Intel Core i9 12900K vs i7 8700K
We compared two desktop CPUs: the 3.2 GHz Intel Core i9 12900K with 16-cores against the 3.7 GHz i7 8700K with 6-cores. 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
Performance
Measure performance when all cores are involved
Power Efficiency
The efficiency score of electricity consumption
NanoReview Final Score
Generic CPU rating
Key Differences
Advantages of Intel Core i9 12900K
- Newer - released 4-years and 2-months later
- Has 10 more physical cores
- Has 18 MB larger L3 cache size
- Around 35.2 GB/s (85%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
- 76% faster in a single-core Geekbench v5 test - 2191 vs 1242 points
- Newer PCI Express version – 5.0
- More modern manufacturing process – 10 versus 14 nanometers
- 11% higher Turbo Boost frequency (5.2 GHz vs 4.7 GHz)
Advantages of Intel Core i7 8700K
- Consumes up to 24% less energy than the Core i9 12900K – 95 vs 125 Watt
Benchmarks
Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)
Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
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Specifications
General
| Vendor | Intel | Intel |
| Released | October 27, 2021 | October 5, 2017 |
| Type | Desktop | Desktop |
| instruction set | x86-64 | x86-64 |
| Codename | Alder Lake-S | Coffee Lake |
| Model number | i9-12900K | i7-8700K |
| Socket | LGA-1700 | LGA-1151 |
| Integrated GPU | UHD Graphics 770 | UHD Graphics 630 |
Performance
| Cores | 16 | 6 |
| Threads | 24 | 12 |
| Base Frequency | 3.2 GHz | 3.7 GHz |
| Turbo Boost Frequency | 5.2 GHz | 4.7 GHz |
| Bus frequency | 100 MHz | 100 MHz |
| Multiplier | 32x | 37x |
| Bus Bandwidth | - | 8 GT/s |
| L1 Cache | 64K (per core) | 64K (per core) |
| L2 Cache | 14MB (shared) | 256K (per core) |
| L3 Cache | 30MB (shared) | 12MB (shared) |
| Unlocked Multiplier | Yes | Yes |
Power
| Fabrication process | 10 nm | 14 nm |
| TDP | 125 W | 95 W |
| Max. temperature | 100°C | 100°C |
iGPU
| Integrated Graphics | Intel UHD Graphics 770 | Intel UHD Graphics 630 |
| GPU Base Clock | 300 MHz | 350 MHz |
| GPU Boost Clock | 1550 MHz | 1200 MHz |
| Shading Units | 256 | 192 |
| TMUs | 16 | 24 |
| ROPs | 8 | 3 |
| Execution Units | 32 | 24 |
| TGP | 15 W | 15 W |
| Max. Resolution | - | 4096x2304 - 60 Hz |
iGPU FLOPS
Memory support
| Memory types | DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200 | DDR4-2666 |
| Memory Size | 128 GB | 128 GB |
| Max. Memory Channels | 2 | 2 |
| Max. Memory Bandwidth | 76.8 GB/s | 41.6 GB/s |
| ECC Support | Yes | No |
Misc
| Official site | Intel Core i9 12900K official page | Intel Core i7 8700K official page |
| PCI Express Version | 5.0 | 3.0 |
| PCI Express Lanes | 20 | 16 |
| Extended instructions | - | SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX-2 |
Cast your vote
Total votes: 43