Intel Core i9-12900KS

[W1zzard]

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]

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

 

[Lifeless222]

even more pointless than 3080/3090 TI

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

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

 

[Airisom]

Did they cut AVX 512 on it?

 

[ThrashZone]

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]

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]

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]

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?

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.

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]

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]

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

Intel® Core™ i9-12900K Processor (30M Cache, up to 5.20 GHz) quick reference with specifications, features, and technologies.

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]

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]

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]

"$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]

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]

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]

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]

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

Are your sure? Seems exactly like joke.

 

[Nater]

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]

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

 

[thegnome]

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]

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]

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]

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

What was the SP score? Overall and detailed?

 

[mama]

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