Intel
Intel Core i9-12900KS
Intel's special-edition Alder Lake desktop flagship for LGA1700: 8 P-cores and 8 E-cores (24 threads), a 5.5 GHz peak via Thermal Velocity Boost and a 150 W base power, released on April 5, 2022 as a higher-clocked Core i9-12900K.
Pros
- 16 cores (8 P-cores, 8 E-cores) and 24 threads with a 5.5 GHz peak boost
- Unlocked multiplier for overclocking
- Supports both DDR5-4800 and DDR4-3200 memory, plus PCIe 5.0 and 4.0
- Integrated UHD Graphics 770 works without a discrete graphics card
Cons
- 150 W base power and 241 W maximum turbo power demand a high-end cooler
- No cooler included
- Launch price of $739 was far above the Core i9-12900K
- Requires an LGA1700 motherboard and is now discontinued
Very good
Computed from specs & benchmarks via our public methodology.
Full specifications
Everything we track for the Intel Core i9-12900KS
General
- Announced
- 2022
- Socket
- LGA1700
- Process
- 7 nm
- Base TDP
- 150 W
- Max turbo power
- 241 W
- Unlocked multiplier
- Yes
Cores & Clocks
- Cores
- 16
- Performance cores
- 8
- Efficiency cores
- 8
- Threads
- 24
- Base clock
- 3.4 GHz
- Boost clock
- 5.5 GHz
- L2 cache
- 14 MB
- L3 cache
- 30 MB
Integrated GPU
- iGPU
- Intel UHD Graphics 770
- iGPU clock
- 1,550 MHz
Memory
- Memory support
- DDR5-4800 / DDR4-3200
- Max memory
- 128 GB
- Memory channels
- 2
Platform
- PCIe version
- 5
- CPU PCIe lanes
- 20
Benchmarks
- PassMark
- 43,373Top 18%
- PassMark (single thread)
- 4,323Top 18%
Quick answers
Is the Intel Core i9-12900KS good in 2026?
The Intel Core i9-12900KS earns an Inno Score of 71.7/100 (“Very good”) based on its specs and benchmark results. Intel's special-edition Alder Lake desktop flagship for LGA1700: 8 P-cores and 8 E-cores (24 threads), a 5.5 GHz peak via Thermal Velocity Boost and a 150 W base power, released on April 5, 2022 as a higher-clocked Core i9-12900K.
What are the key specs of the Intel Core i9-12900KS?
Cores: 16 · Threads: 24 · Boost clock: 5.5 GHz · Socket: LGA1700
What are the closest alternatives to the Intel Core i9-12900KS?
Its closest rivals on InnoReviews are Intel Core Ultra 5 245K, AMD Ryzen 7 9700X, Intel Core i7-13700KF — open the comparison pages for a spec-by-spec breakdown.
