Intel Core i9-9980HK vs Intel Core i7-12700

Compare Intel 9th 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?

CPU Comparison

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Benchmark Score

Overall Score

A combined score of all workloads

3558 points
10390 points
192% significantly better overall score

Gaming Score

The raw gaming performance with a fast GPU

4626 points
12574 points
171% significantly better gaming score

Multitasking Score

Performance in workloads using up to 8 cores

3403 points
9694 points
184% significantly better multitasking score

Heavy Workload Score

Performance in workloads using up to 16 cores

3616 points
9533 points
163% significantly better heavy workload score

Free CPU Benchmark

Want to compare your processor against the Core i9-9980HK and the Core i7-12700? Download our free and quick PC Performance Test.

Other Benchmarks

3DMark Physics score

3DMark Physics score

Physics simulation benchmark

8280 points
9515 points
14% slightly higher 3DMark Physics score
Blender score

Blender score

Cycles Render (Samples per minute)

132.90 points
259.30 points
95% significantly higher Blender score
Geekbench 5 (multi) score

Geekbench 5 (multi) score

Multi threaded benchmark

6312 points
9492 points
50% significantly higher Geekbench 5 (multi) score
Geekbench 5 (single) score

Geekbench 5 (single) score

Single threaded benchmark

1386 points
1788 points
29% slightly higher Geekbench 5 (single) score
Geekbench 6 (multi) score

Geekbench 6 (multi) score

Multi threaded benchmark

6310 points
10978 points
73% significantly higher Geekbench 6 (multi) score
Geekbench 6 (single) score

Geekbench 6 (single) score

Single threaded benchmark

1411 points
2375 points
68% significantly higher Geekbench 6 (single) 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
3.3 GHz
37% slightly higher clock speed

Turbo Speed

Higher frequency used for heavy workloads

5 GHz
2% slightly higher turbo speed
4.9 GHz

TDP

Thermal Design Power: Measure of heat generated by the CPU

45 W
44% significantly lower TDP
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

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

480th of 1,089
78th of 1,089

Family

The product line

9th Generation Core i9
12th Generation Core i7

Release date

The official date of release of this chip

2019 May
2022 February

Memory Type

The type of memory used by this chip

DDR4-2666
DDR5-4800

Is Unlocked

Can this CPU can be overclocked

Yes
No

Supports ECC memory

Does this CPU support error correcting memory

No
Yes

Core i9-9980HK vs Core i7-12700 comparison

According to the hardwareDB Benchmark tool, the Core i7-12700 is faster than the Core i9-9980HK. Furthermore, our gaming benchmark shows that it also outperforms the Core i9-9980HK in all gaming tests too.

When comparing core counts for these CPUs, we notice that the Core i7-12700 has significantly more cores with 12 cores compared to the Core i9-9980HK that has 8 cores. It also has more threads than the Core i9-9980HK. Our comparison shows that the Core i7-12700 has a slightly higher clock speed compared to the Core i9-9980HK. Despite this, the Core i9-9980HK has a slightly higher turbo speed. A Core i9-9980HK CPU outputs less heat than a Core i7-12700 CPU because of its significantly lower TDP. This measures the amount of heat they output and can be used to estimate power consumption.

The more cores a CPU has, the better the overall performance will be in parallel workloads such as multitasking. Many CPUs have more threads than cores, this means that each physical core is split into multiple logical cores, making them more efficient. Indeed, the Core i9-9980HK has more threads than cores. Each physical core is split into multiple threads.

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