Home > CPU Comparison > Core i9 12900K or Ryzen 9 7900X: what's better?

Intel Core i9 12900K vs AMD Ryzen 9 7900X

68 out of 100
Intel Core i9 12900K
VS
75 out of 100
AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
Intel Core i9 12900K
AMD Ryzen 9 7900X

We compared two desktop CPUs: the 3,2 GHz Intel Core i9 12900K with 16-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.

  1. Review
  2. Differences
  3. Performance
  4. Specs
  5. Comments

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
62.2
(Average)
Value Index
74.3
(Good)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 7900X and 12900K
Advantages of Intel Core i9 12900K
  • Has 4 more physical cores
  • More powerful Intel UHD Graphics 770 integrated graphics: 0.8 vs 0.6 TFLOPS
Advantages of AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
  • Has 34 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
  • 10% higher Turbo Boost frequency (5.6 GHz vs 5.1 GHz)
  • 9% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 2873 vs 2633 points

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core i9 12900K
vs
Ryzen 9 7900X

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Cinebench Scores (63rd and 65th place)
Submit your benchmark results

GeekBench v6

The new version of this benchmark emulates common operations often used in real-world apps
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Core i9 12900K
17003
Ryzen 9 7900X +7%
18246
File compression 1260 MB/sec 1810 MB/sec
Clang compilation 146.1 Klines/sec 175.1 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 414.2 pages/sec 360.8 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 480.2 Mpixels/sec 535.6 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 273.2 pages/sec 299.8 pages/sec
Background blur 69.4 images/sec 52.2 images/sec
Photo processing 147.8 images/sec 121.8 images/sec
Ray tracing 34.4 Mpixels/sec 39.1 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 461 & 1096 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Core i9 12900K
41115
Ryzen 9 7900X +25%
51226
Integer math 139.2 GOps/sec 168.1 GOps/sec
Floating point math 105.4 GOps/sec 103.5 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 145M Primes/sec 389M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 57.1M Strings/sec 74.8M Strings/sec
Data encryption 29.5 GBytes/sec 37.1 GBytes/sec
Data compression 536.7 MBytes/sec 629.8 MBytes/sec
Physics 2203 Frames/sec 3046 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 33.6B Matrices/sec 47.4B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 11364 & 9482 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Core i9 12900K
366.86
Ryzen 9 7900X +15%
420.06

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 12.2 PPW 9 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 136 PPW 107.3 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 328.9 PPW 301.3 PPW
Blender / Watt 2.93 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 i9 12900K
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2025-11-12 (ElNils)Cinebench 2024114 / 1497
πŸ“˜ 2025-09-20 (Jarx)Geekbench 6 CPU2811 / 18033
πŸ“˜ 2025-05-24 (unsorted)Cinebench 2024109 / 1339
πŸ“˜ 2025-04-03 (AdKraemer)Cinebench 2024113 / 1414
πŸ“˜ 2025-03-20 (Lethal)Cinebench 2024116 / 1571
Add View all (8)
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
Add View all (21)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i9 12900K 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 i9-12900K -
Integrated GPU UHD Graphics 770 Radeon Graphics (Ryzen 7000)
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen 9 5950X - Intel Core i9 13900K
Successor - Intel Core Ultra 9 285K - AMD Ryzen 9 9900X
Intel CPU rating (#53rd place)
AMD Ryzen CPU ranking (#21st place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 8 12
P-Threads 16 24
Base Frequency (P) 3,2 GHz 4.7 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 5.1 GHz 5.6 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 8 -
E-Threads 8 -
Base Frequency (E) 2.4 GHz -
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) 3.9 GHz -
Total
Total Cores 16 12
Total Threads 24 24
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 32x 47x
L1 Cache 64K (per core) 64K (per core)
L2 Cache 14MB (shared) 1MB (per core)
L3 Cache 30MB (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) 241 W 230 W
Socket LGA-1700 AM5
Peak Temperature 100Β°C 95Β°C
Desktop CPU ranking (54th and 39th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 770 Radeon Graphics (Ryzen 7000)
GPU Base Clock 300 MHz 400 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1550 MHz 2200 MHz
Shading Units 256 128
TMUs 16 8
ROPs 8 4
Execution Units 32 2
TGP 15 W 15 W
iGPU FLOPS
Core i9 12900K +33%
0.8 TFLOPS
Ryzen 9 7900X
0.6 TFLOPS
More info: Radeon Graphics iGPU (Ryzen 7000) compared to UHD Graphics 770

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 i9 12900K 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
54 (20.8%)
205 (79.2%)
Total votes: 259

Competitors

1. AMD Ryzen 9 7900X vs AMD Ryzen 9 9900X
2. AMD Ryzen 9 7900X vs AMD Ryzen 9 9950X
3. AMD Ryzen 9 7900X vs Intel Core i7 14700K
4. AMD Ryzen 9 7900X vs AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D (3)
5. AMD Ryzen 9 7900X vs Intel Core i9 14900KF
6. Intel Core i9 12900K vs Intel Core i7 14700K
7. Intel Core i9 12900K vs Intel Core i5 14600K
8. Intel Core i9 12900K vs Intel Core i9 14900K
9. Intel Core i9 12900K vs Intel Core i7 13700K (9)
10. Intel Core i9 12900K vs Intel Core i5 13600K (1)
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: AMD Ryzen 9 7900X or Intel Core i9 12900K?
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