The leaked undoubtedly refers to Intel’s new processor, the i9-12900K, which is detected by CPU-Z as a CPU with 8 + 8 Cores configuration. And he is right, although these first 8 are P-Cores and the other 8 are E-Cores, which should leave a lower performance to a common 16-core configuration … Or not?
Intel Core i9-12900K: 5.3 GHz and 125W TDP seen in Cinebench R23
CB 30000+
5.3G / 24 Threads
DDR5 / PCIe 5.0
Should be i9-12900K w / Z690 AORUS Ultra?@tomshardware @VideoCardz @TweakTown @wccftech @TechPowerUp pic.twitter.com/P5q3tFi5hq– REHWK (@hw_reveal) September 16, 2021
It is what we already knew in terms of specifications, but with this leak apart from confirming the existence of an AORUS Ultra model under the Z690 chipset, we are sure to include PCIe Gen 5.0 and support for DDR5, something that was already leaked at the time. and now it is confirmed.
CPU-Z despite being in its version 1.97 does not read the memory and thread values well, since it ensures that this platform gets QuadChannel, when it is not true as such, but being DDR5 and obtaining two dual memory channels per 32-bit slot, the software messes up.
The important thing and leaving this aside, is the fact that this i9-12900K was tested in the favorite software of AMD: Cinebench, specifically in the R23 version that is so liked and gives such good results to those of Lisa Su, so that the score obtained by this new Intel CPU is going to leave more than one puzzled.
Superior to Threadripper 2990X and Ryzen 9 5950X
The score obtained has been no less than 30,549 points, which means that it is the first processor in the Mainstream range to break the figure of 30,000 points completely as standard. What does this imply? Well, a CPU with twice the number of cores and many more threads such as the Threadripper 2990X is slightly below 30K, and that AMD’s flagship CPU in the range where this i9 will compete, the Ryzen 9 5950X, it stays at almost 2000 points.
As if this were not enough, this i9-12900K in Cinebench R23 almost doubles the performance of the current i9-11900K, which gives us to understand what is coming our way despite having fewer total threads (24 vs 16). Considering the performance and waiting for the new processors by AMD with V-Cache, the truth is that Intel is doing more with less and it seems that Alder Lake is not going to be an architecture that only competes in price with the red ones, but also in performance and equality of cores.
Will AMD be able to counteract this effect and get ahead with Zen 4 in front of Meteor Lake? Is Intel on the right track after years of wandering in the PC and server industry? Patience, there is less to get out of doubt.
