Intel Core i5 12600K vs AMD Ryzen 9 7900X

We compared two desktop CPUs: the 3.7 GHz Intel Core i5 12600K with 10-cores against the 4.7 GHz AMD Ryzen 9 7900X with 12-cores. On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.

Review

General overview and comparison of the processors
Single-Core Performance
Performance in single-threaded apps and benchmarks
Multi-Core Performance
Measure performance when all cores are involved
Power Efficiency
The efficiency score of power consumption
Integrated Graphics
iGPU capabilities for gaming and 3D-intensive tasks
The "iGPU" and "Power Efficiency" have a minor impact on the DeviceFacts Score for desktop CPU.
DeviceFacts Final Score
Choose your main usage scenario to recalculate the Final Score and see which CPU suits your needs.
πŸ”Œ Usage Scenario:

Value for money (Beta)

Global average CPU prices are used by default! For better accuracy, enter your current prices and click β€œCalculate".
Currency
VS
84.4
(Good)
Value Index
74.3
(Good)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 7900X and 12600K
Advantages of Intel Core i5 12600K
  • More powerful Intel UHD Graphics 770 integrated graphics: 0.7 vs 0.6 TFLOPS
Advantages of AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
  • Has 44 MB larger L3 cache size, helping fully utilize a high-end GPU in gaming
  • More modern manufacturing process – 5 versus 10 nanometers
  • Supports up to 192 GB DDR5-5200 RAM
  • Newer - released 11 months later
  • Has 2 more physical cores
  • 14% higher Turbo Boost frequency (5.6 GHz vs 4.9 GHz)
  • 13% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 2873 vs 2547 points

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Cinebench Scores (167th and 65th place)

GeekBench v6

The new version of this benchmark emulates common operations often used in real-world apps
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
2873
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
18246
File compression 822.6 MB/sec 1810 MB/sec
Clang compilation 98.7 Klines/sec 175.1 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 261.1 pages/sec 360.8 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 347.9 Mpixels/sec 535.6 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 258.5 pages/sec 299.8 pages/sec
Background blur 58.9 images/sec 52.2 images/sec
Photo processing 103.5 images/sec 121.8 images/sec
Ray tracing 22.8 Mpixels/sec 39.1 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 768 & 1096 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
51226
Integer math 87.8 GOps/sec 168.1 GOps/sec
Floating point math 67.1 GOps/sec 103.5 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 90M Primes/sec 389M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 35.7M Strings/sec 74.8M Strings/sec
Data encryption 18.4 GBytes/sec 37.1 GBytes/sec
Data compression 342.8 MBytes/sec 629.8 MBytes/sec
Physics 1515 Frames/sec 3046 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 22B Matrices/sec 47.4B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 7007 & 9482 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
420.06

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 7.6 PPW 9 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 97.6 PPW 107.3 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 220.1 PPW 301.3 PPW
Blender / Watt 1.88 PPW 2.47 PPW
These are rough calculations, as most CPUs surpass PL1 TDP wattage even in multicore workloads.

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Intel Core i5 12600K
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2025-12-28 (Jin)Cinebench 2024108 / 910
πŸ“˜ 2025-12-28 (Jin)Cinebench 2024108 / 906
πŸ“˜ 2025-12-20 (Kierannosaurus)Geekbench 6 CPU2668 / 12254
πŸ“˜ 2025-12-20 (Kierannosaurus)Cinebench 2024118 / 1041
πŸ“˜ 2025-12-05 (Kierannosaurus)Cinebench 2024115 / 1017
AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-04-03 (afroman420IU)Cinebench 2024110 / 1302
πŸ“˜ 2026-02-11 (JDM)Cinebench 2024134 / 1165
πŸ“˜ 2025-12-27 (Avvy)Geekbench 6 CPU3320 / 14480
πŸ“˜ 2025-12-20 (Kev)Cinebench 2024120 / 1541
πŸ“˜ 2025-10-18 (NotHere3573)Cinebench 2024119 / 1550

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i5 12600K and AMD Ryzen 9 7900X

General

Vendor Intel Amd
Released October 27, 2021 September 29, 2022
Type Desktop Desktop
Instruction Set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Alder Lake Zen 4 (Raphael)
Model number i5-12600K -
Integrated GPU UHD Graphics 770 Radeon Graphics (Ryzen 7000)
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen 5 5600X - Intel Core i9 13900K
Successor - Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus - AMD Ryzen 9 9900X
Intel CPU rating (#96th place)
AMD Ryzen CPU ranking (#21st place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 6 12
P-Threads 12 24
Base Frequency (P) 3.7 GHz 4.7 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 4.9 GHz 5.6 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 4 -
E-Threads 4 -
Base Frequency (E) 2.8 GHz -
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) 3.6 GHz -
Total
Total Cores 10 12
Total Threads 16 24
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 37x 47x
L1 Cache 80K (per core) 64K (per core)
L2 Cache 9728K (shared) 1MB (per core)
L3 Cache 20MB (shared) 64MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier Yes Yes

Package

Transistors - 13.14 billions
Fabrication Process 10 nm 5 nm
TDP (PL1) 125 W 170 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 150 W 230 W
Socket LGA-1700 AM5
Peak Temperature 100Β°C 95Β°C
Desktop CPU ranking (86th and 39th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 770 Radeon Graphics (Ryzen 7000)
GPU Base Clock 300 MHz 400 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1450 MHz 2200 MHz
Shading Units 256 128
TMUs 16 8
ROPs 8 4
Execution Units 32 2
TGP 15 W 15 W
iGPU FLOPS
0.7 TFLOPS
0.6 TFLOPS

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR5-4800
- DDR4-3200
- DDR5-5200
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 192 GB
Memory Channels 2 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 76.8 GB/s -
ECC Support Yes Yes

Misc

Official Site Intel Core i5 12600K official page AMD Ryzen 9 7900X official page
PCI Express Version 5.0 5.0
PCI Express Lanes 20 28

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
4 (66.7%)
2 (33.3%)
Total votes: 6

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: AMD Ryzen 9 7900X or Intel Core i5 12600K?
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Wow January 17, 2024 at 03:05 AM
You can purchase three 12600kf units at a cost that's three times cheaper than DDR4, compared with the 7900x, which only accepts DDR5.
0 Reply
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im not givin out my name February 13, 2023 at 06:07 PM
i have a 12600k, id prefer a 7900x
0 Reply