Since the Core i9-9900KS, Intel has not released products with the "KS" suffix. There was news that Intel will release the Core i9-10900KS, but in the end it disappeared, and then the 11th generation Core series desktop processor due to the huge heat of the 14nm process, the original Core i9 model has reached its limit, there will be no more space. And in the 12th generation Core series, we finally saw the processor named after the "KS" suffix again - the Core i9-12900KS, which is Intel's second generation of Core products, the "KS" suffix products.
The Core i9-12900KS was officially launched at 9 p.m. on April 5, and is designed for high-end enthusiasts and overclocking enthusiasts. It is equipped with 8 Performance Cores based on the Golden Cove architecture and 8 Efficient Cores based on the Gracemont architecture, with 16 cores and 24 threads, up to 30MB of L3 cache and 14MB of L2 cache, the specifications are roughly the same as the Core i9-12900K, but the frequency is increased, while its PL1 power consumption is from Core The i9-12900K's 125W increased to 150W, although the PL2 remained at 241W.
Core i9-12900KS Processor Awards
Compared to the Core i9-12900K, the packaging of the Core i9-12900KS has slight changes, the color is darker, and there is an additional "special edition" word. As for the other aspects, it is exactly the same, inside is a golden yellow disc-shaped inner packaging box, this thing should be taken from the production processor wafer, rotated to open and you can see the Core i9-12900KS processor lying inside. Like all Core processors that unlock overclocking, the Core i9-12900KS does not come with a heatsink, requiring players to prepare their own heatsinks.
Different from the Core i9-12900K
To say that the Core i9-12900KS and the Core i9-12900K difference, the most obvious is the frequency, Core i9-12900KS after special selection and optimization, to further improve the core frequency, its performance core (Performance Core) turbo frequency is higher than the Core i9-12900K, the maximum single core turbo frequency is 5.5 GHz, compared to the Core i9-12900K is 300MHz higher, the full core Turbo frequency is 5.2 GHz, It is 100MHz higher than the Core i9-12900K.
Of course, the full core turbo here refers to the maximum frequency that can be achieved without manual overclocking in the case of power supply and heat dissipation meeting the requirements, but for the Core i9-12900KS and Core i9-12900K such as the flagship processor that has both multi-core and high frequency at the same time, the actual thermal pressure is still very large, and the specific full core turbo frequency can still depend on the specific platform. However, the Core i9-12900KS is specially selected, the voltage will be lower at the same frequency, so for the same set of platforms, the full core Turbo frequency that can be achieved after installing the Core i9-12900KS is definitely higher than the Core i9-12900K, and the extra money can still be returned.
In addition to the maximum frequency of the performance core, in fact, the Core i9-12900KS in terms of the Efficient Core is also higher than the Core i9-12900K, and the Core i9-12900KS has a full core turbo frequency of 4.0 GHz, which is 100MHz higher than the Core i9-12900K. As for the basic frequency of the two cores, the Core i9-12900KS is also marked higher, this frequency is the guaranteed frequency that the processor can achieve under any harsh load, and the player's actual application will generally far exceed this frequency, and now it is generally not particularly concerned, and there is no more to say.
Behind the higher frequency of the Core i9-12900KS is intel's two unique technologies, Adaptive Boost Technology and Thermo Velocity Boost, which are missing on the Core i9-12900K.
Intel previously brought Thermal Velocity Boost, which was originally an up-and-down technology on the mobile platform, to the desktop for the first time on the i9 series processors of the 10th generation Core, and when the previous generation of i9-11900K/KF was released, it launched Adaptive Boost Technology for the first time, and it was the exclusive technology of i9-11900K/KF, which also marked its flagship positioning.
To the Core i9-12900K, these two technologies are missing, in fact, it is also obvious that the Core i9-12900K is not the flagship of the twelfth generation of Core, which leaves room for the existence of the Core i9-12900KS, after seeing the Core i9-12900KS finally complete these two technologies, it can be affirmed that the Core i9-12900KS is the true flagship product of the twelfth generation of Core.
