Intel At Its Best: Revisiting the i9-12900K, i7-12700K, i5-12600K, 12400, & i3-12100F in 2024 Leave a comment

As a fast reminder of the historical past of those elements, that is what we considered them again once they launched: “This is a wonderful first volley from Intel with Alder Lake. It’s on the costly aspect. Worth has crept up, efficiency, happily, has additionally crept up however so too has energy. You get some new and thrilling applied sciences with Alder Lake; DDR5 being one among them. In the end, it is about how this competes and this has surprisingly first rate worth when in comparison with the 5900X (watch our review) and the 5950X (watch our review), particularly in manufacturing workloads. There are locations the place AMD nonetheless holds a bonus however they’ve gotten slimmer.”

That was for the 12900K. For the 12100F (watch our review), we have been additionally comparatively constructive: “At $130, it is really a reasonably thrilling CPU for us to evaluate as a result of, for gaming, it did very nicely. And even with a high-end GPU, it is doing fairly nicely, so we have been impressed with its gaming efficiency.”

It feels bizarre to revisit our outdated evaluations as a result of we have been actually enthusiastic about what Intel was doing on the time. It was fiercely aggressive. 

It’s straightforward to neglect how constructive we have been on a few of Intel’s launches again from the 8000 collection into the twelfth Gen with Alder Lake when the previous couple of rounds. The 13 and 14 collection CPUs have been largely refreshes, however Alder Lake introduced a brand new platform ahead with new I/O, together with choices for each DDR4 and DDR5 and PCIe Gen5.

AMD had additionally forsaken its finances market right now: Going again by our outdated evaluations, we have been reminded of how AMD had gotten so snug in its place that it had stopped the 5000 collection briefly on the 5600X (watch our review) ranges. They launched the 5600 (watch our review) to assist with this, however total, AMD’s pricing was a lot larger than it had been within the previous generations. That left Intel with an enormous hole to fill with its 12100F, which later went on to land on our Best CPUs of the Year awards checklist for at the very least 2 years for its viability as a real finances gaming half.

In order that’s the historical past. These CPUs have been thrilling. 

For this revisit, to create space on the charts so they’re considerably legible, we’re eradicating the 7900 non-X, 7700 non-X (watch our review), and 7950X (watch our review) ECO Mode outcomes from gaming benchmarks. You’ll find all these numbers in our 9800X3D review or 7600X3D CPU review in case you’d like them. They’re instantly comparable.

That’s sufficient of a historical past lesson. Let’s get into it — and we’ll begin with a brand new set of experimental charts.

Fashionable Equal Desk (Gaming)

Equal Gaming Efficiency in 2024 | Alder Lake Revisit | GamersNexus | EXPERIMENTAL CHARTS

	12900K	12700K	12600K	12400	12100F
Stellaris	i5-14600K R5 7600	i5-13600K 5600X3D/5700X3D	R7 5800X R5 5600X	R5 5600X	No Fashionable Neighbor Closest: R7 3700X
F1 24	i5-13600K R5 7600X Extremely 5 245K	Extremely 5 245K 5600X/5800X	R5 5600X	5600X	No Fashionable Neighbor Closest: R7 3700X
Dragon’s Dogma 2	R5 5600X3D Extremely 7 265K	Extremely 5 245K i5-13600K R7 9700X	i5-13600K R7 9700X R9 7900X	R9 7900X R7 7700X	R5 5600X R7 3700X
Rainbow Six Siege	Extremely 5 245K [worse lows] R7 5800X	No Instant Neighbor Closest: Extremely 5 245K, 12400	No Appropriate Comparability: – No Fashionable Neighbor – No Instant Neighbor	No Fashionable Neighbor Closest: R7 3700X	No Fashionable Neighbor Closest: R7 3700X
Whole Warfare: Warhammer III	Extremely 7 265K R5 5600X3D R7 5800X	R7 5700X3D R5 5600X	R9 7900X	R9 7900	No Fashionable Neighbor Closest: R5 3600
Starfield	5800X3D i5-13600K R9 7950X R5 7600X3D	Extremely 5 245K R7 5700X3D R7 7700X/9700X	R9 7900X R7 5800X	R5 9600X R5 5600X	No Fashionable Neighbor Closest: R5 3600
Ultimate Fantasy XIV	R9 7900 i5-13600K Extremely 7 265K	R9 7900 i5-13600K Extremely 7 265K	Extremely 5 245K	Extremely 5 245K	No Fashionable Neighbor Closest: R7 3700X
Baldur’s Gate 3	R9 9700X/9900X Extremely 7 265K R9 7900/X	Extremely 5 245K R7 7700X	R5 7600X i5-13600K R5 5600X	R5 7600X i5-13600K R5 5600X	DNF Points working benchmark

