In comparison to the newly-released i9-12900KS, the i9-12900K launched in October last year could turbo up to just 5.3 GHz. The Intel Core i9-12900KS will begin becoming available at global retailers on April 5th and is priced at $739 globally. The i9-12900K was priced at $589 at launch.
The unlocked i9-12900KS has 16 cores (eight performance cores and eight efficient cores) and 24 threads. It has Intel Smart Cache, PCIe Gen 5.0 and 4.0 support and a processor base power of 150W. The chipset will be compatible with the existing the company recommends updating the BIOS for the best experience. It supports speeds of up to 4800 MT/s in DDR5 and 3200 MT/s.
“Intel continues to push the envelope for desktop gaming with the new 12th Gen Intel Core i9-12900KS processor. Based on Intel’s 12th Gen performance hybrid architecture, this processor can hit 5.5 GHz on up to two cores for the first time, giving the most extreme gamers the ability to maximize performance,” said Marcus Kennedy, general manager of the gaming, creator and esports segment at Intel, in a press statement.
12th Generation Alder Lake processors are built on the new Intel 7 process and are the first ones to Intel’s new hybrid architecture which means they all require the latest Z690 motherboard.
All Alder Lake CPUs, like the i9-12900KS, use a combination of ‘Golden Cove’ high-performance cores and power-saving cores which will be based on the tasks performed by the processor.
The Core i9-12900KS has a lot in common with its predecessors’ hardware, including the same 16 cores (split up between eight Performance-cores and eight Efficient-cores) and 24 threads and 30MB of L3 cache memory. But Intel has boosted the base power from 125W to 150W and allowed the Core i9-12900KS to run unlocked, allowing it to hit up to 5.5GHz on up to two cores (compared to the maximum 5.2GHz speed on the regular i9-12900K).
For those keeping track at home, AMD also recently claimed the title of the “world’s fasted gaming CPU” earlier in March when it announced the availability for its new Ryzen 7 5800X3D processor. Like Intel, AMD is offering a souped-up version of its older model (in this case, the Ryzen 7 5800), although AMD’s differs by introducing a new, 3D V-Cache technology to deliver speeds that it claimed would be able to top the Core i9-12900K.
The Ryzen 7 5800X3D is significantly cheaper than the Core i9-12900KS, with a $449 price tag compared to Intel’s $739 sticker price. But Intel does AMD solidly on sheer processing frequency — the Ryzen 7 5800X3D only touts a maximum boosted clock speed of 4.5GHz, compared to the 5.5GHz maximum speed on Intel’s new chip.
How the Ryzen 7 5800X3D stacks up again the newly announced Core i9-12900KS, however, will have to wait until both chips arrive in April and can be put to the test head to head. AMD will also get another shot at the crown later this year, too, when its Ryzen 7000 desktop chips arrive in the second half of 2022.
The Core i9-12900KS will be available starting April 5th for a recommended consumer price of $739. That marks a significant increase over the recommended $589 price tag for the Core i9-12900K, which itself is almost impossible to find at Intel’s recommended price (most retailers charge at least $600, if not more, for the Core i9-12900K today). In other words, you should probably expect to have to shell out some extra cash beyond that $739 number for the Core i9-12900KS when it arrives next month.
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