Intel Core i9 12900K vs Apple M1 Pro

We compared two CPUs: the 3,2 GHz Intel Core i9 12900K (desktop) with 16-cores against the 3.2 GHz Apple M1 Pro (laptop) with 10-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 electricity consumption
NanoReview Final Score
Generic CPU rating

Key Differences

What are the key differences between Pro and 12900K
Advantages of Intel Core i9 12900K
  • Supports up to 128 GB DDR5-4800 RAM
  • Unlocked multiplier
  • Has 6 more physical cores
  • 12% faster in a single-core Geekbench v5 test - 1982 vs 1771 points
Advantages of Apple M1 Pro
  • Around 128 GB/s (167%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • More modern manufacturing process – 5 versus 10 nanometers
  • Supports quad-channel memory

Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs in benchmarks
Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)
1978
1519
Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)
27168
12007
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
4199
3823
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
41176
21885
Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
1978
1762
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
17067
12384

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i9 12900K and Apple M1 Pro

General

Vendor Intel Apple
Released October 27, 2021 October 18, 2021
Type Desktop Laptop
instruction set x86-64 ARMv8
Codename Alder Lake Apple M1
Model number i9-12900K -
Integrated GPU UHD Graphics 770 Apple M1 Pro GPU (16-core)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 8 8
P-Threads 16 8
Base Frequency (P) 3,2 GHz 3.2 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 5.1 GHz -
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 8 2
E-Threads 8 2
Base Frequency (E) 2.4 GHz 2.1 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) 3.9 GHz -
Total
Total Cores 16 10
Total Threads 24 10
Bus Frequency 100 MHz -
Multiplier 32x -
L1 Cache 64K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 14MB (shared) 24MB (shared)
L3 Cache 30MB (shared) -
Unlocked Multiplier Yes No

Package

Transistors - 33.7 billions
Fabrication process 10 nm 5 nm
Socket LGA-1700 Apple M-Socket
TDP 125 W 30 W
Peak temperature 100°C -

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 770 Apple M1 Pro GPU (16-core)
GPU Base Clock 300 MHz 450 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1550 MHz 1296 MHz
Shading Units 256 2048
TMUs 16 128
ROPs 8 64
Execution Units 32 -
TGP 15 W 30 W
Max. Resolution - 6016x3384 - 60 Hz
iGPU FLOPS
0.78 TFLOPS
5.2 TFLOPS

Memory Support

Memory types DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200 LPDDR5-6400
Memory Size 128 GB 32 GB
Max. Memory Channels 2 4
Max. Memory Bandwidth 76.8 GB/s 204.8 GB/s
ECC Support Yes No

Misc

Official site Intel Core i9 12900K official page -
PCI Express Version 5.0 -
PCI Express Lanes 20 -

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
129 (45.4%)
155 (54.6%)
Total votes: 284

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M1 Pro or Intel Core i9 12900K?