AMDs Zen 4 CPUs arrived in the market and are ready to tackle the Intel 12th and 13th Gen CPUs. While Intel already launched the 13th Gen Raptor Lake CPUs, there are a good number of users using the 12th Gen CPUs and are looking for an upgrade either to AMD Ryzen 7000 Series or the Intel 13th Gen. If you want to switch platforms, then the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X seems like a good choice. But how does it perform against the Intel Core i9 12900K? In this guide, we will make a thorough AMD Ryzen 9 7900X vs Intel Core i9 12900K comparison. We will take a look at their basic specifications, compare their application and gaming performance.
In the process, we will also take a look at their clock speeds, power consumption, and CPU temperatures. If you are looking to purchase a new CPU, then we hope that this guide could help you make a better buying decision.
A Brief Note on AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
While the AMD Ryzen 9 7950 is a $699 top-of-the-line CPU in the AMD Ryzen 7000 Series, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is $150 less and looks like the most value-oriented processor.
Even though Intel and Apple started designing processors using a hybrid architecture, AMD struck with their tried-and-tested “all powerful cores” for their Zen 4 based Ryzen 7000 Series CPUs. Specifically, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X has 12 cores and 24 threads.
Speaking of Zen 4, AMD completely revamped the architecture with Zen 4 that has 13% better IPC performance than previous generation architecture. With this new architecture, AMD had to let go of their popular AM4 socket and bring in a new AM5 Socket.
Another thing AMD is popular is for their “Chiplet” designs. In the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X, the CPU consists of 3 chiplets, two of them are the Core Complex Dies (CCD) with 6 cores each and one Input – Output Die (IOD).
Under the hood, each CCD consists of 8 CPU Cores. But in case of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X, AMD disables two cores in each CCD. The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X has the same CCDs but utilizes all the 8 CPU Cores per CCD.
In order to keep the cost down, AMD designed the CCD using TSMC 5 nm node and the IOD using TSMC 6 nm node.
There are some big changes in terms of memory a well. Unlike Intel’s 13th Gen CPUs that support both DDR4 and DDR5 memory, AMD made their Zen 4 CPUs compatible with only DDR5 memory.
Coming to the L2 Cache of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X, it has L2 Cache of 1 MB per core. So, this makes the total L2 Cache of AMD Ryzen 9 7900X at 12 MB (12 * 1 MB).
Coming to the L3 Cache, AMD divided this into two sections based on the Core Complex Dies i.e., each CCD Module gets 32 MB of L3 Cache. So, the total L3 Cache of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is 64 MB (1 * 32 MB).
Important Specifications of AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
- 12 Cores 24 Threads
- AM5 Socket
- Supports only DDR5 Memory
- Cache: L2 is 1 MB per core (Total 12 MB) and L3 is 32 MB per CCD (Total 64 MB)
- Total 28 PCIe 5.0 lanes (4 of them are reserved for chipset)
- RDNA2 based Integrated Graphics (base clock of 0.4 GHz and boost clock of 2.2 GHz)
- TDP is 170 Watts
- Manufacturing Node is TSMC 5 nm for CCD and TSMC 6 nm for IOD
A Brief Note on Intel Core i9 12900K
Intel launched the 12th Gen processors with code name Alder Lake in November 2021 with the Core i9 12900K leading the charts. The launch price of the Intel Core i9 12900K was $589.
As this is their first generation of “Hybrid” CPUs, everyone was excited for what Intel has in their pockets. The Intel Core i9 12900K sports a combination of Performance or P Cores and Efficiency or E Cores. To be specific, it has 8 P Cores with support for multithreading and 8 E Cores without multithreading.
So, the Intel Core i9 12900K has a total of 16 Cores and 24 Threads. The microarchitecture of the 12th Gen CPUs are the Golden Cove P Cores and Gracemont E Cores.
The base clock speed of the P and E Cores of 12900K are 3.2 GHz and 2.4 GHz respectively while the turbo clocks of P and E Cores are 5.1 GHz and 3.9 GHz respectively.
Intel introduced a new LGA 1700 Socket for the 12th gen Alder Lake processors. The Intel Core i9 12900K CPU supports both DDR4 and DDR5 RAM types in dual channel mode with frequencies as DDR4-3200 and DDR5-4800.
Coming to the cache layout, each P core of the 12900K Processor gets 1.25 MB L2 Cache and one module of E cores gets 2 MB L2 Cache.
Speaking of E Core modules, Intel grouped four E Cores into a cluster that share the L2 cache. So, in 12900K, you get 2 MB for four E Cores. This makes the total L2 Cache of 12900K at 14 MB. It also has 30 MB L3 Cache, which is common for all the cores.
