After the huge success of Intel’s Core i9-12900K, the company followed up with a special edition of its flagship chip: the Core i9-12900KS. Clocked at 300 MHz above base, it’s a halo product that will take full advantage of Intel’s 12th generation Alder Lake architecture.
Intel has skipped these special-edition CPUs for several generations, and the Core i9-12900KS isn’t much of a return to form. It’s a problematic CPU with high thermal and power requirements, and in many cases offers no advantage over the base model.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
I’ll cover everything from specs to benchmarks here, but be sure to read our Intel Core i9-12900KS review and Intel Core i9-12900K review for a full breakdown and why we rank this latest chip among the best CPUs. that you can buy
Glasses
| Core i9-12900KS | Core i9-12900K | |
| cores | 16 (8 P cores, 8 E cores) | 16 (8 P cores, 8 E cores) |
| neither | 24 | 24 |
| fundamental frequency | 3.4 GHz (P cores), 2.5 GHz (E cores) | 3.2 GHz (P cores), 2.4 GHz (E cores) |
| Max Turbo Frequency (single core) | 5.5GHz | 5.2GHz |
| Max Turbo Frequency (All Cores) | 5.2 GHz (P cores), 4 GHz (E cores) | 5.1 GHz (P cores), 3.9 GHz (E cores) |
| Production process | Intel 7 | Intel 7 |
| integrated graphics | Intel UHD Graphics 770 | Intel UHD Graphics 770 |
| memory support | Up to DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200 | Up to DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200 |
| Intel Smart Cache | 30MB | 30MB |
| basic power | 150W | 125W |
| max turbo power | 241W | 241W |
Prices and availability
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
Intel released the Core i9-12900K in November 2021 at a retail price of around $589. The Core i9-12900KS arrived in April 2022 at a significantly higher price of $739. These may be Intel’s quoted prices, but there’s a big difference in what you’ll actually pay.
The Core i9-12900K costs between $600 and $620, while the Core i9-12900KS retails for close to $800. There are a range of prices, but you can expect to pay $150-$200 more for the KS model.
It’s important to remember that the Core i9-12900KS is newer, so it still sells for around $800. However, I expect it to be much cheaper in the coming months. At the time of writing, I found one in stock for $780 with a $30 discount, and that’s less than two weeks after the CPU launched.
Performance
I’ve put the Core i9-12900KS and Core i9-12900K through a series of benchmarks to see how well they hold up. All our tests were done on an outdoor test bench with an RTX 3090 graphics card and 32GB of DDR5-6400 memory. I’ve only picked out the biggest benchmarks here, so be sure to read our full reviews (linked above) for all the results.
Starting with the two CPU-focused benchmarks, you can see just how small the difference is between the Core i9-12900KS and the Core i9-12900K. In Cinebench R23 and Geekbench 5, the single-core results are so close that they barely register on the graph. The Core i9-12900KS enjoys a slight 5% increase in Cinebench, which you can easily make up for with overclocking.
The differences in our multicore results are even closer, but favor the cheaper Core i9-12900K. In Cinebench, the cheapest part managed to lead by almost 4%. However, raw CPU performance is pretty much the same between the two chips.
Actual applications show a clearer difference. In creative applications like Adobe Premiere Pro and Photoshop, the Core i9-12900KS is slightly faster than its counterpart. Enjoy a nearly 5% boost in Premiere Pro, while maintaining a whopping 12% advantage in Photoshop. These are impressive gains, but it’s important to remember that they don’t apply to all apps.
Games are the best example of this. My tests revealed only a 2.2% difference between the Core i9-12900K and the Core i9-12900KS when gaming at 1080p. That difference actually goes in favor of the Core i9-12900K, with a higher frame rate. red dead redemption 2 and assassin’s creed valhalla, while barely lagging behind in Force horizon 4.
The only gaming benchmark the Core i9-12900KS clearly won was 3D Mark Time Spy, but even then, it was only a paltry 1% faster. If you’re concerned with gaming, something like AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800X3D is your best bet right now.
Heat and power removal.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
Both the Core i9-12900K and Core i9-12900KS have high thermal and power limits. The faster KS model is simply hotter and uses more power thanks to the 300 MHz boost.
During the stress test, the Core i9-12900K reached a maximum of 84 degrees Celsius, while the Core i9-12900KS went as high as 101 degrees. In fact, I had the Core i9-12900KS under a 360mm integral liquid cooler (I used 240mm for the Core i9-12900K), illustrating just how hotter this special edition chip is.
The Core i9-12900KS is hotter and consumes more power. Both chips are rated at 241 W, but the Core i9-12900KS maxed out at 274 W during the stress test, and with Intel’s power limits enabled. The Core i9-12900K, on the other hand, consumed 210W of power. Pushing the limits, the Core i9-12900K bumped up to close to 300W, largely matching the Special Edition in terms of power and heat.
The Core i9-12900KS is basically an overclocked Core i9-12900K, and this shows with higher power consumption and thermals. This also means that the Core i9-12900KS has less headroom to overclock unless you go for elaborate custom liquid cooling or extreme LN2 overclocking.
save your money
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
The Core i9-12900KS isn’t worth the extra $200. While Intel’s 12th-gen Alder Lake architecture was a revolution for Team Blue, the Core i9-12900KS is its worst example. It offers top-tier performance, but those margins are slim and come with significant heat and power issues.
On the other hand, the Core i9-12900K is an outstanding processor. It’s cheaper than the best AMD has to offer right now, while offering much better performance. And with a bit of CPU overclocking, you can even put the Core i9-12900KS back in its place.
editor’s recommendations
Categories: GAMING
Source: tiengtrunghaato.edu.vn