Home > CPU Comparison > Core i9 12900K or M1 Ultra: what's better?

Intel Core i9 12900K vs Apple M1 Ultra

68 out of 100
Intel Core i9 12900K
VS
69 out of 100
Apple M1 Ultra
Intel Core i9 12900K
Apple M1 Ultra

We compared two CPUs: the 3,2 GHz Intel Core i9 12900K (desktop) with 16-cores against the 3.2 GHz Apple M1 Ultra (laptop) with 20-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 (7)

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 NanoReview Score for desktop CPU.
NanoReview Final Score
Choose your main usage scenario to recalculate the Final Score and see which CPU suits your needs.
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Value for money (Beta)

Global average CPU prices are used by default! For better accuracy, enter your current prices and click โ€œCalculate".
Currency
VS

Key Differences

What are the key differences between Ultra and 12900K
Advantages of Intel Core i9 12900K
  • Unlocked multiplier
Advantages of Apple M1 Ultra
  • More powerful Apple M1 Ultra GPU (64-core) integrated graphics: 21.2 vs 0.8 TFLOPS
  • Around 742.4 GB/s (967%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • More modern manufacturing process โ€“ 5 versus 10 nanometers
  • Has 4 more physical cores
  • Newer - released 5 months later

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core i9 12900K
vs
M1 Ultra

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Core i9 12900K
1526
M1 Ultra +6%
1625
Cinebench Scores (#63rd 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)
Core i9 12900K +8%
2633
M1 Ultra
2436
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Core i9 12900K
17003
M1 Ultra +9%
18530
File compression 1260 MB/sec 2000 MB/sec
Clang compilation 146.1 Klines/sec 189 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 414.2 pages/sec 513.5 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 480.2 Mpixels/sec 548.8 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 273.2 pages/sec 250.5 pages/sec
Background blur 69.4 images/sec 42.3 images/sec
Photo processing 147.8 images/sec 151.4 images/sec
Ray tracing 34.4 Mpixels/sec 27.8 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] โ€“ 461 & 509 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Core i9 12900K +7%
4128
M1 Ultra
3860
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Core i9 12900K
41115
M1 Ultra +1%
41392
Integer math 139.2 GOps/sec 92.4 GOps/sec
Floating point math 105.4 GOps/sec 130.1 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 145M Primes/sec 538M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 57.1M Strings/sec 66.8M Strings/sec
Data encryption 29.5 GBytes/sec 24.9 GBytes/sec
Data compression 536.7 MBytes/sec 556.6 MBytes/sec
Physics 2203 Frames/sec 5558 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 33.6B Matrices/sec 25.4B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] โ€“ 11364 & 236 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Core i9 12900K
366.86
M1 Ultra +11%
406.35

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 12.2 PPW 23.2 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 136 PPW 264.7 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 328.9 PPW 591.3 PPW
Blender / Watt 2.93 PPW 5.81 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
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-11-12 (ElNils)Cinebench 2024114 / 1497
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-09-20 (Jarx)Geekbench 6 CPU2811 / 18033
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-05-24 (unsorted)Cinebench 2024109 / 1339
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-04-03 (AdKraemer)Cinebench 2024113 / 1414
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-03-20 (Lethal)Cinebench 2024116 / 1571
Add View all (8)
Apple M1 Ultra
No benchmark results yet
Add

Specifications

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

General

Vendor Intel Apple
Released October 27, 2021 March 8, 2022
Type Desktop Laptop
Instruction Set x86-64 ARMv8
Codename Alder Lake Apple M1
Model number i9-12900K APL1106/APL1W06
Integrated GPU UHD Graphics 770 Apple M1 Ultra GPU (64-core)
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen 9 5950X - Intel Core i9 12900K
Successor - Intel Core Ultra 9 285K - Apple M4 Ultra
Intel CPU rating (#53rd place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 8 16
P-Threads 16 16
Base Frequency (P) 3,2 GHz 3.2 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 5.1 GHz -
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 8 4
E-Threads 8 4
Base Frequency (E) 2.4 GHz 2.1 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) 3.9 GHz -
Total
Total Cores 16 20
Total Threads 24 20
Bus Frequency 100 MHz -
Multiplier 32x -
L1 Cache 64K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 14MB (shared) 48MB (shared)
L3 Cache 30MB (shared) -
Unlocked Multiplier Yes No

