Ryzen 9 7900X vs i9-12900K

Aggregate performance score

Core i9-12900K
2021
16 cores / 24 threads, 125 Watt
26.11
Ryzen 9 7900X
2022
12 cores / 24 threads, 170 Watt
32.54
+24.6%

Ryzen 9 7900X outperforms Core i9-12900K by a significant 25% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

Comparing Core i9-12900K and Ryzen 9 7900X processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking185123
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation35.70no data
Market segmentDesktop processorDesktop processor
SeriesIntel Core i9no data
Power efficiency19.7718.11
Architecture codenameAlder Lake, Golden Cove, Gracemont (2021)Raphael (Zen4) (2022−2023)
Release date4 November 2021 (3 years ago)27 September 2022 (2 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$589no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

no data

Detailed specifications

Core i9-12900K and Ryzen 9 7900X basic parameters such as number of cores, number of threads, base frequency and turbo boost clock, lithography, cache size and multiplier lock state. These parameters indirectly say of CPU speed, though for more precise assessment you have to consider their test results.

Physical cores16 (Hexadeca-Core)12 (Dodeca-Core)
Threads2424
Base clock speed3.2 GHz4.7 GHz
Boost clock speed5.2 GHz5.6 GHz
Bus typeDMI 4.0no data
Bus rate8 × 16 GT/sno data
Multiplier32no data
L1 cache80K (per core)64K (per core)
L2 cache1.25 MB (per core)1 MB (per core)
L3 cache30 MB (shared)64 MB (shared)
Chip lithography10 nm5 nm
Die size215.25 mm2"2x 70 (CCD) mm2 + 122 (I/O) mm2
Maximum core temperature100 °C95 °C
Maximum case temperature (TCase)72 °C47 °C
Number of transistorsno dataCCD: 6,5 Mrd + IOD: 3,4 Mrd Million
64 bit support++
Windows 11 compatibility++
Unlocked multiplier++

Compatibility

Information on Core i9-12900K and Ryzen 9 7900X compatibility with other computer components: motherboard (look for socket type), power supply unit (look for power consumption) etc. Useful when planning a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. Note that power consumption of some processors can well exceed their nominal TDP, even without overclocking. Some can even double their declared thermals given that the motherboard allows to tune the CPU power parameters.

Number of CPUs in a configuration11
SocketFCLGA1700AM5
Power consumption (TDP)125 Watt170 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i9-12900K and Ryzen 9 7900X. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensionsIntel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX25 nm (CCD), 6 nm (I/O) nm, 0.650 - 1.475V
AES-NI++
AVX++
vPro+no data
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)+no data
Speed Shift+no data
Turbo Boost Technology2.0no data
Hyper-Threading Technology+no data
Idle States+no data
Thermal Monitoring+-
SIPP+-
Turbo Boost Max 3.0+no data
Precision Boost 2no data+
Deep Learning Boost+-

Security technologies

Core i9-12900K and Ryzen 9 7900X technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT+no data
EDB+no data
Secure Key+no data
OS Guard+no data

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i9-12900K and Ryzen 9 7900X are enumerated here.

AMD-V-+
VT-d+no data
VT-x+no data
EPT+no data

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i9-12900K and Ryzen 9 7900X. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory typesDDR4, DDR5DDR5-5200
Maximum memory size128 GBno data
Max memory channels2no data
Maximum memory bandwidth76.805 GB/sno data
ECC memory support+-

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card
Compare
Intel UHD Graphics 770AMD Radeon Graphics (Ryzen 7000)
Quick Sync Video+-
Clear Video HD+no data
Graphics max frequency1.55 GHzno data
Execution Units32no data

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Core i9-12900K and Ryzen 9 7900X integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supported4no data

Graphics image quality

Maximum display resolutions supported by Core i9-12900K and Ryzen 9 7900X integrated GPUs, including resolutions over different interfaces.

Max resolution over HDMI 1.44096 x 2160 @ 60Hzno data
Max resolution over eDP5120 x 3200 @ 120Hzno data
Max resolution over DisplayPort7680 x 4320 @ 60Hzno data

Graphics API support

APIs supported by Core i9-12900K and Ryzen 9 7900X integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.

DirectX12no data
OpenGL4.5no data

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i9-12900K and Ryzen 9 7900X.

PCIe version5.0 and 4.05.0
PCI Express lanes2024

Synthetic benchmark performance

Various benchmark results of the processors in comparison. Overall score is measured in points in 0-100 range, higher is better.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance rating. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

i9-12900K 26.11
Ryzen 9 7900X 32.54
+24.6%

Passmark

Passmark CPU Mark is a widespread benchmark, consisting of 8 different types of workload, including integer and floating point math, extended instructions, compression, encryption and physics calculation. There is also one separate single-threaded scenario measuring single-core performance.

i9-12900K 41470
Ryzen 9 7900X 51692
+24.6%

GeekBench 5 Single-Core

GeekBench 5 Single-Core is a cross-platform application developed in the form of CPU tests that independently recreate certain real-world tasks with which to accurately measure performance. This version uses only a single CPU core.

