The Intel Core i9-12900KS Review: The Best of Intel's Alder Lake, and the Hottest
by Gavin Bonshor on July 29, 2022 8:00 AM ESTCPU Benchmark Performance: Simulation And Rendering
Simulation and Science have a lot of overlap in the benchmarking world, however for this distinction we’re separating into two segments mostly based on the utility of the resulting data. The benchmarks that fall under Science have a distinct use for the data they output – in our Simulation section, these act more like synthetics but at some level are still trying to simulate a given environment.
We are using DDR5 memory at the following settings:
- DDR5-4800(B) CL40
Simulation
When it comes to simulation, the higher core clock speeds of the Core i9-12900KS didn't make any effect in our Factorio benchmark, which AMD's Ryzen 7 5800X3D with 3D V-Cache gives a more effective boost to performance. In our Dolphin test, the Core i9-12900KS was quicker by around 7-8%, and in our Dwarf Fortress benchmark, the Core i9-12900KS was better than the K, but not as good as the Ryzen 7 5800X3D.
Rendering
Focusing on rendering performance, the results between the Core i9-12900KS and Core i9-12900K are consistently close. In single-threaded benchmarks such as CineBench R23, we saw impressive performance in comparison to other chips on test, with a 7% jump in R23 single thread performance over the Core i9-12900K.
The multi-threaded performance though between the two Intel 12th Gen Core i9 chips wasn't much difference, but there's a clear advantage in single-thread performance when rendering. It's worth pointing out that rendering is typically a multi-threaded workload.
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Carls Car - Saturday, July 30, 2022 - link
It's not the CPU that's bent. It's the ILM that is the issue.charlesg - Friday, July 29, 2022 - link
Meh. I like my 1.5 year old 5950X thank you.Alistair - Friday, July 29, 2022 - link
The 12900KS has already been discontinued at our store, as nobody bought one. Terrible chip.Don't forget that Ryzen 7000 series is releasing in a few weeks only, and will beat it soundly, with half the power consumption.
But even if you were buying today I'd get the 5800X3D which is now on sale. $390 at our store. Much more popular.
Alistair - Saturday, July 30, 2022 - link
Emulation with the 12900KS is a dream though... that's the one high spot for me, as Ryzen is still not a great emulation chipI hope Ryzen 7000 fixes this in the Dolphin benchmark.
Oxford Guy - Saturday, July 30, 2022 - link
Is emulation worth the heat, power use, and cost?Alistair - Saturday, July 30, 2022 - link
Emulation is single core heavy, there isn't a heat or power use issue.Tunnah - Saturday, July 30, 2022 - link
I have a 3700X that runs switch emu at 60fps, so I don't see why more single core performance is any more necessary. You're not unlocking something previously undoable, you're just paying a shedload of money for a few more FPS.Silver5urfer - Saturday, July 30, 2022 - link
RPCS3, Xenia, PCSX2Ryzen cannot run games vs 10th+ gen processors in performance. You do not need to dump a ton of cash. A 10700K can perform much better in either of these and that is available for peanuts now. Z590 is also super cheap.
Tom Sunday - Wednesday, August 3, 2022 - link
I heard that if anyone upgrades to a regular 13900K that this chip will be faster then the current 12th Gen KS model?PeachNCream - Friday, July 29, 2022 - link
Burn the planet! 241W TDP not high enough for my video gaming habit to destroy our world in the name of keeping me amused and allow me to brag to my superficial circle of so-called friends on Discord and disinterested coworkers about how many more FPSes I get in Fortnite!