Intel Adaptive Boost Technology
Adaptive Boost Technology is a new technology added to the previous generation Rocket Lake, in the previous generation only Core i9-11900K/KF support, Core i9-12900KS is the only processor in this generation to support this technology, the technology allows the processor to maintain within the specification of the current and temperature limits to further increase the turbo frequency of the processor, frequency increase and duration depending on the workload, Processor power and thermal solutions for processors.
Intel doesn't give details about the impact of Adaptive Boost Technology on core i9-12900KS frequencies, but we can refer to the previous situation on the Core i9-11900K.
In the case of the previous generation, Adaptive Boost Technology has no effect on the single/dual core turbo frequency of Core i9-11900K, the maximum is 5.3GHz when TVB is effective, but there will be a significant increase in the turbo frequency above 3 cores, when the Adaptive Boost Technology is not turned on, the Core i9-11900K triple/quad core turbo frequency can reach up to 5.1GHz, 5/ The 6-core turbo is 4.9GHz and the 7/8-core turbo is 4.8GHz, and this is all the case with Thermo Velocity Boost. After turning on Adaptive Boost Technology, the Core i9-11900K/KF full core maximum turbo frequency can be increased to 5.1GHz, and the performance will be much stronger than the default state after turning on.
It can be inferred that the full core turbo frequency of the Core i9-12900KS performance core of 5.2 GHz should also be the result of Adaptive Boost Technology support. And, now open Adaptive Boost Technology is very simple, when the Core i9-11900K was first launched, this is a new technology, the motherboard is closed by default, the player needs to open it manually, but now the design of the motherboard manufacturers has been very mature, this option of this motherboard in this test is automatic by default, that is to say, the CPU that supports Adaptive Boost Technology will be automatically enabled when installed.
Thermal Velocity Boost
Intel Thermal Velocity Boost (TVB) is a technology that unlocks higher frequencies on top of traditional Turbo based on workload and thermal conditions, and the processor automatically increases the frequency of the processor core when appropriate. Intel first introduced Thermo Velocity Boost on the 8th generation mobile core processor, and then brought the technology to the desktop for the first time on the 10th generation Core, and this technology, like Adaptive Boost Technology, is only available on high-end flagship models, and this technology is the reason why the Core i9-12900KS achieves the highest turbo frequency of 5.5 GHz.
Thermal Velocity Boost literally translates to high-speed turbo frequency based on temperature. As the name suggests, the first condition to be met to trigger this Turbo technology is the current temperature of the processor, and the second condition to be met is the "budget" of power consumption required by the processor and the Turbo Frequency.
When two conditions are met at the same time, Thermal Velocity Boost will be triggered, it can make the frequency of the processor instantaneously higher than the ordinary maximum turbo frequency, but because it has temperature limitations, and more stringent, so it is generally only useful for a small number of cores when there is a load, because only in this case the processor temperature is cool enough to meet its harsh conditions, for the Core i9-12900KS, this temperature is 50 degrees Celsius.
Test platform with description
For many gamers, it is more likely to see the performance comparison between the Core i9-12900KS and the Ryzen 7 5800X3D in terms of gameplay. The latter is the first consumer-grade processor to feature 3D Vertical Cache (3D V-Cache) technology, and AMD says the addition of 64MB of 7nm SRAM cache can improve the performance of the Ryzen 7 5800X3D in gaming.
So in addition to adding Intel Core i9-12900K to compare, this test also added Ryzen 7 5800X3D, but due to the gap in threads, the alignment of Ryzen 7 5800X3D is too far from the Core i9-12900KS, so the comparison with Ryzen 7 5800X3D mainly focuses on the test comparison of the game part, of course, the results of other tests are still released together to show you the gap.
The AM4 platform uses the MSI MEG X570 Godlike motherboard, while the LGA 1700 platform uses the ASUS ROG MAXIMUS Z690 EXTREME motherboard, and in order to avoid bottlenecks on the graphics card, the Inchi GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Xingyao OC graphics card is used.