We now have a desk we’re experimenting with for this. This desk will checklist the closest equal element for every software examined. Generally the ranges don’t line-up nicely, so we selected the closest inside motive, however deferred to older elements the place obligatory. We outlined “trendy” as something from Ryzen 5000 or newer and something from Intel 13 and newer, despite the fact that 5000 will be fairly outdated — it opened up extra comparisons.

Broadly talking, we seen that the 12900K is much like a more recent i5 in a number of video games. This included Stellaris, F1 24, Starfield, Ultimate Fantasy XIV, and the Extremely 5 in Rainbow Six (however with worse lows). The Extremely 7 265K (learn our review) was additionally shut in Ultimate Fantasy and Baldur’s Gate 3. AMD’s CPUs are extra different, and embrace the 7600 (watch our review), 7600X (watch our review), 5800X, and a few X3D elements, typically these are larger performers.

The 12700K was broadly much like an Ultra 5 245K from Intel or a 5600X to 5800X from AMD, with some X3D presence. Most X3D elements carry out a lot larger than these Alder Lake CPUs.

The 12600K was frequently close to the 5800X and 13600K CPUs.

The 12400 frequently neighbored the 5600X and generally the 245K or 9600X. The 12100F had few trendy neighbors, principally aligning with a 3700X (watch our review) or 3600 (watch our review) for gaming efficiency.

Fashionable Equal Desk (Manufacturing)

Equal Manufacturing Efficiency in 2024 | Alder Lake Revisit | GamersNexus | EXPERIMENTAL CHARTS

	12900K	12700K	12600K	12400	12100F
Blender	i7-13700K R9 7900	i5-13600K R7 7700X	R5 9600X R7 5800X	No Fashionable Neighbor Closest: R5 3600 Closest: R7 2700	No Fashionable Neighbor Closest: R5 2600
Chromium Code Compile	i7-13700K R9 7900/X	i5-14600K Extremely 5 245K R7 9700X	R5 9600X	R5 5600X3D	No Fashionable Neighbor Closest: R5 2600
7-Zip Compression	i5-14600K R7 9800X3D	Extremely 5 245K R7 7700X R7 9700X	R5 7600X/9600X R7 5700X3D	R5 5600X	No Fashionable Neighbor Closest: R5 2600
7-Zip Decompression	Extremely 7 265K R7 9800X3D R7 7700X	R7 5800X Extremely 5 245K	R5 7600X3D R5 5600X	No Fashionable Neighbor Closest: R5 2600	No Appropriate Comparability: – No Fashionable Neighbor – No Instant Neighbor
Adobe Photoshop	R5 7600X3D i5-14600K i5-13600K R7 5800X3D	i5-13600K R7 5800X/X3D	R7 5800X R5 5600X3D	R5 5600X	No Fashionable Neighbor Closest: R7 3700X
Adobe Premiere	R7 9800X3D Extremely 5 245K	i5-13600K R7 9700X R7 7800X3D	R5 9600X R5 7600X	R5 5600X3D R5 5600X	No Fashionable Neighbor Closest: R5 2600

Right here’s the identical idea, however utilized to manufacturing workloads.

Intel Alder Lake does higher right here for contemporary equivalents. The 12900K is frequently much like a 13700K (watch our review) or 7900-class CPU. It isn’t distant from the 265K in Decompression, though dips in Premiere nearer to a 245K (learn our review).

