Intel has just lifted the veil on its latest desktop processor, the Core i9-12900KS. With a maximum turbo frequency of 5.5 GHz, this SoC should establish itself as the fastest processor available on the market. It will be available for sale from April 5, 2022, at the recommended price of €699.
With the Core i9-12900K, Intel had hit hard by offering a processor with astonishing performance, as evidenced by numerous benchmarks in which Intel’s SoC buries the competition, Apple’s M1 chip in particular. And even with its Alder Lake processors less powerful, Intel has outperformed AMD on several benchmarkslike the Core i3-12100 which is well ahead of the red team’s Ryzen 9 5950X.
And obviously, Intel does not intend to stop there. Indeed, the manufacturer has just lifted the veil on the Intel Core i9-12900KS, a sort of twin under testosterone of the 12900K. The two chips share many similarities, namely 16 cores evenly distributed (8 P-Cores and 8 E-Cores), 24 Threads and 30 MB of L3 cache.
It is on the maximum turbo frequency that this new SoC will come to mark its difference. And for good reason, since the Core i9-12900KS displays a fréimpressive frequency of 5.5 GHz on two simultaneous cores. In other words, it promises even higher performance than the 12900K with its 5.2 GHz frequency.
Intel launches the Core i9-12900KS, the fastest SoC on the market
Unsurprisingly, energy consumption is increased, with a TDP that goes from 125W in the 12900K to 150W at the 12900KS. In the words of Intel, we are therefore in front of the “world’s fastest desktop processor”able to offer 15% higher performance compared to the AMD Ryzen 5900X, thanks in particular to the 30 MB Intel Smart Cache technology. Let’s take a look at the main features of this processor:
- 5.5 GHz maximum turbo frequency with Intel Thermal Velocity Boost
- Intel Adaptive Boost Technology to improve in-game performance by allowing high multi-core turbo frequencies when the situation calls for it
- 16 cores (eight P-Cores and eight E-Cores)
- 24 Threads
- TDP de 150W
- 30MB Intel Smart Cache and support for PCIe Gen 5.0 and 4.0
- Support up to DDR5 4800 MT/s and DDR4 3200 MT/s
- Compatible with existing Z690 motherboards
According to Intel, the Core i9-12900KS will be available from April 5, 2022 at partner resellers at the recommended price of €799. It will also be possible to find it in the PCs mounted by Intel’s distribution partners and OEMs. As a reminder, AMD recently launched the Ryzen 7 5800X3Dthe first ever mainstream gaming processor with 3D V-Cache.