Intel Core Ultra 9 185H vs i9 12900K
60
out of 100
VS
64
out of 100
We compared two 16-core CPUs: the 2.3 GHz Intel Core Ultra 9 185H (laptop) against the 3,2 GHz i9 12900K (desktop). On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.
Review
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.
Choose your main usage scenario to recalculate the Final Score and see which CPU suits your needs.
Value for money (Beta)
Key Differences
Advantages of Intel Core Ultra 9 185H
- More powerful Arc Graphics (8-Cores) integrated graphics: 4.8 vs 0.8 TFLOPS
- Newer - released 2 years and 1 month later
- More modern manufacturing process β 7 versus 10 nanometers
- More than 10Β° C higher critical temperature
Advantages of Intel Core i9 12900K
- Unlocked multiplier
- Has 6 MB larger L3 cache size, helping fully utilize a high-end GPU in gaming
- Supports up to 128 GB DDR5-4800 RAM
Test in Benchmarks
Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasksCinebench
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Cinebench Scores (156th and 63rd place)
GeekBench v6
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
| File compression | 1270 MB/sec | 1260 MB/sec |
| Clang compilation | 102.8 Klines/sec | 146.1 Klines/sec |
| HTML 5 Browser | 342.7 pages/sec | 414.2 pages/sec |
| PDF Renderer | 389.7 Mpixels/sec | 480.2 Mpixels/sec |
| Text processing | 245.1 pages/sec | 273.2 pages/sec |
| Background blur | 45.2 images/sec | 69.4 images/sec |
| Photo processing | 131.5 images/sec | 147.8 images/sec |
| Ray tracing | 23.3 Mpixels/sec | 34.4 Mpixels/sec |
PassMark
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
| Integer math | 97.4 GOps/sec | 139.2 GOps/sec |
| Floating point math | 72.2 GOps/sec | 105.4 GOps/sec |
| Find prime numbers | 123M Primes/sec | 145M Primes/sec |
| Random string sorting | 39M Strings/sec | 57.1M Strings/sec |
| Data encryption | 19.5 GBytes/sec | 29.5 GBytes/sec |
| Data compression | 334.6 MBytes/sec | 536.7 MBytes/sec |
| Physics | 1940 Frames/sec | 2203 Frames/sec |
| Extended instructions | 19.9B Matrices/sec | 33.6B Matrices/sec |
Blender
Blender CPU
Performance Per Watt
| Cinebench 2024 / Watt | 15.2 PPW | 12.2 PPW |
| Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt | 209.4 PPW | 136 PPW |
| Passmark CPU Mark / Watt | 446.1 PPW | 328.9 PPW |
| Blender / Watt | 3.08 PPW | 2.93 PPW |
These are rough calculations, as most CPUs surpass PL1 TDP wattage even in multicore workloads.
Recent User Tests
Intel Core Ultra 9 185H
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| π 2025-12-28 (Nicholas) | Cinebench 2024 | 92 / 795 |
| π 2024-12-29 (Remembered2U) | Cinebench 2024 | 107 / 987 |
| π 2024-11-03 (Anish) | Cinebench 2024 | 103 / 886 |
| π 2024-10-01 (Guest #3) | Cinebench 2024 | 108 / 1088 |
Intel Core i9 12900K
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| π 2025-11-12 (ElNils) | Cinebench 2024 | 114 / 1497 |
| π 2025-09-20 (Jarx) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 2811 / 18033 |
| π 2025-05-24 (unsorted) | Cinebench 2024 | 109 / 1339 |
| π 2025-04-03 (AdKraemer) | Cinebench 2024 | 113 / 1414 |
| π 2025-03-20 (Lethal) | Cinebench 2024 | 116 / 1571 |
Specifications
Full technical specification of Intel Core Ultra 9 185H and i9 12900KGeneral
| Vendor | Intel | Intel |
| Released | December 14, 2023 | October 27, 2021 |
| Type | Laptop | Desktop |
| Instruction Set | x86-64 | x86-64 |
| Codename | Meteor Lake | Alder Lake |
| Model number | 185H | i9-12900K |
| Integrated GPU | Arc Graphics (8-Cores) | UHD Graphics 770 |
| Rival Equivalent | - AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS | - AMD Ryzen 9 5950X |
| Successor | - Intel Core Ultra 9 288V | - Intel Core Ultra 9 285K |
Intel CPU rating (83rd and 53rd place)
CPU
| P-Cores | 6 | 8 |
| P-Threads | 12 | 16 |
| Base Frequency (P) | 2.3 GHz | 3,2 GHz |
| Turbo Boost Frequency (P) | 5.1 GHz | 5.1 GHz |
| E-Cores | 10 | 8 |
| E-Threads | 10 | 8 |
| Base Frequency (E) | 1.8 GHz | 2.4 GHz |
| Turbo Boost Frequency (E) | 3.8 GHz | 3.9 GHz |
| Total Cores | 16 | 16 |
| Total Threads | 22 | 24 |
| Bus Frequency | 100 MHz | 100 MHz |
| Multiplier | 23x | 32x |
| L1 Cache | 112K (per core) | 64K (per core) |
| L2 Cache | 2MB (per core) | 14MB (shared) |
| L3 Cache | 24MB (shared) | 30MB (shared) |
| Unlocked Multiplier | No | Yes |
Package
| Fabrication Process | 7 nm | 10 nm |
| TDP (PL1) | 35-65 W (configurable) | 125 W |
| Max. Boost TDP (PL2) | 115 W | 241 W |
| Socket | FCBGA-2049 | LGA-1700 |
| Peak Temperature | 110Β°C | 100Β°C |
Laptop processors ranking (#103rd place)
Desktop CPU ranking (#54th place)
iGPU
| Integrated Graphics | Arc Graphics (8-Cores) | Intel UHD Graphics 770 |
| GPU Base Clock | 300 MHz | 300 MHz |
| GPU Boost Clock | 2350 MHz | 1550 MHz |
| Shading Units | 1024 | 256 |
| TMUs | 64 | 16 |
| ROPs | 32 | 8 |
| Execution Units | 128 | 32 |
| TGP | 28 W | 15 W |
iGPU FLOPS
Memory Support
| Memory Types | - LPDDR5-7467 - LPDDR5x-7467 - DDR5-5600 |
- DDR5-4800 - DDR4-3200 |
| Max. Memory Size | 96 GB | 128 GB |
| Memory Channels | 2 | 2 |
| Max. Memory Bandwidth | - | 76.8 GB/s |
| ECC Support | No | Yes |
Misc
| Official Site | Intel Core Ultra 9 185H official page | Intel Core i9 12900K official page |
| PCI Express Version | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| PCI Express Lanes | 28 | 20 |
Cast your vote
Total votes: 6