The 12700K (watch our review) is much like the 13600K in a lot of its assessments, so after 3 years, it has dropped to subsequent collection i5 efficiency ranges. The 245K is frequently proper alongside the 12700K. From AMD, the 9700X (learn our review) and 7700X are frequently its trendy equal. The 12600K (watch our review) is most much like the 9600X or 7600X in lots of assessments, with no close by trendy Intel equivalents. They’re all a lot better than this. We’d have to check a 13400 (learn our review) or one thing to see this stage.

The 12400 (watch our review) is frequently close to the 5600X. In some assessments, it’s down at 3600 or 2600 (watch our review) ranges. The 12100F has no trendy neighbors and, in some situations, no appropriate comparisons shut by. The R5 2600 (watch our review) is frequently the closest comparability for the 12100F.

Intel twelfth Technology Gaming Benchmarks

Stellaris

We’ll begin with Stellaris, the house sport which we use to check for simulation time moderately than framerate. That is nonetheless an ideal benchmark as a result of the outcomes don’t care about decision or graphics: It’s a extremely CPU-bound sport with real-world implications for time.

First up, our new entry with the very best result’s the 9800X3D with liquid nitrogen and at 6.2 GHz. Though you might have a buddy or member of the family pour LN2 when you sport, it’s not going — however we wished to place it right here to point out simply how insane the CPU is when pushed to the boundaries.

Snap again to actuality, we have now Alder Lake: The twelfth Gen CPUs land at 36.7 seconds for the 12900K, 37.7 seconds for the 12700KF, 41.2 seconds for the 12600K, and 43.1 seconds for the 12400. High-to-bottom, this creates a spread of 6.4 seconds, or a discount in simulation time from the 12400 to the 12900K of 15% — that means 15% much less time to simulate. When you had purchased the 12900K for $630 in 2021, then it’s given you about 3 years of efficiency and has aged into a contemporary i5 on this take a look at, which actually isn’t that unhealthy. The 14600K is adjoining at 36.6 seconds. An in-socket improve to a 14900K (learn our review) would get you a few 9.5% discount in simulation time and might be not price it for most individuals. The 9800X3D (with out liquid nitrogen) would yield a 30% discount in simulation time.

The 12700K is barely higher than a 5700X3D, with the 12600K round 5800X (watch our review) and 5600X ranges. The 12400 is considerably higher than the 12100F at 47 seconds and simply behind the 5600X.

Dragon’s Dogma 2

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is up now. On this one, the chart chief is the 9800X3D at 129 FPS AVG, which is an unimaginable lead over the 7800X3D’s 111 FPS AVG.

The 12900K falls all the way down to a cluster of Intel elements that cap-out round 100 FPS. The 265K is roughly equal to the 12900K in averages and lows. The 245K isn’t far behind. 

The 14900K boosts the ceiling to 110 FPS AVG, alongside the 13900K, 14700K, and 13700K that discover a 10% larger ceiling. The 5700X3D has functionally similar efficiency to the 12900K. Something on this checklist is a sidegrade for it apart from a 9800X3D.

We really feel the identical concerning the 12700K: It wouldn’t be price upgrading by this take a look at alone.

The 12600K and 12400 present extra age: Each are nonetheless nice for framerate and utterly playable, however at the very least a spot to the highest is established. Shifting to a 9800X3D would increase efficiency by 46% from the 12600K. An in-socket improve is perhaps about 22% by shifting to a 13700K. 

The 12100F is at 71 FPS AVG, which can be remarkably good for such a contemporary sport. The lows are hurting a little bit extra and generally get spiky, however total, we’re impressed by the way it has held on. Upgrading to a 13700K in-socket can be an enormous improve from the 12100F. It will be economical, and is perhaps price contemplating.

Ultimate Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail (1080p)

Ultimate Fantasy 14: Dawntrail is a 2024 entry for us.

The Alder Lake collection does OK right here from an absolute standpoint, however is way down the charts in a relative sense.

