The Intel Core i9-12900KF is a desktop processor with 16 cores, launched in November 2021, at an MSRP of $564. It is part of the Core i9 lineup, using the Alder Lake-S architecture with Socket 1700. Intel Hyper-Threading technology is available and effectly doubles the core-count of the P-Cores, to a total of 24 threads. Core i9-12900KF has 30 MB of L3 cache and operates at 3.2 GHz by default, but can boost up to 5.2 GHz, depending on the workload. Intel is making the Core i9-12900KF on a 10 nm production node, the transistor count is unknown. You may freely adjust the unlocked multiplier on Core i9-12900KF, which simplifies overclocking greatly, as you can easily dial in any overclocking frequency.
With a TDP of 125 W, the Core i9-12900KF consumes a lot of power, so good cooling is definitely needed. Intel's processor supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory with a dual-channel interface. For communication with other components in the system, Core i9-12900KF uses a PCI-Express Gen 4 connection. This processor does not have integrated graphics, you will need a separate graphics card.
Hardware virtualization is available on the Core i9-12900KF, which greatly improves virtual machine performance. Additionally, IOMMU virtualization (PCI passthrough) is supported, so that guest virtual machines may directly use host hardware. Programs using Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) can run on this processor, boosting performance for calculation-heavy applications. Besides AVX, Intel is including the newer AVX2 standard, too, but not AVX-512.