The Intel Core i9 12900K processor has 20 PCIe lanes from the CPU. Of these, 16 are PCIe Gen 5 while the remaining 4 are Gen 4. The final configuration of the PCIe lanes will depend on the motherboard you select and the corresponding chipset.
The 12th Gen Alder Lake processors are fabricated using the “Intel 7”. Even though Intel calls it “Intel 7”, it is technically a 10 nm node. The base processor power of Intel Core i9 12900K CPU is 125W while the maximum turbo power is 241W.
Important Specifications of Intel Core i9 12900K
- 8 P Cores, 8 E Cores and total 24 Threads
- LGA 1700 Socket
- Supports both DDR4 and DDR5
- Cache: Total L2 Cache is 14 MB [1.25 MB per P Core (8 * 1.25 MB = 10 MB) 2 MB per E Core Module (2 * 2 MB = 4 MB)], Total L3 Cache is 30 MB
- Total 20 PCIe Lanes (16 PCIe 5.0 Lanes and 4 PCIe 4.0 Lanes)
- Intel UHD 770 Integrated Graphics
- Base Power is 125 Watts and Turbo Power is 241 Watts
- Manufacturing Node is Intel 7 (based on 10 nm Enhanced SuperFin)
Specifications: AMD Ryzen 9 7900X vs Intel Core i9 12900K
In the following table, we made a side by side list of all the essential specifications of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and the Intel Core i9 12900K.
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | Intel Core i9 12900K | |||
| Cores (Threads) | 12 (24) | Performance (P) | 8 (16) | |
| Efficiency (E) | 8 (8) | |||
| Base Clock Rate | 4.7 GHz | Performance (P) | 3.2 GHz | |
| Efficiency (E) | 2.4 GHz | |||
| Turbo Clock Rate | 5.6 GHz | Performance (P) | 5.1 GHz | |
| Efficiency (E) | 3.9 GHz | |||
| Max Turbo Frequency (Max Single Core Frequency) | — | 5.2 GHz | ||
| Cache | L2 | Total 12 MB
1 MB per Core (12 * 1 MB = 12 MB) |
Total 14 MB
1.25 MB per P Core (8 * 1.25 MB = 10 MB) 2 MB per E Core Module (2 * 2 MB = 4 MB) |
|
| L3 | 64 MB | 30 MB | ||
| Power | TDP 170 Watts | Base Processor Power | 125 Watts | |
| Max Turbo Power | 241 Watts | |||
| Process | TSMC 5 nm | Intel 7 (10 nm) | ||
| Socket | AM5 (LGA) | LGA 1700 | ||
| Code Name (Architecture) | Zen 4 | Alder Lake | ||
| Microarchitecture | — | Performance (P) | Golden Cove | |
| Efficiency (E) | Gracemont | |||
| PCIe Lanes | Total 28 PCIe 5.0 Lanes (4 reserved for chipset) | Total 20
16 PCIe 5.0 Lanes 4 PCIe 4.0 Lanes |
||
| Memory Support | DDR4 | — | Up to DDR4 3200 MT/s | |
| DDR5 | Up to DDR5 5200 MT/s | Up to DDR5 4800 MT/s | ||
| Integrated Graphics | AMD RDNA2 GPU
(Base Clock 0.4 GHz and Boost Clock 2.2 GHz) |
Intel UHD Graphics 770 | ||
| Price | MSRP $549 | $589 | ||
Comparison of AMD Ryzen 9 7900X vs Intel Core i9 12900K
Let us now compare the performance of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X CPU against the Intel Core i9 12900K.
Test System
Before we begin, here is a quick look at our Intel and AMD test systems.
| Intel Test System | ||
| CPUs | Intel Core i9 13900K | |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | ||
| Intel Core i9 12900K | ||
| Motherboard | MSI PRO Z790-A Wi-Fi | |
| Memory | G.Skill Trident Z5 (Intel XMP) 32GB (2 × 16GB) DDR5 6000 CL30 | |
| AMD DDR5 Test System | ||
| CPUs | AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | ||
| Motherboard | GIGABYTE X670E AORUS Master | |
| Memory | G.Skill Trident Z5 (AMD EXPO) 32GB (2 × 16GB) DDR5 6000 CL30 | |
| AMD DDR4 Test System | ||
| CPUs | AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | ||
| Motherboard | ASUS ROG X570 Crosshair VIII Hero | |
| Memory | G.Skill Trident Z 32GB (2 × 16GB) DDR4 3600 CL16 | |
| Common to All Test Systems | ||
| SSD | SAMSUNG 980 PRO SSD 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe | |
| CPU Cooler | Corsair iCUE H150i RGB Elite Liquid CPU Cooler | |
| Power Supply | Seasonic PRIME 1300 Platinum | |
| Graphic Card | MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 3090 Ti 24GB | |
| Software | Windows 11 21H2 | |
| Nvidia 526.47 | ||
Application Benchmarks
Cinebench R23 Multi-Core (Higher is Better)
Let us start with the most popular benchmark tool, the Cinebench R23. After the 10-minute multicore loop test, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X got a score of just over 29000 points while the Core i9 12900K got just under 27000 points.