The 12900K and 12700K are between the Extremely 7 265K — which did horribly on this benchmark — and the 13600K. The Extremely 200 Sequence is understood to be regressive on this sport, with Intel additionally displaying the identical conduct. The unhappy factor is that you just’d be going backwards in case you didn’t take note of benchmarks and acquired a 265K. It wouldn’t be a loopy factor to do, both: It’s 3 so-called “generations” newer, but worse than a 12700K and 12900K, at the very least on this take a look at. The 12600K wouldn’t even see an enormous uplift to it both.

The 13700K and 14700K provide giant enhancements round 15-18% from Alder Lake, although you’d want a superb worth to be definitely worth the buy. The 14900K boosts to 310 FPS AVG, an uplift of 26% over the 12900K.

AMD’s 9800X3D units the ceiling at 373 FPS AVG, with all the opposite X3D elements proper alongside it. 

Starfield

Starfield is up subsequent. The 12900K hits 124 FPS AVG in our take a look at right here, which aligns it with the 13600K and 14600K CPUs, barely bested by the 5800X3D (watch our review). This goes to point out how good the 5800X3D was at launch, particularly given the value hole when each the 12900K and 5800X3D have been nonetheless frequently out there new.

The 9800X3D reveals room for a 36% enchancment in efficiency from the 12900K. The 285K with ultra-fast, costly reminiscence in Gear 2 improves by 23% on the 12900K, however the like-for-like comparability has it at 15% forward.

The 12700K is much like a 245K — you’d be downgrading total by shifting to it, other than effectivity. The 5700X3D (learn our review) can be close by. Upgrading the 12700K to a 14900K would get you about 13% extra efficiency and possibly isn’t price it total.

The 12600K stands to realize extra notably if upgraded in-socket to a 13700K, the place it’d achieve 26%. The 12400 may very well be price contemplating an in-socket soar to a 14600K (watch our review) or 13700K as nicely, if low cost sufficient.

The 12100F is someway nonetheless chugging alongside, sandwiched between AMD’s 3000-series elements and outperforming the R5 3600 and R7 2700 (watch our review).

Baldur’s Gate 3

Baldur’s Gate 3 used to have the X3D collection all within the 120s, however the 9800X3D broke that in a large method and hit 160 FPS AVG in our explicit take a look at case. We validated this in our 9800X3D review and defined why it’s taking place.

X3D dominates your complete prime quarter of this chart, adopted subsequent by the memory-boosted 285K. The prior era 14900K, 13900K, and 13700K are all inside error of one another. Don’t be confused by their ordering: Their efficiency is similar and inside run-to-run variance, which is because of encountering a reminiscence limitation. We will see this from the 285K (learn our review) inventory outcomes versus the DDR5-8600 outcomes.

The 12900K ran at 96 FPS AVG, or equal to the 265K. The 265K can be an costly downgrade when wanting on the complete image. The 12900K continues to be doing nicely sufficient right here that it in all probability doesn’t make sense to interchange besides perhaps with a 9800X3D.

The 12700K is about tied with a 245K. Just like the 12900K, there aren’t many worthy upgrades right here. A 13700K, 13900K (watch our review), or 14900K would give a few 15% uplift in our testing.

The 12600K and 12400 are at about 13600K ranges of efficiency. An in-socket improve to a 13700K on this chart would yield about 28% enchancment from these CPUs. The 12100F had hassle working this take a look at. We’d be capable to pressure it to work, however natively, the low efficiency was unhealthy sufficient that we contemplate it disqualifying in our take a look at.

F1 24 – 1080p

F1 24 is up subsequent.

The sport scales from 163 FPS AVG as much as 464 FPS AVG in our testing. The 12900K begins Alder Lake off down within the vary of the i5 CPUs, together with the 13600K and 14600K. Inspecting the information, we discovered that the 12900K had a extra variable common FPS than another CPUs, which we predict is because of its core association and Home windows 2H24: The vary was 310.5 FPS to 316 FPS AVG run-to-run, and upon inspection, it’s as a result of frametime pacing the place we generally get a better throughput with worse pacing and generally the other.

Total, it finally ends up round 13600K ranges. We noticed this final spherical as nicely, simply with an older Home windows model. The 14900K has a 23% benefit on the 12900K. The 9800X3D runs 49% forward of the 12900K.

