As much as i'd love SC2 benchmarks, it's pretty much impossible to create a reproducible test, and in MP the other players CPU's slowing down forces yours to slown down too
because it has more cores. See what those 55 watts does for the higher core count AMD chips.
This argument is just moving the goalposts
w1zzard posted his own graph:
View attachment 243654
and another source quoted above for emphasis:
View attachment 243655
The higher core count intels are faster in multi threaded apps.
So are the higher core count ryzens.
Duh.
The intel's are higher power consumption in *everything*
That ups the cost of the entire PC, and it's relevant as heck. Intel selling the CPU's cheap is a marketing tactic, when the boards are so expensive.
(Dont forget all the scandals where the cheaper motherboards couldnt handle the CPU's at stock and performance tanked)
The moment you limit the intels wattages as some people keep saying, you lose that performance.
Remember that many sources for the intel systems flip between three states
: Intels limits, motherboard limits, and static overclocks.
You cant cherry pick the performance of the CPU with unlimited power, while quoting the wattages and heat of the power limited states.
For that max performance, you need a TDP unlimited CPU, high end cooling, high end motherboard, high end RAM. Skip just one, and you get worse performance than the Ryzens.
The actual cost of a PC changes drastically with all that in mind, even if the motherboards and CPU's were equally priced - because the intel systems need a larger PSU, larger cooling, more case fans, and often a larger case to fit all that in.
The only valid use case for the 12900K/S is for someone who needs top tier gaming performance (165Hz and above) *and* workstation needs at the same time.
Sub 120Hz Gamers can get a 5600x or 12400F and be set for another 5 years.
Why do i care about these distinctions so much?
Because as an end user buying these products from these companies for the last 30 years, i've been burned too many times by hidden catches and gotchas.
It's like trusting a marketing slide
100% faster than last years product!***
*** (If you use DDR4 2667 for last years product but DDR5 6400 in this years, with a 1KW PSU and 360mm AIO with a $500 motherboard with 24phase watercooled VRM's)