Intel Core i9-10980HK vs Intel Core i7-12700KF

Compare Intel 10th Generation Core i9 8 core CPU vs Intel 12th Generation Core i7 12 core processor, specs and benchmark score. Which is the better CPU for gaming?

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Benchmark Score

Overall Score

A combined score of all workloads

5216 points
11376 points
118% significantly better overall score

Gaming Score

The raw gaming performance with a fast GPU

6616 points
13117 points
98% significantly better gaming score

Multitasking Score

Performance in workloads using up to 8 cores

4770 points
10800 points
126% significantly better multitasking score

Heavy Workload Score

Performance in workloads using up to 16 cores

4660 points
10658 points
128% significantly better heavy workload score

Free CPU Benchmark

Want to compare your processor against the Core i9-10980HK and the Core i7-12700KF? Download our free and quick PC Performance Test.

Other Benchmarks

3DMark Physics score

3DMark Physics score

Physics simulation benchmark

9027 points
10063 points
11% slightly higher 3DMark Physics score
Blender score

Blender score

Cycles Render (Samples per minute)

122.88 points
304.09 points
147% significantly higher Blender score

Specifications

Cores

Number of physical processing units

8
12
49% significantly more cores

Threads

Number of logical processing units

16
20
25% slightly more threads

Clock Speed

Base frequency at which the chip operates

2.4 GHz
3.6 GHz
49% significantly higher clock speed

Turbo Speed

Higher frequency used for heavy workloads

5.3 GHz
6% slightly higher turbo speed
5 GHz

TDP

Thermal Design Power: Measure of heat generated by the CPU

45 W
322% significantly lower TDP
190 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

512 KiB
960 KiB
87% significantly more L1 cache

L3 Cache

General memory pool for all cores

16 MiB
25 MiB
56% significantly more L3 cache

Other details

Rank

Ranking in the hardwareDB database

324th of 1,089
62nd of 1,089

Family

The product line

10th Generation Core i9
12th Generation Core i7

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

Yes
Yes

Supports ECC memory

Does this CPU support error correcting memory

No
-

Core i9-10980HK vs Core i7-12700KF specs and performance

According to the hardwareDB Benchmark tool, the Core i7-12700KF is faster than the Core i9-10980HK. Furthermore, our gaming benchmark shows that it also outperforms the Core i9-10980HK in all gaming tests too.

With info from our database, we find that the Core i7-12700KF has significantly more cores with 12 cores whereas the Core i9-10980HK has 8 cores. It also has more threads than the Core i9-10980HK. These CPUs have different clock speeds. Indeed, the Core i7-12700KF has a significantly higher clock speed compared to the Core i9-10980HK. Despite this, the Core i9-10980HK has a slightly higher turbo speed. A Core i9-10980HK CPU outputs less heat than a Core i7-12700KF 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 i9-10980HK has more threads than cores. Each physical core is split into multiple threads.

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