Intel Core i9-12900KS

W1zzard · Apr 1, 2022

The Intel Core i9-12900KS is the company's new flagship Alder Lake processor. After our review, we can confirm that it is the "world's fastest gaming CPU," but that comes at a price not only in terms of dollars, but increased power draw and heat output, too.

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W1zzard · Apr 1, 2022

This is a proper review, not an april fools' joke

Lifeless222 · Apr 1, 2022

even more pointless than 3080/3090 TI

Voodoo Rufus · Apr 1, 2022

Fast, hot, expensive. Don't need it. Want it anyway.

Airisom · Apr 1, 2022

Did they cut AVX 512 on it?

ThrashZone · Apr 1, 2022

Hi,
Missed what the 360mm aio did temp wise ?

Also 12900k released at 790.us so release wise 12900ks is less 740.us
Call it minus tariff costs since they were dropped but only recently was 12900k price lowered to current 550.us mark.

wheresmycar · Apr 1, 2022

Hi W1zzard,

those temps are high!

I'm just curious... [generally speaking] looking at the power consumption charts what is the best method to estimate power consumption whilst gaming. I'm assuming its a mix of the single-threaded and Multi-threaded chart? I'm also assuming its way below the MT 298W rating?

I guess its a ton of work putting together these reviews but any future possibilities of including game-only temps and power consumption (maybe over a handful of diverse titles)?

AnotherReader · Apr 1, 2022

W1zzard said:
This is a proper review, not an april fools' joke

Thanks for the great review. How did you resist doing an April Fool's article?

W1zzard · Apr 1, 2022

Airisom said:
Did they cut AVX 512 on it?

AVX512 was never part of Alder Lake, you had to disable the E-Cores completely.
In recent BIOS updates it was removed completely. To verify I just tested 12900K (not KS) on my board and can't enable AVX512 no more, even though I see the AVX512 option in the BIOS and disabled the E-Cores

What are you using AVX512 for?

AnotherReader said:
How did you resist doing an April Fool's article?

Had no time for an April Fools' this year, too busy with more important things. Like 4x 3090 Ti and this 12900 KS just this week, oh and two SSD reviews. Going on holiday tomorrow, so I had to get it out today.

wheresmycar said:
but any future possibilities of including game-only temps and power consumption (maybe over a handful of diverse titles)?

This is definitely planned for the next big rebench, but difficult to add now considering how many CPUs we have in the test group

Airisom · Apr 1, 2022

W1zzard said:
AVX512 was never part of Alder Lake, you had to disable the E-Cores completely.
In recent BIOS updates it was removed completely. To verify I just tested 12900K (not KS) on my board and can't enable AVX512 no more, even though I see the AVX512 option in the BIOS and disabled the E-Cores

What are you using AVX512 for?

RPCS3 gets a big performance boost with AVX 512. Maybe some boards still give you the option to enable it. Iirc, there's an xoc bios (X3C - on hwbot forum) on the GB Tachyon that let's you enable it still, but I'm not sure if the 12900ks fused it off.

Solid State Brain · Apr 1, 2022

Default TjMax of 115°C is interesting, I wonder if it's really long-term safe.

EDIT: I noticed on the Ark website that Intel lists a 100 °C TJunction for the i9-12900K, but this information is omitted for the i9-12900KS:

Intel® Core™ i9-12900K Processor (30M Cache, up to 5.20 GHz) Product Specifications

Intel® Core™ i9-12900K Processor (30M Cache, up to 5.20 GHz) quick reference guide including specifications, features, pricing, compatibility, design documentation, ordering codes, spec codes and more.

ark.intel.com

Product Specifications

quick reference guide including specifications, features, pricing, compatibility, design documentation, ordering codes, spec codes and more.

ark.intel.com

GoldenX · Apr 1, 2022

W1zzard said:
What are you using AVX512 for?

RPCS3

The difference is massive.

The review may not be an April Fools, but the product is.
I didn't expect competition to also mean "to hell with efficiency".

Warigator · Apr 1, 2022

I respect them for introducing current year value king - the 12100F, but this 12900KS is a joke processor. Even worse than both the 8086K and 9900KS. +2% in games? What were they thinking? This is a product for people with more money than brains or for extreme overclockers. But it's binned anyway and can't overlock notably high.

