Home > CPU Comparison > Core Ultra 9 285K or Core i9 12900K: what's better?

Intel Core Ultra 9 285K vs i9 12900K

91 out of 100
Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
VS
68 out of 100
Intel Core i9 12900K
Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
Intel Core i9 12900K

We compared two desktop CPUs: the 3.7 GHz Intel Core Ultra 9 285K with 24-cores against the 3,2 GHz i9 12900K with 16-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

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
58.3
(Average)
Value Index
62.2
(Average)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 12900K and 285K
Advantages of Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
  • More modern manufacturing process – 3 versus 10 nanometers
  • Newer - released 3 years later
  • More powerful Intel Arc iGPU (4-Cores) integrated graphics: 2 vs 0.8 TFLOPS
  • Has 8 more physical cores
  • Supports up to 192 GB DDR5-6400 RAM
  • Around 25.6 GB/s (33%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • 28% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 3379 vs 2633 points
  • Has 6 MB larger L3 cache size, helping fully utilize a high-end GPU in gaming
  • 8% higher Turbo Boost frequency (5.5 GHz vs 5.1 GHz)

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core Ultra 9 285K
vs
Core i9 12900K

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Cinebench Scores (11th and 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)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
File compression 1560 MB/sec 1260 MB/sec
Clang compilation 242.2 Klines/sec 146.1 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 479.5 pages/sec 414.2 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 622.1 Mpixels/sec 480.2 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 371.2 pages/sec 273.2 pages/sec
Background blur 95.4 images/sec 69.4 images/sec
Photo processing 164.2 images/sec 147.8 images/sec
Ray tracing 52.3 Mpixels/sec 34.4 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 461 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Integer math 172.3 GOps/sec 139.2 GOps/sec
Floating point math 224.2 GOps/sec 105.4 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 542M Primes/sec 145M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 94.9M Strings/sec 57.1M Strings/sec
Data encryption 57.7 GBytes/sec 29.5 GBytes/sec
Data compression 789.7 MBytes/sec 536.7 MBytes/sec
Physics 3933 Frames/sec 2203 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 62.3B Matrices/sec 33.6B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 8455 & 11364 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Core Ultra 9 285K +51%
554.43
Core i9 12900K
366.86

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 18.1 PPW 12.2 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 184.8 PPW 136 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 537.8 PPW 328.9 PPW
Blender / Watt 4.44 PPW 2.93 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 Ultra 9 285K
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-06-17 (Olafur Torfi)Cinebench 2024142 / 2242
πŸ“˜ 2026-02-01 (aDamatGeek)Cinebench 2024142 / 2383
πŸ“˜ 2026-01-29 (GeneralJeep)Geekbench 6 CPU3134 / 21707
πŸ“˜ 2025-12-31 (Szymon919191)Cinebench 2024141 / 2261
πŸ“˜ 2025-12-26 (Bill)Geekbench 6 CPU3207 / 22197
Add View all (14)
Intel Core i9 12900K
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2025-11-12 (ElNils)Cinebench 2024114 / 1497
πŸ“˜ 2025-09-20 (Jarx)Geekbench 6 CPU2811 / 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)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and i9 12900K

General

Vendor Intel Intel
Released October 11, 2024 October 27, 2021
Type Desktop Desktop
Instruction Set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Arrow Lake Alder Lake
Model number 285K i9-12900K
Integrated GPU Arc iGPU (4-Cores) UHD Graphics 770
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen 9 9950X - AMD Ryzen 9 5950X
Successor - - Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
Intel CPU rating (3rd and 53rd place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 8 8
P-Threads 8 16
Base Frequency (P) 3.7 GHz 3,2 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 5.5 GHz 5.1 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 16 8
E-Threads 16 8
Base Frequency (E) 3.2 GHz 2.4 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) 4.6 GHz 3.9 GHz
Total
Total Cores 24 16
Total Threads 24 24
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 37x 32x
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 64K (per core)
L2 Cache 3MB (per core) 14MB (shared)
L3 Cache 36MB (shared) 30MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier Yes Yes

Package

Fabrication Process 3 nm 10 nm
TDP (PL1) 125 W 125 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 250 W 241 W
Socket FCLGA-1851 LGA-1700
Peak Temperature 105Β°C 100Β°C
Desktop CPU ranking (8th and 54th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel Arc iGPU (4-Cores) Intel UHD Graphics 770
GPU Base Clock 300 MHz 300 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 2000 MHz 1550 MHz
Shading Units 512 256
TMUs 32 16
ROPs 16 8
Execution Units 64 32
TGP 14 W 15 W
iGPU FLOPS
Core Ultra 9 285K +150%
2 TFLOPS
Core i9 12900K
0.8 TFLOPS
More info: UHD Graphics 770 compared to Arc iGPU (4-Cores)

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR5-6400 - DDR5-4800
- DDR4-3200
Max. Memory Size 192 GB 128 GB
Memory Channels 2 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 102.4 GB/s 76.8 GB/s
ECC Support Yes Yes

Misc

Official Site Intel Core Ultra 9 285K official page Intel Core i9 12900K official page
PCI Express Version 5.0 5.0
PCI Express Lanes 24 20

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
4 (44.4%)
5 (55.6%)
Total votes: 9

Competitors

1. Intel Core Ultra 9 285K vs Intel Core Ultra 7 265K (2)
2. Intel Core Ultra 9 285K vs AMD Ryzen 9 9950X (35)
3. Intel Core Ultra 9 285K vs Intel Core i9 14900K (8)
4. Intel Core Ultra 9 285K vs Intel Core i9 14900KS (8)
5. Intel Core Ultra 9 285K vs AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D (2)
6. Intel Core Ultra 9 285K vs Intel Core i7 14700K
7. Intel Core i9 12900K vs Intel Core i5 13600K (1)
8. Intel Core i9 12900K vs Intel Core i7 14700K
9. Intel Core i9 12900K vs Intel Core i5 14600K
10. Intel Core i9 12900K vs Intel Core i9 14900K
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Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Intel Core i9 12900K or Ultra 9 285K?
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