Intel Core i5-12600H

The Intel Core i5-12600H is a high-end mobile CPU for laptops based on the Alder Lake architecture. It was announced in early 2022 and offers 4 of the 6 performance cores (P-cores, Golden Cove architecture) and all 8 efficient cores (E-cores, Gracemont architecture). The P-cores support Hyper-Threading leading to 16 supported threads when combined with the E-cores. The clock rate ranges from 2.7 to 4.5 GHz on the performance cluster and 2 to 3.3 GHz on the efficient cluster. The performance of the E-cores should be similar to old Skylake cores (compare to the Core i7-6700HQ). All cores can use up to 18 MB L3 cache. Compared to the 12650H, the 12600H offers less P-cores but more E-cores, a faster iGPU and "Enterprise" vPro features (for remote management).

Performance

Thanks to the 12 cores, the multi-threaded performance should be clearly faster than the older Tiger Lake-H CPUs with similar clock speeds (especially like the Core i5-11500H with only 6 cores). Due to the architectural improvements, single-core performance is also better than similar or higher clocked Tiger Lake CPUs.

Features

The integrated memory controller supports various memory types up to DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200, LPDDR5-5200, and LPDDR4x-4267. 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 only supports PCIe 4.0 (x8 for a GPU and two x4 for SSDs).

The integrated graphics card is based on the Xe-architecture and offers 80 of the 96 EUs (Execution Units) operating at up to 1.4 GHz.

The CPU is rated at 45 W base power (95 W PL2) but most laptops will use a PL1 of around 60 Watt. The SoC is manufactured in a 10nm process at Intel, which is known as Intel 7.

Intel Core i9-12900HK

The Intel Core i9-12900HK is a high-end mobile CPU for laptops based on the Alder Lake architecture. It was announced in early 2022 and offers 6 performance cores (P-cores, Golden Cove architecture) and 8 efficient cores (E-cores, Gracemont architecture). The P-cores support Hyper-Threading leading to 20 supported threads when combined with the E-cores. The clock rate ranges from 2.5 to 5 GHz on the performance cluster and 1.8 to 3.8 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 24 MB L3 cache. As a K-variant, the CPU offers an open multiplicator and therefore the possibility to overclock the CPU cores. Compared to the similar i9-12900H, the 12900HK only offers the "Essentials" features of vPro.

Performance

The average i9-12900HK is one of the fastest mobile CPUs in our testing and only bested by the HX models with higher TDP. The performance depends on the cooling and TDP settings but can on average best a AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX by 11% (at the time of writing, see comparison now). The influence of the laptop cooling can be seen in our database, as a theoretical slower Core i9-12900H is faster on average currently. Still, the CPU is very well suited for all demanding use cases like gaming, content creation, and scientific calculations.

Features

The integrated memory controller supports various memory types up to DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200, LPDDR5-5200, and LPDDR4x-4267. 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 only supports PCIe 4.0 (x8 for a GPU and two x4 for SSDs).

The integrated graphics card is based on the Xe-architecture and offers 96 EUs (Execution Units) operating at up to 1.45 GHz.

Power consumption

This Core i9 series chip has a "minimum assured" power consumption of 35 W, with 45 W being its Base power consumption. The maximum Intel-recommended Turbo power consumption sits at 115 W.

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