Intel Core i9-10900 vs Intel Core i9-12900K

Compare Intel 10th Generation Core i9 10 core CPU vs Intel 12th Generation Core i9 16 core processor, specs and benchmark score. Which is the better CPU for gaming?

CPU Comparison

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Price

The cheapest price from our partner retailers

$ 390.77
$ 289.00
$ 101.77 significantly less expensive

Benchmark Score

Overall Score

A combined score of all workloads

7582 points
13331 points
75% significantly better overall score

Gaming Score

The raw gaming performance with a fast GPU

8692 points
14234 points
63% significantly better gaming score

Multitasking Score

Performance in workloads using up to 8 cores

7207 points
13035 points
80% significantly better multitasking score

Heavy Workload Score

Performance in workloads using up to 16 cores

7099 points
12983 points
82% significantly better heavy workload score

Free CPU Benchmark

Want to compare your processor against the Core i9-10900 and the Core i9-12900K? Download our free and quick PC Performance Test.

Other Benchmarks

3DMark Physics score

3DMark Physics score

Physics simulation benchmark

12127 points
3% slightly higher 3DMark Physics score
11701 points
Blender score

Blender score

Cycles Render (Samples per minute)

164.66 points
364.47 points
121% significantly higher Blender score
Geekbench 5 (multi) score

Geekbench 5 (multi) score

Multi threaded benchmark

7743 points
15144 points
95% significantly higher Geekbench 5 (multi) score
Geekbench 5 (single) score

Geekbench 5 (single) score

Single threaded benchmark

1567 points
2550 points
62% significantly higher Geekbench 5 (single) score
Geekbench 6 (multi) score

Geekbench 6 (multi) score

Multi threaded benchmark

8309 points
15365 points
84% significantly higher Geekbench 6 (multi) score
Geekbench 6 (single) score

Geekbench 6 (single) score

Single threaded benchmark

1714 points
2616 points
52% significantly higher Geekbench 6 (single) score

Specifications

Cores

Number of physical processing units

10
16
60% significantly more cores

Threads

Number of logical processing units

20
24
20% slightly more threads

Clock Speed

Base frequency at which the chip operates

2.8 GHz
3.2 GHz
14% slightly higher clock speed

Turbo Speed

Higher frequency used for heavy workloads

5.2 GHz
Identical
5.2 GHz

TDP

Thermal Design Power: Measure of heat generated by the CPU

65 W
270% significantly lower TDP
241 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
1280 KiB
100% significantly more L1 cache

L3 Cache

General memory pool for all cores

20 MiB
30 MiB
49% significantly more L3 cache

Other details

Rank

Ranking in the hardwareDB database

164th of 1,089
39th of 1,089

Family

The product line

10th Generation Core i9
12th Generation Core i9

Release date

The official date of release of this chip

2020 May
2021 November

Memory Type

The type of memory used by this chip

DDR4-2933
DDR5-4800

Is Unlocked

Can this CPU can be overclocked

No
Yes

Supports ECC memory

Does this CPU support error correcting memory

No
Yes

Core i9-10900 vs Core i9-12900K specs and performance

According to the hardwareDB Benchmark tool, the Core i9-12900K is faster than the Core i9-10900. Furthermore, our gaming benchmark shows that it also outperforms the Core i9-10900 in all gaming tests too.

With info from our database, we find that the Core i9-12900K has significantly more cores with 16 cores whereas the Core i9-10900 has 10 cores. It also has more threads than the Core i9-10900. These CPUs have different clock speeds. Indeed, the Core i9-12900K has a slightly higher clock speed compared to the Core i9-10900. In addition, both chips have the same turbo speed. A Core i9-10900 CPU outputs less heat than a Core i9-12900K CPU because of its significantly lower TDP. 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.

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