We had been talking about him for a long time, but it has not been until now that Intel has finally made its new official top of the line processor for desktop: the Core i9-12900KS, which the company itself advertises as “the world’s fastest PC processor.” Intel has announced all the details and the availability of its new beast, and then we will tell you everything.
When Intel says that this is the world’s fastest PC processor, it’s not a lie, as long as we take “fast” literally: this processor runs at a maximum turbo frequency of 5.5 GHz, thanks to Intel Thermal Velocity Technology. boost. In addition, it has Intel Adaptive Boost technology to offer the best gaming experience, and as you might guess, it will rival the new AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D.
What does the Intel Core i9-12900KS offer?
“Intel continues to push the boundaries of PC gaming with its new Alder Lake hybrid architecture-based Core i9-12900KS processor. This processor can reach up to 5.5 GHz on up to two cores for the first time, giving serious gamers the ability to maximize gaming performance.” said Marcus Kennedy, head of the Gaming segment at Intel.
| Intel Core i9-12900KS | |
|---|---|
| Architecture | Alder Lake-S |
| Segment | Desktop |
| Socket | FCLGA1700 |
| cores | 16 (8 Performance + 8 Efficient) |
| Threads | 24 |
| Cache | 30MB (Smart Cache) 12MB Total L2 Cache |
| base frequency | 3.4GHz (P-Cores) 2.5GHz (E Cores) |
| Turbo Frequency | 5.5GHz |
| TDP | 150W (Base) 241W (Max) |
| Lithography | Intel 7 |
| Maximum temperature | 105ºC 50ºC (Thermal Velocity Boost) |
| series heatsink | PCG 2022E |
| RAM | Up to 128GB DDR5-4800 Up to 128GB DDR4-3200 |
| memory configuration | double channel |
| PCIe | 5.0 and 4.0 |
| integrated graph | Intel UHD 770 |
| iGPU frequency | 1.55GHz |
| Launching | Q1 2022 |
| Overclock | Yes |
As you can see in the table of technical specifications, we are dealing with a processor with a heterogeneous Alder Lake-S architecture, made up in this case of 8 Performance cores and another 8 Efficient cores, which adds up to 16 physical cores in total but with 24 process threads. , because as you know the E-Cores do not have Hyperthreading technology.
P cores have a base frequency of 3.4 GHz, reaching a turbo frequency of 5.2 GHz, 5.3 GHz when activated Intel Turbo Boost Max 3.0and 5.5 GHz when the temperature (50ºC in this case) allows the technology to be activated Intel Thermal Velocity Boost. As for the E cores, they run at a base frequency of 2.5 GHz, reaching a maximum speed of 4 GHz.
This processor is ready for the latest generation of motherboards Intel Z690 that have come onto the market, and as the transition generation that is Alder Lake-S, it is compatible with both DDR4 RAM and the new generation DDR5as well as with devices PCIe 4.0 and 5.0. We are dealing with a “K” processor that has the multiplier unlocked for Overclocking, and that curiously carries integrated Intel UHD 770 graphics. Keep in mind that the TDP of this Core i9-12900KS is 150 watts, but it can consume 241W according to Intel specification.
Finally, it should be noted that Intel specifies this processor as having 30 MB of smart cache, but it also says that it has 12 MB of L2 cache in total. Not that this amount of cache is going to compete with the 3D memory that the Ryzen 7 5800X3D has, but we can’t talk about performance numbers yet until we’ve tested the processor.
Price and availability
According to Intel, the Core i9-12900KS is a Special Edition (and therefore limited run) that will be available in stores from next 5th of April with a recommended retail price of $739. You already know that Intel always announces the prices of its products in dollars, but then the conversion ends up being 1:1 because of taxes, tariffs and others, so it is to be expected that when it reaches stores in Spain it will do so a sale price of 739 Euros.
