Home > CPU Comparison > Core i9 12900K or Core i7 13700K: what's better?

Intel Core i9 12900K vs i7 13700K

68 out of 100
Intel Core i9 12900K
VS
75 out of 100
Intel Core i7 13700K
Intel Core i9 12900K
Intel Core i7 13700K

We compared two 16-core desktop CPUs: the 3,2 GHz Intel Core i9 12900K against the 3.4 GHz i7 13700K. 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 (9)

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.
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
37.3
(Mediocre)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 13700K and 12900K
Advantages of Intel Core i7 13700K
  • Supports up to 192 GB DDR5-5600 RAM
  • Newer - released 1 year later
  • Around 12.8 GB/s (17%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • 12% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 2941 vs 2633 points
  • 4% higher Turbo Boost frequency (5.3 GHz vs 5.1 GHz)

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core i9 12900K
vs
Core i7 13700K

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Cinebench 2026 (Single) - 659
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) - 6859
Cinebench Scores (63rd and 66th 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
Core i7 13700K +19%
20193
File compression 1260 MB/sec 1770 MB/sec
Clang compilation 146.1 Klines/sec 167.5 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 414.2 pages/sec 528.1 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 480.2 Mpixels/sec 560.2 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 273.2 pages/sec 288 pages/sec
Background blur 69.4 images/sec 81 images/sec
Photo processing 147.8 images/sec 187.6 images/sec
Ray tracing 34.4 Mpixels/sec 37.6 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 461 & 817 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
Core i7 13700K +11%
45614
Integer math 139.2 GOps/sec 153.8 GOps/sec
Floating point math 105.4 GOps/sec 114.4 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 145M Primes/sec 188M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 57.1M Strings/sec 62.5M Strings/sec
Data encryption 29.5 GBytes/sec 33.1 GBytes/sec
Data compression 536.7 MBytes/sec 591.4 MBytes/sec
Physics 2203 Frames/sec 2692 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 33.6B Matrices/sec 36.4B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 11364 & 8277 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Core i9 12900K
366.86
Core i7 13700K +10%
401.93

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 12.2 PPW 12.2 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 136 PPW 161.5 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 328.9 PPW 364.9 PPW
Blender / Watt 2.93 PPW 3.22 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)GeekBench2811 / 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)
Intel Core i7 13700K
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-03-30 (Channel3)Cinebench 2026659 / 6859
πŸ“˜ 2026-01-14 (Xypher)Cinebench 2024121 / 1618
πŸ“˜ 2025-05-28 (Illyctro)GeekBench2671 / 17244
πŸ“˜ 2025-05-27 (JMoor)Cinebench 2024120 / 1543
πŸ“˜ 2025-05-21 (Sighrus)Cinebench 2024126 / 1759
Add View all (18)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i9 12900K and i7 13700K

General

Vendor Intel Intel
Released October 27, 2021 September 27, 2022
Type Desktop Desktop
Instruction Set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Alder Lake Raptor Lake
Model number i9-12900K i7-13700K
Integrated GPU UHD Graphics 770 UHD Graphics 770
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen 9 5950X - AMD Ryzen 7 7700X
Successor - Intel Core Ultra 9 285K - Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus
Intel CPU rating (53rd and 31st place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 8 8
P-Threads 16 16
Base Frequency (P) 3,2 GHz 3.4 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 5.1 GHz 5.3 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 8 8
E-Threads 8 8
Base Frequency (E) 2.4 GHz 2.5 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) 3.9 GHz 4.2 GHz
Total
Total Cores 16 16
Total Threads 24 24
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 32x 34x
L1 Cache 64K (per core) 80K (per core)
L2 Cache 14MB (shared) 2MB (per core)
L3 Cache 30MB (shared) 30MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier Yes Yes