Dividend · Apr 1, 2022

"$150 premium over the Core i9-12900K", like one days work is not a big premium for someone who is planning on using it for many many years...

ppn · Apr 1, 2022

There is no point on using it for years when 14900 based on intel's 4 delivers 40 threads, probably a new 1800 socket, combine that with 4090 based on tsmc's 4 and you get what comes close to many years, for it can last longer, but this now this is just money grabs.. The 12100 value king is such a bad value for 150 euro, I expect 12400F.

Dividend · Apr 1, 2022

ppn said:
There is no point on using it for years when 14900 based on intel's 4 delivers 40 threads, probably a new 1800 socket, combine that with 4090 based on tsmc's 4 and you get what comes close to many years, for it can last longer, but this now this is just money grabs.. The 12100 value king is such a bad value for 150 euro, I expect 12400F.

But 14900 isn't out yet.

Solid State Brain · Apr 1, 2022

From the article conclusions:

Intel has a highly effective, very fine-grained thermal throttling algorithm that only throttles those cores that overheat, and only by as little as is required to keep them from overheating, checked several times a second.

Is this an i9-12900KS-specific behavior? On my 12700K all cores are throttled if just one reaches the thermal limit.

BorisDG · Apr 1, 2022

W1zzard said:
This is a proper review, not an april fools' joke

Are your sure?

Seems exactly like joke.

Nater · Apr 1, 2022

I might buy one after I get my winter Lambo paid off, and close on my 3rd vacation home in Costa Rica. Who buys this shit? I mean really?

dj-electric · Apr 1, 2022

None embargo tied 12900KS TPU review. Rare sight. Im jealous and signed.
Global is only lifted April 5th

thegnome · Apr 1, 2022

This CPU sure is a good april fools joke given how worthless it is compared to the 12900k when normally cooled. With chips like these XOC results are much more interesting.

Space Lynx · Apr 1, 2022

those are insane temps for being on a 360mm AIO... nearly double the temp of 10th gen high end Intel chips... that is just wild...

Aretak · Apr 1, 2022

GoldenX said:
RPCS3 The difference is massive.

Rather it can be massive, but only in SPU-limited titles (which does include many of the big name exclusives). In others it makes very little difference.

This review might not be a joke, but those heat and power draw figures sure are. Better grab one of those 2KW PSUs if you're planning to pair one of these with an RTX 4000 card.

Sabishii Hito · Apr 1, 2022

Since this was tested on an Asus board, you know the big question...

What was the SP score? Overall and detailed?

mama · Apr 1, 2022

Taken from the old handbook: "More power=More Good"

Processor	Ryzen 7 5700X
Memory	48 GB
Video Card(s)	RTX 4080
Storage	2x HDD RAID 1, 3x M.2 NVMe
Display(s)	30" 2560x1600 + 19" 1280x1024
Software	Windows 10 64-bit

Processor	Ryzen 7 5700X
Memory	48 GB
Video Card(s)	RTX 4080
Storage	2x HDD RAID 1, 3x M.2 NVMe
Display(s)	30" 2560x1600 + 19" 1280x1024
Software	Windows 10 64-bit

System Name	Donnager
Processor	13900KS, lapped and contact frame
Motherboard	Asus Z790 Hero
Cooling	Heatkiller IV CPU block, Heatkiller V GPU block, GTX 480mm radiator, D5 pump
Memory	32GB Kingston Fury 7200C38
Video Card(s)	eVGA RTX 3080Ti FTW3
Storage	Optane 380GB M.2 OS drive, M.2 2TB game drive
Display(s)	Alienware 34" Ultrawide 120Hz 3440x1440
Case	Fractal Meshify 2 XL
Audio Device(s)	Outlaw RR2150 stereo receiver driving DIY kits, Schiit Asgard for Sennheiser HD6XX headphones
Power Supply	Seasonic Prime 1000W