i9-12900K 2652
Ryzen 9 7900X 2955
+11.4%

GeekBench 5 Multi-Core

GeekBench 5 Multi-Core is a cross-platform application developed in the form of CPU tests that independently recreate certain real-world tasks with which to accurately measure performance. This version uses all available CPU cores.

i9-12900K 15580
Ryzen 9 7900X 17949
+15.2%

Cinebench 10 32-bit single-core

Cinebench R10 is an ancient ray tracing benchmark for processors by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. Its single core version uses just one CPU thread to render a futuristic looking motorcycle.

i9-12900K 9859
+14.3%
Ryzen 9 7900X 8623

Cinebench 10 32-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 10 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R10 using all the processor threads. Possible number of threads is limited by 16 in this version.

i9-12900K 71819
+4.7%
Ryzen 9 7900X 68580

3DMark06 CPU

3DMark06 is a discontinued DirectX 9 benchmark suite from Futuremark. Its CPU part contains two scenarios, one dedicated to artificial intelligence pathfinding, another to game physics using PhysX package.

i9-12900K 18753
Ryzen 9 7900X 21284
+13.5%

wPrime 32

wPrime 32M is a math multi-thread processor test, which calculates square roots of first 32 million integer numbers. Its result is measured in seconds, so that the less is benchmark result, the faster the processor.

i9-12900K 3.66
Ryzen 9 7900X 1.8
+103%

Cinebench 11.5 64-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 11.5 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R11.5 which uses all the processor threads. A maximum of 64 threads is supported in this version.

i9-12900K 46
Ryzen 9 7900X 55
+19.8%

Cinebench 15 64-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 15 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R15 which uses all the processor threads.

i9-12900K 4057
Ryzen 9 7900X 4821
+18.8%

Cinebench 15 64-bit single-core

Cinebench R15 (standing for Release 15) is a benchmark made by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. It was superseded by later versions of Cinebench, which use more modern variants of Cinema 4D engine. The Single Core version (sometimes called Single-Thread) only uses a single processor thread to render a room full of reflective spheres and light sources.

i9-12900K 289
Ryzen 9 7900X 323
+11.8%

Cinebench 11.5 64-bit single-core

Cinebench R11.5 is an old benchmark by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. It was superseded by later versions of Cinebench, which use more modern variants of Cinema 4D engine. The Single Core version loads a single thread with ray tracing to render a glossy room full of crystal spheres and light sources.

i9-12900K 3.5
Ryzen 9 7900X 3.83
+9.4%

TrueCrypt AES

TrueCrypt is a discontinued piece of software that was widely used for on-the-fly-encryption of disk partitions, now superseded by VeraCrypt. It contains several embedded performance tests, one of them being TrueCrypt AES, which measures data encryption speed using AES algorithm. Result is encryption speed in gigabytes per second.

i9-12900K 19.3
+30.1%
Ryzen 9 7900X 14.8

x264 encoding pass 2

x264 Pass 2 is a slower variant of x264 video compression that produces a variable bit rate output file, which results in better quality since the higher bit rate is used when it is needed more. Benchmark result is still measured in frames per second.  

i9-12900K 201
Ryzen 9 7900X 241
+19.9%

x264 encoding pass 1

x264 version 4.0 is a video encoding benchmark uses MPEG 4 x264 compression method to compress a sample HD (720p) video. Pass 1 is a faster variant that produces a constant bit rate output file. Its result is measured in frames per second, which means how many frames of the source video file were encoded per second.  

i9-12900K 367
Ryzen 9 7900X 376
+2.5%

WinRAR 4.0

WinRAR 4.0 is an outdated version of a popular file archiver. It contains an internal speed test, using 'Best' setting of RAR compression on large chunks of randomly generated data. Its results are measured in kilobytes per second.

i9-12900K 11834
Ryzen 9 7900X 17225
+45.6%

Geekbench 5.5 Multi-Core

i9-12900K 17776
Ryzen 9 7900X 20668
+16.3%

Blender(-)

i9-12900K 125
+17.6%
Ryzen 9 7900X 106

Geekbench 5.5 Single-Core

i9-12900K 2006
Ryzen 9 7900X 2294
+14.4%

7-Zip Single

i9-12900K 6576
Ryzen 9 7900X 8269
+25.8%

7-Zip

i9-12900K 97316
Ryzen 9 7900X 127195
+30.7%

WebXPRT 3

i9-12900K 325
Ryzen 9 7900X 383
+17.8%

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 26.11 32.54
Integrated graphics card 6.15 4.42
Recency 4 November 2021 27 September 2022
Physical cores 16 12
Chip lithography 10 nm 5 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 125 Watt 170 Watt

i9-12900K has 39.1% faster integrated GPU, 33.3% more physical cores, and 36% lower power consumption.

Ryzen 9 7900X, on the other hand, has a 24.6% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 10 months, and a 100% more advanced lithography process.

The Ryzen 9 7900X is our recommended choice as it beats the Core i9-12900K in performance tests.


Should you still have questions on choice between Core i9-12900K and Ryzen 9 7900X, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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Intel Core i9-12900K
Core i9-12900K
AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
Ryzen 9 7900X

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Community ratings

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Questions & comments

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