Package

Fabrication Process 10 nm 10 nm
TDP (PL1) 125 W 125 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 241 W 253 W
Socket LGA-1700 LGA-1700
Peak Temperature 100Β°C 100Β°C
Desktop CPU ranking (54th and 40th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 770 Intel UHD Graphics 770
GPU Base Clock 300 MHz 300 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1550 MHz 1600 MHz
Shading Units 256 256
TMUs 16 16
ROPs 8 8
Execution Units 32 32
TGP 15 W 15 W
iGPU FLOPS
Core i9 12900K
0.8 TFLOPS
Core i7 13700K
0.8 TFLOPS
See: Intel UHD Graphics 770 benchmarks

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR5-4800
- DDR4-3200		 - DDR5-5600
- DDR4-3200
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 192 GB
Memory Channels 2 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 76.8 GB/s 89.6 GB/s
ECC Support Yes Yes

Misc

Official Site Intel Core i9 12900K official page Intel Core i7 13700K official page
PCI Express Version 5.0 5.0
PCI Express Lanes 20 20

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
74 (6.7%)
1024 (93.3%)
Total votes: 1098

Competitors

1. Intel Core i7 13700K vs Apple M2 (1)
2. Intel Core i7 13700K vs Apple M3 Max
3. Intel Core i7 13700K vs Intel Core i7 14700K (1)
4. Intel Core i7 13700K vs Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite (X1E-84-100)
5. Intel Core i7 13700K vs Apple M3
6. Intel Core i7 13700K vs AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D
7. Intel Core i9 12900K vs Intel Core i5 13600K (1)
8. Intel Core i9 12900K vs Intel Core i9 14900K
9. Intel Core i9 12900K vs Intel Core i5 14600K
10. Intel Core i9 12900K vs Intel Core i7 14700K
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Intel Core i7 13700K or i9 12900K?
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Avatar
John K November 19, 2024 at 05:21 AM
The main uplift will come from if you go from a DDR4 to DDR5. In place upgrade on a DDR4 mobo doesn't scale as much. But in Q4 2024 there is no point in building a LGA 1700 machine unless one already have parts that can be reused.
0 Reply
Avatar
Patrick H December 29, 2022 at 01:49 AM
I built an i7 12700k, z690 motherboard, 32 GB ddr4 3200 cl 16 memory, Nvidia 3080ti 1 year ago. This week I had a new build done i7 13700k, z790, 32 GB ddr5 cl 36. There is a slight increase and I mean 10 percent max. It really feels like intel rereleased the same shit with minor upgrades.
+69 Reply
Avatar
im not givin out my name March 15, 2023 at 03:53 PM
Why build a new pc when you can already max out any game at any resolution?
+34 Reply
Avatar
Swapnil July 30, 2023 at 09:54 PM
You'll see a significant increase in multi-threading applications like rendering engines and analysis software like Ansys. not in games.
+3 Reply
Avatar
Magnumxpress November 21, 2022 at 07:06 AM
I'm not sure how intel can keep getting away with this scam. These are the same CPU, released one year apart, with minor tweaks in core frequency, and a name change. But the issue is the 12900k launched for $200 more than the 13700k. So if you were the poor fool who bought the 12900k at launch, you got scammed out of 200 bucks.
+15 Reply
Avatar
AntX October 30, 2022 at 04:18 PM
Just save 150 dollars if you go for the i7 13700k, both have basically the same performance and if you do go 13700k you can upgrade to an i9 13900k later on and a 40 series nvidia gpu or a 7000 series amd gpu.
+24 Reply
Avatar
Simba December 6, 2022 at 05:22 PM
They’re both the same LGA1700 so you can always upgrade.
+11 Reply
Avatar
User 82001 September 23, 2022 at 11:08 PM
When they are released, the price point might be the same. Who knows? I'd rather buy an i5 13700k and get similar to slightly higher performance. That seems to be a wise idea unless I have to break my bank on a new motherboard.
+15 Reply
Avatar
im not givin out my name October 6, 2022 at 09:58 PM
nope, same socket and chip :)
+22 Reply
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