System Name	Ghetto Rigs z490\|x99\|Acer 17 Nitro 7840hs/ 5600c40-2x16/ 4060/ 1tb acer stock m.2/ 4tb sn850x
Processor	10900k w/Optimus Foundation \| 5930k w/Black Noctua D15
Motherboard	z490 Maximus XII Apex \| x99 Sabertooth
Cooling	oCool D5 res-combo/280 GTX/ Optimus Foundation/ gpu water block \| Blk D15
Memory	Trident-Z Royal 4000c16 2x16gb \| Trident-Z 3200c14 4x8gb
Video Card(s)	Titan Xp-water \| evga 980ti gaming-w/ air
Storage	970evo+500gb & sn850x 4tb \| 860 pro 256gb \| Acer m.2 1tb/ sn850x 4tb\| Many2.5" sata's ssd 3.5hdd's
Display(s)	1-AOC G2460PG 24"G-Sync 144Hz/ 2nd 1-ASUS VG248QE 24"/ 3rd LG 43" series
Case	D450 \| Cherry Entertainment center on Test bench
Audio Device(s)	Built in Realtek x2 with 2-Insignia 2.0 sound bars & 1-LG sound bar
Power Supply	EVGA 1000P2 with APC AX1500 \| 850P2 with CyberPower-GX1325U
Mouse	Redragon 901 Perdition x3
Keyboard	G710+x3
Software	Win-7 pro x3 and win-10 & 11pro x3
Benchmark Scores	Are in the benchmark section

System Name	❶ Oooh (2024) ❷ Aaaah (2021) ❸ Ahemm (2017)
Processor	❶ 5800X3D ❷ i7-9700K ❸ i7-7700K
Motherboard	❶ X570-F ❷ Z390-E ❸ Z270-E
Cooling	❶ ALFIII 360 ❷ X62 + X72 (GPU mod) ❸ X62
Memory	❶ 32-3600/16 ❷ 32-3200/16 ❸ 16-3200/16
Video Card(s)	❶ 3080 X Trio ❷ 2080TI (AIOmod) ❸ 1080TI
Storage	❶ NVME/SSD/HDD ❷ <SAME ❸ SSD/HDD
Display(s)	❶ 1440/165/IPS ❷ 1440/144/IPS ❸ 1080/144/IPS
Case	❶ BQ Silent 601 ❷ Cors 465X ❸ Frac Mesh C
Audio Device(s)	❶ HyperX C2 ❷ HyperX C2 ❸ Logi G432
Power Supply	❶ HX1200 Plat ❷ RM750X ❸ EVGA 650W G2
Mouse	❶ Logi G Pro ❷ Razer Bas V3 ❸ Logi G502
Keyboard	❶ Logi G915 TKL ❷ Anne P2 ❸ Logi G610
Benchmark Scores	I have wrestled bandwidths, Tussled with voltages, Handcuffed Overclocks, Thrown Gigahertz in Jail

Intel Core i9-12900KS

W1zzard

Administrator

W1zzard

Administrator

Lifeless222

Voodoo Rufus

Airisom

ThrashZone

wheresmycar

AnotherReader

W1zzard

Administrator

Airisom

Solid State Brain

Intel® Core™ i9-12900K Processor (30M Cache, up to 5.20 GHz) Product Specifications

Product Specifications

GoldenX

Warigator

Dividend

New Member

ppn

Dividend

New Member

Solid State Brain

BorisDG

Nater

dj-electric

thegnome

Space Lynx

Astronaut

Aretak

Sabishii Hito

mama

Processor	Intel i7-12700K
Motherboard	MSI PRO Z690-A WIFI
Cooling	Noctua NH-D15S
Memory	Corsair Vengeance 4x16 GB (64GB) DDR4-3600 C18
Video Card(s)	Sapphire RX480 Nitro+ 4GB
Storage	Samsung 980 Pro 1TB, Crucial MX500 500GB
Case	Fractal Define C
Power Supply	Seasonic Focus GX-550

System Name	Ciel
Processor	AMD Ryzen R5 5600X
Motherboard	Asus Tuf Gaming B550 Plus
Cooling	ID-Cooling 224-XT Basic
Memory	2x 16GB Kingston Fury 3600MHz@3933MHz
Video Card(s)	Gainward Ghost 3060 Ti 8GB + Sapphire Pulse RX 6600 8GB
Storage	NVMe Kingston KC3000 2TB + NVMe Toshiba KBG40ZNT256G + HDD WD 4TB
Display(s)	AOC Q27G3XMN + Samsung S22F350
Case	Cougar MX410 Mesh-G
Audio Device(s)	Kingston HyperX Cloud Stinger Core 7.1 Wireless PC
Power Supply	Aerocool KCAS-500W
Mouse	EVGA X15
Keyboard	VSG Alnilam
Software	Windows 11

