Intel Core i9-12900K processor LGA 1700, 16 cores, up to 5.2 GHz, BOX BX8071512900K

The hybrid architecture of the 12th-gen Core i9 has 8 performance cores (P-cores) with Hyper-Threading and 8 efficient cores (E-cores), for 24 threads in total. Intel Thread Director sends demanding tasks such as a game or a render to the P-cores and background jobs to the E-cores. The result is that the application in the foreground gets full power, and an antivirus scan or stream encoding in the background does not get in its way.

The P-cores have a 3.2 GHz base clock and 5.1 GHz turbo, and Turbo Boost Max 3.0 raises the best cores to 5.2 GHz. The E-cores run at 2.4–3.9 GHz. In games and applications that depend on single-core speed, that translates into a quick response. The 30 MB Intel Smart Cache is a last-level cache shared by all cores, with a further 14 MB of L2 cache on top.

The memory controller supports both DDR4 and DDR5 in dual-channel mode, up to 128 GB with bandwidth of up to 76.8 GB/s. Which memory you can use depends on the motherboard. The processor provides 20 PCIe lanes at 5.0 and 4.0, configured as 1 × 16 + 1 × 4 or 2 × 8 + 1 × 4, so the graphics card gets a PCIe 5.0 slot and an NVMe SSD gets lanes of its own. ECC memory is supported as well.

The processor's base power is 125 W, but during short turbo loads consumption can rise to 241 W. Since the BOX version does not include a cooler, a large tower cooler or AIO for the LGA 1700 socket that can cope with peak loads is the sensible choice. Intel's recommended thermal solution class is PCG 2020A, and the maximum permitted die temperature is 100 °C.

The integrated Intel UHD Graphics 770 drives up to four displays: up to 4096 × 2160 over HDMI 2.1 and up to 7680 × 4320 at 60 Hz over DisplayPort. It supports DirectX 12, OpenGL 4.5 and OpenCL 3.0. Intel Quick Sync Video accelerates video encoding and decoding in hardware, which is useful for streaming and video editing even when the PC has a discrete graphics card.

Gamers who want high single-core clocks and headroom for background apps; content creators who use multi-threaded software and Quick Sync for video encoding; and builders with an LGA 1700 motherboard or who want the choice between DDR4 and DDR5. For businesses, vPro platform eligibility and security features such as Total Memory Encryption and Boot Guard matter too.