The 12700KF is between the 5800X and 5600X, with the 245K simply forward. Intel’s 12600K lands at 270 FPS AVG, that means a 13700K improve would increase the common by about 34%.

The 12100F nonetheless does nice right here, all issues thought-about, and is simply forward of the 3700X.

Manufacturing Benchmarks

On to manufacturing benchmarks. For these assessments, we’re functions like Blender, Chromium code compile, and extra. Customers of the i7 and i9 CPUs usually tend to care concerning the efficiency right here. It’s additionally one among Intel’s sturdy factors of the previous generations.

Blender

Blender 3D rendering is up first for manufacturing.

The 12900K did nicely right here. It’s at 11.7 minutes required to finish a single-frame render of the GN intro animation, which has it about tied with the 12C/24T AMD R9 7900 non-X CPU. The 13700K does nicely with its larger frequency and equal core depend to the 12900K. The 14900K has giant beneficial properties right here from shifting to a 32-thread configuration, decreasing the time required by 27% to eight.5 minutes. That’s about the identical we see from the newer 265K, with the 285K doing nicely in one among its few sturdy assessments and decreasing time to 7.1 minutes. That has it at concerning the 9950X ranges of efficiency.

When you have been upgrading for gaming, the 9800X3D is the one possibility that may universally make sense towards the 12900K. However for manufacturing, sadly, the choices wouldn’t essentially transfer the needle on gaming efficiency in a significant method regardless of providing giant beneficial properties in workstation functions. You’d have to decide on.

The 12700KF has the identical core depend because the 13600K, so the 2 carry out about the identical. An improve to the 14900K in-socket can be an enormous 39% discount in render time required.

The 12600K is at about ranges of the 9600X. The 7800X3D (watch our review) outperforms it, however is best in gaming than manufacturing as in comparison with the non-3D elements just like the 7700X. The 9800X3D would at the very least enhance on the 12600K considerably whereas giving a giant increase to gaming.

As for the 12400 and 12100F, they’re close to the underside. The 12100F struggles with core depend, so the 2600 is a little bit quicker. The 12400 is roughly tied with the 3600.

Chromium

In Chromium code compile, the 12900K required 119 minutes to finish the compile. This has it nearer to the R9 7900 non-X (watch our review) than the rest. The 13700K improves with its larger frequency and equal core depend, with the 14900K giving a compile time discount of 26% much less time. The 285K can be a giant step up, although not considerably completely different from the 14900K.

Intel’s 12600K may see sufficient profit from an in-socket improve to a 14900K or 14700K (learn our review) that it’d be price contemplating, particularly for the gaming uplift, however provided that you’re making an attempt to save lots of on price by reusing a board and DDR5 RAM. 

The 12100F required 382 minutes, which continues to be about an hour extra time than the R7 2700 and about tied with the R5 2600.

7-Zip Compression

7-Zip compression testing makes the 12900K really feel a little bit older, outperforming the 14600K by simply 4.3% (and comparable for the 9800X3D). Within the very least, upgrading to a 9800X3D for gaming would at the very least internet equal efficiency in this sort of process.

The 14900K gives a 38% enhance in MIPS over the 12900K, perhaps making it price contemplating.

A brand new construct with a 9950X yields a few 46% uplift on this benchmark.

The 12700K is down close to the 7700X (watch our review) and 9700X, with the 14700K 48% larger in MIPS.

If in case you have a 12600K and wished to remain on Alder Lake, shifting to the 12900K improves efficiency by 48% right here, which is fairly large. 

The 12400 is extra much like a 5600X or 3600, so something can be an improve. The 12100F is on the backside, falling behind the R5 2600 in a predictable method with its thread deficiency on this take a look at.

7-Zip Decompression

7-Zip decompression reveals numerous scaling with cores, as indicated by the 9950X (learn our review) and 7950X. The 12900K nonetheless does OK right here and bests the 9800X3D on a technicality. The 265K gives an uplift that wouldn’t be price shopping for into, with the 285K pushing 30% larger in MIPS to 193K. The 7900X (watch our review) and 13900K provide extra significant uplifts although, with the 13900K and 14900K benefiting from larger thread depend and opening alternatives for upgrades.

