The latest Intel Core i9-12900K Alder Lake flagship CPU benchmarks have leaked out and the QS chips show much faster single-threaded performance than Rocket Lake while offering multi-core performance on par with AMD's flagship Ryzen 5000 CPUs.

Intel Core i9-12900K Alder Lake Benchmarks Show Fastest Single-Threaded Performance, Up To 20% Faster Than AMD Ryzen 9 5950X

While we have already seen several benchmarks of the Intel Core i9-12900K Alder Lake CPU, this is the first time we are getting results from a QS chip that should offer better performance & overall stability. The tests were carried out on a B660 motherboard along with DDR4-3600 memory in Gear 1 mode. The benchmarks were leaked over at Bilibili and spotted by HXL.

Intel Core i7-12700K CPU Specifications

The Intel Core i7-12700K CPU will offer 8 Golden Cove cores but cut down the Gracemont cores to 4. This will result in a total of 12 cores (8+4) and 20 threads (16+4). The P-cores (Golden Cove) will operate at a base frequency of 3.6 GHz and a maximum boost frequency of up to 5.0 GHz with 1-2 active cores and 4.7 GHz with all-cores active while the E-cores (Gracemont) will operate at 3.8 GHz across 1-4 cores & up to 3.6 GHz when all cores are loaded. The CPU will feature 25 MB of L3 cache and TDP values are maintained at 125W (PL1) and 250W (PL2).

Before moving over to the performance metrics, it is stated that the Intel Core i9-12900K peaked at 250W in the AVX2 mode stress test while running at 108C temperatures. It looks like Intel has once again given away power efficiency and went with a brute-force approach to tackle AMD's Ryzen Zen 3 CPUs. It is also stated that there was some problem with Thermal Velocity Boost on the specific B660 motherboard and the max frequency that was achieved is 5.1 GHz (4.9 GHz P-Core & 3.7 GHz E-Core). The performance was evaluated in Windows 11 but the use of better BIOS & DDR5 DRAM would result in slightly better performance.

Intel Core i9-12900K Alder Lake CPU Power Consumption & Temperatures:

So coming to the benchmarks, we first have the CPU-z results where the Intel Core i9-12900K is 20% faster in single-threaded and almost on par with the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X. Remember that AMD's Ryzen 9 5950X has 33% higher threads than the Intel flagship. In Cinebench R20, the Alder Lake chip once again offers a 20% performance boost in a single-threaded and similar performance in the multi-threaded benchmarks.

Intel Core i9-12900K Alder Lake CPU-z Benchmark (Single-Core)

Single-Core Score

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Core i9-12900K 827

Core i7-12700K 800

Core i9-11900K 682

Ryzen 9 5900X 648

Ryzen 9 5950X 647

Core i7-11700K 645

Ryzen 7 5800X 640

Intel Core i9-12900K Alder Lake CPU-z Benchmark (Multi-Core)

Multi-Core Score

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16000

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Ryzen 9 5950X 11.9k

Core i9-12900K 11.5k

Ryzen 9 5900X 9.5k

Core i7-12700K 9.4k

Core i9-11900K 6.6k

Ryzen 7 5800X 6.6k

Core i7-11700K 6.3k

Intel Core i9-12900K Alder Lake Cinebench Benchmark

Single-Thread

Multi-Thread

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Core i9-12900K 768

10.5k

Ryzen 9 5950X 650

10.5k

Ryzen 9 3950X 530

9.1k

Ryzen 9 5900X 640

9k

Core i9-10980XE 496

9k

Ryzen 9 3900X 522

7.1k

Core i9-10900K 535

6.4k

Core i9-10850K 534

6.4k

Core i9-11900K 642

6.4k

Ryzen 7 5800X 633

6.4k

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This is a very good showcase of the performance that Intel's Alder Lake CPUs have to offer, especially in the single-threaded department however, those high temperatures and power numbers are something to worry about. The Intel Core i9-12900K is expected to hit retail at around $550 US which should make it $250 US cheaper than the MSRP of the Ryzen 9 5950X & the same MSRP of the Ryzen 9 5900X. It could turn out to be a compelling option but will require lots of high-end cooling and power equipment to handle it.

Intel's Alder Lake Desktop CPUs will feature both DDR5 and DDR4 memory controllers and 600-series motherboards will also come with DDR5/DDR4 specific options. High-end motherboards will retain DDR5 while the more mainstream offerings will open up DDR4 support too. The Intel Alder Lake CPU lineup isexpected to launch in Novemberalong with the respective Z690 platform and DDR5 memory kits.

Intel 12th Gen Alder Lake Desktop CPU Specs