In terms of memory, the AM4 platform uses two 16GB Royal Halberd DDR4-3600, the timing is CL16-19-19-39, the LGA 1700 platform is two 16GB Zhiqi RIPJAWS S5 DDR5-5200, and the timing is CL40-40-40-76. The temperature and power limits are set by the motherboard, which is fully removed by default.
Benchmark performance tests
Compared to the Core i9-12900K, the Core i9-12900KS is ahead of the curve except for the integer items calculated by the processor. In terms of processor computing performance, the overall lead of the Core i9-12900KS has gradually increased with the increase in accuracy. In terms of processor multimedia performance, the lead is similar in various cases.
Super Pi test to examine the processor's single-core performance, the shorter the time, the better, here the Core i9-12900KS performed the best, ahead of the Core i9-12900K amplitude is still very obvious, after all, 5.5 GHz frequency.
7-zip uses the latest version of the built-in Benchmark test, which is relatively close to the actual use of the test, and the actual use of the test is the performance of the processor's largest thread, the results show that the Core i9-12900KS compared to the Core i9-12900K is not obviously ahead of the compression, only 1.5%, but in the decompression lead reached 6.3%, which is a more obvious amplitude.
The 3DMark CPU Profile test can test the performance of the CPU under different threads, and it can be seen that the single-threaded test here is a 5.9% increase in the Core i9-12900K compared to the Core i9-12900K, and the biggest gap is that at the time of the largest thread, the Core i9-12900KS is up to 9% higher than the Core i9-12900K.
Creative ability test
x264 and x265 are two old open source encoders, quite widely used, this time we used a new version of Benchmark, which can better support AVX 2 instruction set, x264 testing, Core i9-12900KS compared to Core i9-12900K 4.6% faster. In terms of x265 testing, the Core i9-12900KS is 9% faster than the Core i9-12900K.
Corona Renderers is a new high-performance photorealistic renderer that can be used in software such as 3DS Max and Maxon Cinema 4D, which is highly representative, and its standalone Benchmark is used here. In this test, the Core i9-12900KS is 4.4% faster than the Core i9-12900K.
V-Ray is a rendering software developed by professional renderer development company CHAOSGROUP, is the industry's most popular rendering engine, its kernel can be applied in 3Dmax, Maya, Sketchup, Rhino and other software, testing using the official Benchmark. V-Ray tested multi-threaded performance, with the Core i9-12900KS 5.8% faster than the Core i9-12900K.
POV-Ray is a rendering software written by the Persistence OF Vision Development Development Development Development Team that uses ray tracing to draw three-dimensional images, whose main role is to use the processor to generate image frames with ray tracing effects, and the software has a built-in Benchmark program. The single-threaded rendering here is 3.9% faster than the Core i9-12900K and 6% faster than the Core i9-12900K.
Blender is an open source multi-platform lightweight all-round 3D animation software, providing a series of animated short film production solutions from modeling, sculpting, binding, particles, dynamics, animation, interaction, materials, rendering, audio processing, video editing and motion tracking, post-synthesis, etc., testing using the official latest Benchmark tool, this software inside several projects Core i9-12900KS are about 4% faster than Core i9-12900K.
CINEBench uses the engine of MAXON's Cinema 4D special effects software for the film and television industry, which is widely used by studios and production companies around the world for 3D content creation, while CINEBench is often used to test the performance of subjects in three-dimensional designs, where the Core i9-12900KS is more single-threaded than the Core i9-12900K, reaching 5.8% and 5.6%, respectively, while multi-threading is 3.7%.
Game performance testing
In order to reflect the real performance of the CPU, the game performance test is all carried out at 1080p resolution, minimizing the bottleneck on the graphics card, but the picture quality is still the highest gear to open the game preset, in addition, the default is not full-screen manual change to full screen, the default open vertical synchronization manually turn off vertical synchronization, in addition to the above other options are default settings, and all use the game's own Benchmark output results as follows:
There are many games tested this time, in addition to stand-alone masterpieces and online games, in recent years, AMD's processor has performed very well in online games, this time let's take a look at the Intel Chicken Blood Enhanced Version of Core i9-12900K (that is, Core i9-12900KS) met AMD's special design for game optimization Ryzen 7 5800X3D can play what kind of scene.