The 12700KF is at 245K ranges of efficiency and about tied with a 5800X. The 12600K would see multiples of uplift with a number of the newer choices on the prime of this chart, once more together with the 14900K and 13900K. The 12100F isn’t similar to something right here, with the 12400 much like an R5 2600.

Adobe Premiere

Adobe testing is subsequent with the Puget Suite.

Again with the Alder Lake launch, we caught with Intel for our Premiere enhancing methods because it was the very best alternative at the moment.

Right this moment, the half nonetheless does fairly nicely in Premiere. Truly, we nonetheless use its direct descendants in our important enhancing machines, together with 13700Ks and numerous i9s. The 12900K scored 9948 factors in mixture, which has it between the 9800X3D and 7900X. The 14900K wouldn’t increase it a lot, solely 11% right here. The 285K scores a uncommon victory on this one, however once more wouldn’t be an enormous transfer in case you’re already on a 12900K. It would make extra sense for a brand new construct.

The 12700KF may very well be saved related a little bit longer with a bump to a 14700K and nonetheless be a prime scorer on the chart with trendy reminiscence. The identical goes for the 12600K and 12400.

The 12100F at the very least outdoes the 2600, however that’s it.

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is final.

This one is a massacre in comparison with a few years in the past, with Adobe updates and AMD structure modifications benefiting AMD.

The 12900K is within the decrease half of the chart and surrounded by i5 CPUs, with the 12600K close to AMD’s 5800X. The 12100F at the very least does comparatively higher right here and outranks the R5 3600.

Total, nearly something is an improve over Alder Lake on this take a look at.

Conclusion

Wrapping issues up, the twelfth Gen CPUs are nonetheless fairly good. 

Individuals generally ask us when they need to purchase or wait. When you’re on a twelfth Gen CPU, we’ll break it down like this: Ask your self in case you’re completely happy along with your PC proper now. When you’re not actively irritated by your laptop’s efficiency, then you may simply preserve utilizing it. If, nevertheless, the efficiency is unhealthy otherwise you simply wish to construct a PC as a result of it’s enjoyable, then there are alternatives right here. 

One of many choices is for an in-socket improve, to which there are caveats, which we’ll focus on beneath. An alternative choice is to construct a brand new system.  

For the in-socket possibility, the thirteenth and 14th collection can be potential drop-in upgrades. The decrease down the stack twelfth Gen CPU you have got, just like the 12400F (learn our review) or 12600K, the extra significant it might be to do that. 

For this to work, it’s essential ensure that your motherboard with a twelfth Gen CPU has the newer CPUs on its compatibility checklist. You need to be capable to discover this on the producer’s web site. You’ll additionally have to replace the BIOS. When you’re upgrading from one thing like a 12100F to a 13900K, you’d wish to be sure that your board has a ok VRM to deal with the extra warmth and energy. Likewise, it’s ideally an unlocked board for extra function assist.

We examined on DDR5 right here with like-for-like reminiscence between the platforms. You can have used DDR4 with twelfth Gen additionally. DDR4 may very well be a limiting issue, so if it’s a must to improve your RAM and motherboard, you could as nicely go together with a completely new construct from AMD as an alternative (if constructing a gaming PC), like a 9800X3D or comparable.

And at last, used CPUs is perhaps a little bit of a landmine scenario, sadly. Intel’s thirteenth and 14th Gen woes are detailed in different tales we’ve revealed, however one potential downside is that used CPUs may have instability points. You’ll wish to watch out when shopping for used. That is unlucky, as a result of CPUs have traditionally been fairly bullet-proof — particularly Intel’s — and have been an ideal used possibility to save lots of a fast $100 on an in-socket improve.

The value of recent thirteenth and 14th collection have dropped in worth, which makes one thing like a 13700K not a foul possibility, particularly in case you’re on a decrease tier twelfth collection half. 

Total, objectively talking, Intel’s twelfth CPUs (for probably the most half) are nonetheless nice gaming elements. They’re not on the prime of the charts anymore, however that’s OK.

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