Intel Core i9-12900K vs. i9-11900K: Should you upgrade?

Next-gen performance

Intel Core i9-12900K

Final-gen woes

Intel Core i9-11900K

Information technology's incredible what Intel managed to achieve with the move between 11th and 12th Gen processors. The newer Alder Lake CPUs are light years ahead of their predecessors, including the Core i9-12900K, the company's newer flagship. Information technology has better efficiency, DDR5 RAM support, and is vastly more powerful.

$620 at Newegg

Pros

• Vastly more powerful
• Better overall value
• PCIe v.0 and DDR5 support
• Hybrid core design for better efficiency

Cons

• More expensive
• Requires new motherboard

The Core i9-11900K wasn't particularly exciting even at launch. This was mainly released to keep Intel ticking over and so it could gyre out 12th Gen CPUs and accept something to answer for AMD's Ryzen 9 series of processors. If you don't have one still, we'd strongly urge you to purchase the 12900K, but if you do nosotros also suggest y'all consider upgrading.

$490 at Newegg

Pros

• Can be found for less
• Still decent enough performance

Cons

• Only supports upwards to PCIe four.0 and DDR4
• Less efficient
• Worse value overall

Intel did a fine task with Alder Lake, and the Intel Core i9-12900K is a flagship we can happily recommend for gaming, production, and enthusiast builds. If you're considering whether it's best to go with the latest or salve some money and choose a 11900K, I'm hither to tell you that an extra $100 or so is well worth it for one of the best CPUs for your PC.

Intel Core i9-12900K vs. i9-11900K: Specs

	Intel Core i9-12900K	Intel Core i9-11900K
Cores	xvi (8P, 8E)	viii
Threads	24	16
TDP	125W	125W
Base clock	P: 3.2GHz E: ii.4GHz	three.5GHz
Boost	P: 5.1GHz East: three.9GHz	5.1GHz
Turbo Boost Max 3.0	five.2GHz	v.3GHz
Overclockable	Yes	Yes
L3 cache	30MB	16MB
Manufacturing node	10nm	14nm
Retentiveness	DDR4-3200 DDR5-4800 Upwardly to 128GB	DDR4-3200 Up to 128GB
Integrated graphics	Intel UHD 770	Intel UHD 750
Socket	LGA 1700	LGA 1200

12th Gen Intel is a clear winner

Intel finally managed to depart from its tried, tried, tried ... and tried and tested 14nm manufacturing process. Alder Lake, the codename for 12th Gen processors, is built using Intel seven (basically a fancy play on marketing jargon for a 10nm process equivalent to rival TMSC's 7nm) and information technology brings considerable improvements over 11th Gen CPUs.

But Intel didn't just stop there. twelfth Gen Intel processors are also the kickoff desktop-form CPUs to sport a new hybrid cadre design. It follows the aforementioned "large.Footling" hybrid blueprint principle we've seen with ARM chips like the M1 from Apple. Instead of having xvi powerful cores that all ramp up clock speeds when under load, Intel has used 8 performance cores with hyper-threading, as well as four efficiency cores for the Cadre i9-12900K.

This mix of high-operation Gold Cove and more power-efficient Gracemont cores brings together very power-efficient single-threaded cores that handle low-priority tasks with more traditional PC-class multi-thread, loftier-performance cores that can handle everything else.

Information technology'southward easier to think of Golden Cove cores as handling all the more of import tasks like apps, games, and other vital processes. Gracemont cores use less energy and aren't every bit powerful, just are more than capable of taking all other not-essential processes to free up valuable resource for Golden Cove cores. This is why nosotros have a core and thread configuration that seems a little out of place in 2022 (xvi cores and 24 threads).

Compared to the older Cadre i7-11700K processor, we're looking at a substantial eight-core improvement with an additional eight threads. These better performance cores, as well equally the additional eight efficiency cores, allow the Cadre i9-12900K to utterly destroy the 11900K in benchmarks and other tests.

The clock speeds betwixt the two are similar, starting at 3.5GHz (and 3.2GHZ for the 12900K) and boosting to five.3GHz (5.2GHz for the 12900K) with Turbo Heave Max three.0. The Core i9-11900K does have a slight advantage here with college clock speeds, but even this isn't enough to compensate for all the improvements Intel fabricated to how everything works.

Just then at that place's also full support for DDR5 RAM (we rounded up the all-time RAM for 12th Gen Intel CPUs) and PCIe five.0, both of which bring notable improvements to bandwidth and speeds. Finally, the enshroud has been bumped from 16MB to 30MB, and the integrated graphics have been upgraded from the UHD Graphics 750 to the newer Intel UHD Graphics 770.

The better CPU by a clear mile

The new Alder Lake processors are excellent. Intel finally found its footing and managed to hitting dorsum at AMD's Ryzen success. If you need ultimate levels of efficient operation, expect no further than the Core i9-12900K. We'd even recommend you completely upgrade from the older Cadre i9-11900K with a new motherboard, it'due south that skilful.

The better pick

Intel Core i9-12900K

The best Intel processor

This is the best desktop-class processor Intel has released in a long time. It has everything you demand for capable gaming or production PC builds, including plenty of cores (in a hybrid design) and the power to boost loftier for excellent performance.

11th Gen Intel CPUs should be avoided

If you lot're building (or buying) a new PC, it'due south better to go with 12th Gen Intel processors. If y'all already have an 11th Gen Intel CPU, nosotros'd recommend upgrading, particularly if you've noticed some sluggish operation of your current processor. The difference between the Core i9-12900K and i9-11900K is night and day.

Consigned to history

Intel Core i9-11900K

It wasn't that bad

Intel was in a dark identify with the launch of its 11th Gen processors. They were perfectly fine for daily utilise, merely compared to what AMD was pushing out its fab partner, Intel was fashion behind. Fifty-fifty the newer Core i5-12600K blows the i9-11900K out of the water.

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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/intel-core-i9-12900k-vs-i9-11900k

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