Judging from the total test results of 14 games, it can basically be divided into two situations, the online game is still stronger than the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, and the stand-alone game is still stronger than the Core i9-12900KS. Compared with the Core i9-12900K, it is actually more difficult to reflect the obvious gap, the biggest gap in the single-player game is in the "Galaxy Breaker", the Core i9-12900KS frame rate is 3.7%, and the new generation of stand-alone masterpieces for the processor requirements of the "Watchdog: Legion" gap is 2.3%. Among all the games, the Core i9-12900KS compared to the Core i9-12900K is the online game "War Thunder", the Core i9-12900KS compared to the Core i9-12900K frame rate is nearly 10%.
Temperature and power consumption testing
In terms of power testing, we use a dedicated device to directly measure the power supply of the CPU power supply interface on the motherboard, but also give the CPU Package power consumption data recorded by the software, although the main source of cpu power supply is the CPU power supply interface, but we also found that a small part is from the 24pin interface.
In addition, it must be noted that at present, we are measuring the input power of the CPU power supply interface on the motherboard, not the direct CPU power supply power, so in theory it should be slightly higher than the actual power supply power of the CPU, and it will change more because of the different motherboards, but this test data still has a high reference value, because the power supply is actually powering the motherboard rather than directly supplying power to the CPU, so for the choice of power supply, It is more practical to directly test the power supply of the CPU power supply interface.
Both the motherboard's temperature protection and power settings are maintained at default values.
From the CPU Package power consumption point of view, the Core i9-12900KS at full load than the Core i9-12900K is much higher, the amplitude of the excess is significantly higher than the amplitude of performance improvement, of course, this is normal, with the frequency of energy consumption ratio is definitely to reduce. The Core i9-12900KS consumes 246W of power, which is no small challenge for the heat sink.
The standby test is not complete desktop standby, but is monitored by the side with HWinfo open, with a very mild load, but this is actually closer to the standby state of daily use. The standby power consumption of the Core i9-12900KS is much lower than that of the Core i9-12900K, which is brought about by the special physique.
In terms of temperature testing, the Standby Temperature of core i9-12900KS is lower, while the Core i9-12900KS and Core i9-12900K are the same when fully loaded, both to 90 degrees Celsius.
Summary of the full text
Core i9-12900KS for the first time on two cores to reach a frequency of 5.5 GHz, while P-Core's full core turbo frequency can reach 5.2GHz, for a 16-core and 24-thread processing is very difficult to achieve, through the test synthesis it is compared to the Core i9-12900K single-threaded and multi-threaded increased by 5.5%, but unfortunately the average improvement in the game can not reach this amplitude.
In terms of price, the current Core i9-12900KS processor has been listed on the e-commerce platform, from the perspective of Intel's US dollar suggested retail price, it is 25% higher than the Core i9-12900K, but the price gap of the Bank of China is not so large, the current Core i9-12900KS Bank of China is 5699 yuan, compared to the Bank of China's Core i9-12900K is only 14% higher, it looks quite affordable.
CPU Mini Ladder List (Full CPU Ladder List)
However, because the actual improvement of the game is very weak, although this is a flagship Intel processor that provides the ultimate gaming experience, it is not recommended to choose this processor just for the game, for its audience, or for those who are not price sensitive.
And if your application environment in addition to the game has a large number of tasks that require the processor to run fully loaded, then the Core i9-12900KS is still worth it, after all, compared to the Core i9-12900K has a 5.5% increase, although the price of the processor alone is 14% higher, but converted to the entire platform, the price difference of the platform will not be too large, and almost the same proportion of platform performance improvement can be obtained from the premium.