Intel Core i9-10900 vs Intel Core i7-12700

Compare Intel 10th Generation Core i9 10 core CPU vs Intel 12th Generation Core i7 12 core processor, specs and benchmark score. Which is the better CPU for gaming?

CPU Comparison

Quickly search and compare processors

Price

The cheapest price from our partner retailers

$ 399.61
$ 0.86 slightly less expensive
$ 400.47

Benchmark Score

Overall Score

A combined score of all workloads

79 %
96 %
21% slightly better overall score

Gaming Score

The raw gaming performance with a fast GPU

88 %
119 %
35% slightly better gaming score

Multitasking Score

Performance in workloads using up to 8 cores

76 %
88 %
15% slightly better multitasking score

Heavy Workload Score

Performance in workloads using up to 16 cores

75 %
87 %
16% slightly better heavy workload score

Free CPU Benchmark

Want to compare your processor against the Core i9-10900 and the Core i7-12700? Download our free and quick PC Performance Test.

Other Benchmarks

3DMark Physics score

3DMark Physics score

Physics simulation benchmark

12075
15033
24% slightly higher 3DMark Physics score
Blender score

Blender score

Cycles Render (Samples per minute)

212.99
303.10
42% slightly higher Blender score
Geekbench 5 (multi) score

Geekbench 5 (multi) score

Multi threaded benchmark

7743
9492
22% slightly higher Geekbench 5 (multi) score
Geekbench 5 (single) score

Geekbench 5 (single) score

Single threaded benchmark

1567
1788
14% slightly higher Geekbench 5 (single) score

Specifications

Cores

Number of physical processing units

10
12
20% slightly more cores

Threads

Number of logical processing units

20
Identical
20

Clock Speed

Base frequency at which the chip operates

2.8 GHz
3.3 GHz
17% slightly higher clock speed

Turbo Speed

Higher frequency used for heavy workloads

5.2 GHz
6% slightly higher turbo speed
4.9 GHz

TDP

Thermal Design Power: Measure of heat generated by the CPU

65 W
Identical
65 W

PCIe Lanes

Number of physical connections between the CPU and expansion slots

16
20
25% slightly more pcie lanes

Memory Channels

Lanes for simultaneous memory access

2
Identical
2

Supported Memory

Maximum amount of RAM supported by this CPU

128 GiB
Identical
128 GiB

L1 Cache

Smallest embedded memory, but the fastest

640 KiB
960 KiB
49% significantly more L1 cache

L3 Cache

General memory pool for all cores

20 MiB
25 MiB
25% slightly more L3 cache

Other details

Rank

Ranking in the hardwareDB database

50th of 1,240
25th of 1,240

Family

The product line

10th Generation Core i9
12th Generation Core i7

Release date

The official date of release of this chip

May 2020
February 2022

Memory Type

The type of memory used by this chip

DDR4-2933
DDR5-4800

Is Unlocked

Can this CPU can be overclocked

No
No

Supports ECC memory

Does this CPU support error correcting memory

No
Yes

Core i9-10900 vs Core i7-12700 comparison

Our benchmark analysis concludes that the Core i7-12700 performs better than the Core i9-10900. Furthermore, our gaming benchmark shows that it also outperforms the Core i9-10900 in all gaming tests too.

When comparing core counts for these CPUs, we notice that the Core i7-12700 has slightly more cores with 12 cores compared to the Core i9-10900 that has 10 cores. But they both have the same number of threads. These CPUs have different clock speeds. Indeed, the Core i7-12700 has a slightly higher clock speed compared to the Core i9-10900. Despite this, the Core i9-10900 has a slightly higher turbo speed. Both these chips have an identical TDP (Thermal Design Power). This measures the amount of heat they output and can be used to estimate power consumption.

Most CPUs have more threads than cores. This technology, colloquially called hyperthreading, improves performance by splitting a core into multiple virtual ones. This provides more efficient utilisation of a core. Indeed, the Core i9-10900 has more threads than cores. Each physical core is split into multiple threads.

Comments

No comments yet! Be the first to leave a comment using the form below.

Keep comments on topic and be polite. Comments are subject to moderation before they are published.

Popular CPU Comparisons