Package

Transistors - 114 billions
Fabrication Process 10 nm 5 nm
TDP (PL1) 125 W 70 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 241 W -
Socket LGA-1700 Apple M-Socket
Peak Temperature 100ยฐC -
Desktop CPU ranking (#54th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 770 Apple M1 Ultra GPU (64-core)
GPU Base Clock 300 MHz 450 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1550 MHz 1296 MHz
Shading Units 256 8192
TMUs 16 512
ROPs 8 256
Execution Units 32 1024
TGP 15 W 120 W
iGPU FLOPS
Core i9 12900K
0.8 TFLOPS
M1 Ultra +2550%
21.2 TFLOPS
More info: Apple M1 Ultra GPU (64-core) compared to UHD Graphics 770

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR5-4800
- DDR4-3200		 - LPDDR5-6400
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 128 GB
Memory Channels 2 8
Max. Memory Bandwidth 76.8 GB/s 819.2 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
857 (50.1%)
854 (49.9%)
Total votes: 1711

Competitors

1. Intel Core i9 12900K vs AMD Ryzen 7 7700X (1)
2. Intel Core i9 12900K vs Intel Core i5 13600K (1)
3. Intel Core i9 12900K vs Intel Core i9 14900K
4. Intel Core i9 12900K vs Intel Core i5 14600K
5. Intel Core i9 12900K vs Intel Core i7 14700K
6. Intel Core i9 12900K vs AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
7. Intel Core i9 12900K vs Intel Core i7 13700K (9)
8. Apple M1 Ultra vs Apple M4 Pro (14-Core)
9. Apple M1 Ultra vs Apple M2 Ultra
10. Apple M1 Ultra vs Apple M4 Ultra
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M1 Ultra or Intel Core i9 12900K?
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Avatar
Ebnul khan November 16, 2022 at 08:51 PM
Core i9 is the fastest chip in the world and better than the m1 ultra I doubt that m1 ultra is powerful
+3 Reply
Avatar
Payman May 14, 2023 at 07:36 PM
Windows laptops (especially Intel) lose more than 50% of graphic performance and more than 35% of CPU performance when you turn off the power, in addition to the loss of Screen quality. While there is no difference in the performance of Apple laptops with or without electricity. in terms of energy consumption, the Apple processor consumes about 3.5 times less.
+2 Reply
Avatar
keyo October 4, 2022 at 12:59 PM
M1 ultra is the best mac chip and i9 12th gen is the best pc chip!
+11 Reply
Avatar
Name June 2, 2022 at 09:02 AM
I prefer the Apple M1 Ultra.
+10 Reply
Avatar
No Name Available April 27, 2022 at 07:33 PM
Intel Core i9 is restricted to Windows. Apple M1 Ultra is to macOS. That created a diversion & complexity for the end-user. It's all up to the Application Software, and how they behave. Also, more hard work for developers. Time: That's all we fight for. I say i9 wins in the desktop category. And M1 wins in the laptop category. Talking about the money situation. It's complicated. Buy, as much as you can afford. And choose wisely by comparing all points.
+28 Reply
Avatar
random name June 8, 2022 at 05:46 PM
M1 Ultra doesn't exist for mobile. Intel is not locked to an OS, which is why you can install UNIX-based systems as well, it is only OSX that is locked. Windows could also run on the M1, but Microsoft has to wait until its contract with Qualcomm ends.
+22 Reply
Avatar
david January 4, 2023 at 02:04 PM
random name, technically m1 is not locked. you can install windows 10 or 11 on a mac system.
+3 Reply
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