System Name	Black Knight \| White Queen
Processor	Intel Core i9-10940X \| Intel Core i7-5775C
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Rampage VI Extreme Encore X299G \| ASUS Sabertooth Z97 Mark S (White)
Cooling	Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black \| Xigmatek Dark Knight SD-1283 Night Hawk (White)
Memory	G.SKILL Trident Z RGB 4x8GB DDR4 3600MHz CL16 \| Corsair Vengeance LP 4x4GB DDR3L 1600MHz CL9 (White)
Video Card(s)	ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 OC \| KFA2/Galax GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Hall of Fame Edition
Storage	Samsung 990 Pro 2TB, 980 Pro 1TB, 850 Pro 256GB, 840 Pro 256GB, WD 10TB+ (incl. VelociRaptors)
Display(s)	Dell Alienware AW2721D 240Hz, ASUS ROG Strix XG279Q 170Hz, ASUS PA246Q 60Hz\| Samsung JU7500 48'' TV
Case	Corsair 7000D AIRFLOW (Black) \| NZXT ??? w/ ASUS DRW-24B1ST
Audio Device(s)	ASUS Xonar Essence STX \| Realtek ALC1150
Power Supply	Enermax Revolution 1250W 85+ \| Super Flower Leadex Gold 650W (White)
Mouse	Razer Basilisk Ultimate, Razer Naga Trinity \| Razer Mamba 16000
Keyboard	Razer Blackwidow Chroma V2 (Orange switch) \| Razer Ornata Chroma
Software	Windows 10 Pro 64bit

System Name	Fractal
Processor	Intel Core i5 13600K
Motherboard	Asus ProArt Z790 Creator WiFi
Cooling	Arctic Cooling Liquid Freezer II 360
Memory	16GBx2 G.SKILL Ripjaws S5 DDR5 6000 CL30-40-40-96 (F5-6000J3040F16GX2-RS5K)
Video Card(s)	PNY RTX A2000 6GB
Storage	SK Hynix Platinum P41 2TB
Display(s)	LG 34GK950F-B (34"/IPS/1440p/21:9/144Hz/FreeSync)
Case	Fractal Design R6 Gunmetal Blackout w/ USB-C
Audio Device(s)	Steelseries Arctis 7 Wireless/Klipsch Pro-Media 2.1BT
Power Supply	Seasonic Prime 850w 80+ Titanium
Mouse	Logitech G700S
Keyboard	Corsair K68
Software	Windows 11 Pro

System Name	Incomplete thing 1.0
Processor	Ryzen 2600
Motherboard	B450 Aorus Elite
Cooling	Gelid Phantom Black
Memory	HyperX Fury RGB 3200 CL16 16GB
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte 2060 Gaming OC PRO
Storage	Dual 1TB 970evo
Display(s)	AOC G2U 1440p 144hz, HP e232
Case	CM mb511 RGB
Audio Device(s)	Reloop ADM-4
Power Supply	Sharkoon WPM-600
Mouse	G502 Hero
Keyboard	Sharkoon SGK3 Blue
Software	W10 Pro
Benchmark Scores	2-5% over stock scores

System Name	1. Glasshouse 2. Odin OneEye
Processor	1. Ryzen 9 5900X (manual PBO) 2. Ryzen 9 7900X
Motherboard	1. MSI x570 Tomahawk wifi 2. Gigabyte Aorus Extreme 670E
Cooling	1. Noctua NH D15 Chromax Black 2. Custom Loop 3x360mm (60mm) rads & T30 fans/Aquacomputer NEXT w/b
Memory	1. G Skill Neo 16GBx4 (3600MHz 16/16/16/36) 2. Kingston Fury 16GBx2 DDR5 CL36
Video Card(s)	1. Asus Strix Vega 64 2. Powercolor Liquid Devil 7900XTX
Storage	1. Corsair Force MP600 (1TB) & Sabrent Rocket 4 (2TB) 2. Kingston 3000 (1TB) and Hynix p41 (2TB)
Display(s)	1. Samsung U28E590 10bit 4K@60Hz 2. LG C2 42 inch 10bit 4K@120Hz
Case	1. Corsair Crystal 570X White 2. Cooler Master HAF 700 EVO
Audio Device(s)	1. Creative Speakers 2. Built in LG monitor speakers
Power Supply	1. Corsair RM850x 2. Superflower Titanium 1600W
Mouse	1. Microsoft IntelliMouse Pro (grey) 2. Microsoft IntelliMouse Pro (black)
Keyboard	Leopold High End Mechanical
Software	Windows 11