Intel BX8071512900KS

The i9-12900KS posts a 4,324 single-thread PassMark score, good for the 95th percentile in our database. That's the headline, and it's backed by a 43,427 multi-thread score and a 4.6-star owner rating. Just budget for serious cooling, because the 241W turbo draw is no joke.

The headline numbers are the 43,427 multi-thread and 4,324 single-thread PassMark scores. That single-thread result is the standout here, top of the charts in our database. For gaming and everyday snappiness, this thing still trades blows with much newer silicon. The 16-core setup (8 performance cores plus 8 efficiency cores) and 24 threads mean background tasks don't choke your foreground work.

You get 30MB of L3 cache and 14MB of L2, plus DDR5 support up to 128GB. PCIe 5.0 is on board too, so you're not leaving next-gen storage or GPU bandwidth on the table. The 5.5GHz boost clock is the highest Intel shipped on Alder Lake, and that's where the single-thread magic comes from. Just know that hitting those clocks means the 241W turbo power draw is real, and your cooling needs to be ready for it.

Against the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, the 12900KS holds its own in single-thread but gives up efficiency and platform longevity. The 9800X3D is on a newer socket with a clearer upgrade path, while LGA 1700 is at the end of its road. Compared to the older X-series parts like the i9-9960X and i9-7940X, the 12900KS absolutely crushes them in single-thread and keeps up in multi-thread despite having fewer cores. The Xeon E5-2696v4 is a different animal entirely, server silicon with more cores but much weaker per-core speed. For a desktop user, the 12900KS is the more sensible pick among these unless you specifically need server features.

Pricing is all over the place. In the US you'll see this chip listed anywhere from $213 to $590 depending on the vendor, and that's a $377 spread for the exact same silicon. If you can snag it near the low end, it's an absurd deal for a 16-core chip with this single-thread performance. At the high end, you're paying launch-era money for a two-generation-old part, and that's harder to justify. The CAD market is even wilder, ranging from CAD 629 to CAD 1,298. Shop around before you commit, because the same processor should not cost nearly double depending on where you click.

The Core i9-12900KS posts a 43,427 PassMark multi-thread score and a 4,324 single-thread score. That single-thread number lands in the 95th percentile of our database, which means this chip is still one of the best on the market for lightly-threaded workloads even a couple generations later. The multi-thread score sits at the 92nd percentile, so it's no slouch when you throw heavy renders or big compiles at it either.

But here's the thing. This is a 150W TDP part that boosts to 241W, and owners are loud about the heat. Our sentiment data shows performance gets roughly 25 positive mentions while heat and cooling requirements rack up about 18 negative ones combined. It's a monster chip, but it's a monster that wants a serious cooler and a motherboard with beefy VRMs.

If you're building a small form factor rig or you hate fan noise, look elsewhere. The 241W turbo draw and the heat complaints from owners mean this chip wants a big case and a big cooler. The efficiency score of 74.2 is the weakest area in our testing, so anyone running workloads 24/7 on a power bill they actually read should consider a more efficient option. And if you're not willing to shop around for a good price, the $377 US spread means you could easily overpay by a lot.

The 12900KS is a genuinely fast chip that still lands in the top tier of our single-thread rankings. The 4,324 single-thread PassMark score is the number that matters most here, and it's backed by a 4.6-star average from 431 owners. The catch is heat. You need a good cooler, you need to accept the 241W turbo draw, and you need to find a price that doesn't make you wince. If those boxes are checked, this is a fantastic high-end desktop processor that will chew through games, edits, and renders without complaint.