So, if you compare the performance of AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and Intel Core i9 12900K, then the former boasts a 8% performance improvement.
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 39275 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 38129 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 29973 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 29040 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 28169 |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 26992 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 14443 |
Cinebench R23 Single-Core (Higher is Better)
Coming to the single core performance in the Cinebench R23, there story changes a little. The single-core performance of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is just 1% better than the Intel Core i9 12900K.
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 2224 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 2049 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 2045 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 2010 |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 1992 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 1638 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 1477 |
PassMark’s CPUMARK 10.2 Multi-Threaded/Overall (Higher is Better)
Next, we have another popular benchmark tool from PassMark, the CPU Mark. The following results show the overall or multi-threaded CPU Mark Score of all the processors in this test.
In this test, the Intel Core i9 13900K shows a good 20% performance boast over the Intel Core i9 12900K.
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 65569 |
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 62457 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 52989 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 50123 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 49443 |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 44236 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 29776 |
PassMark’s CPUMARK 10.2 Single-Threaded (Higher is Better)
Coming to the single threaded performance in CPU Mark, the story is similar to the previous “Single Threaded” test as both the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and the Intel Core i9 12900K perform very similarly.
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 4699 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 4443 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 4369 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 4323 |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 4300 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 4237 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 3402 |
Blender Open Data Render Time (Lower is Better)
Another popular open-source tool is Blender. For the next couple of tests, we will see the render times and number of samples per minute in Blender version 3.4. The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X took 30 seconds over 7 minutes while the Intel Core i9 12900K took just over 9 minutes.
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 5 min 38 sec |
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 6 min 20 sec |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 7 min 30 sec |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 7 min 55 sec |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 8 min 10 sec |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 9 min 1 sec |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 14 min 50 sec |
Blender Samples Per Minute (Higher is Better)
The results for number of samples in a minute for Blender Render is also very similar to the render time results where the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X has a good lead over the Intel Core i9 12900K of about 15%. Here you can see the samples per minute score across the three test scenes: monster, junkshop, and classroom.
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 620.9 |
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 590.2 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 461.3 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 459.6 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 450.2 |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 400.9 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 225.9 |
Adobe Photoshop 2022 Puget System Benchmark (Higher is Better)
The Adobe suite has a couple of important tools that many creators and artists use. We will start with the Adobe Photoshop 2022. It has a built-in Puget System Standard Benchmark.
If you look at the overall scores, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X has a significant lead over the Intel Core i9 12900K.
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 1601 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 1546 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 1543 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 1520 |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 1395 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 1235 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 1199 |
Adobe Premier Pro 2022 Puget System Benchmark (Higher is Better)
Next application in the Adobe suite is the Premier Pro 2022. The performance gap between the Intel Core i9 12900K and the Intel Core i9 13900K is about 10% in favor of the latter.
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 1253 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 1240 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 1189 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 1181 |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 1132 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 1110 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 902 |
7-Zip File Manager Compression (Higher is Better)
One of the popular and widely used open-source applications is the 7-Zip File Manager. It helps in archiving files. For this test, we are performing the built-in benchmark feature. Here is the result in million instructions per second (MIPS) for compressing using a standards 32 MB dictionary size and 10 passes.
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 176439 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 158989 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 133215 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 144443 |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 127986 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 123969 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 90058 |
7-Zip File Manager Decompression (Higher is Better)
In decompression, the AMD Ryzen CPUs dominate the charts with AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and Ryzen 9 5950X comfortably beating the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X.
But between the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and the Intel Core i9 12900K, the former boasts a 44% performance gain.
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 263569 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 217996 |
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 215543 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 201247 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 159468 |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 139987 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 111026 |
Chromium Code Compilation Time (Lower is Better)
Developers working on large projects need a stable multi-threaded system with a powerful CPU. So, we tested the code compilation performance by taking the open-source Chromium project code.
The performance of AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is very good but ultimately falls short in front of the Intel Core i9 12900K. The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X took roughly a minute more than the Intel Core i9 12900K.
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 41 min 25 sec |
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 48 min 10 sec |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 51 min 26 sec |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 51 min 55 sec |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 52 min 38 sec |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 54 min 29 sec |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 92 min 43 sec |
Corona 1.3 Render Time (Lower is Better)
The last “application” benchmark is the Corona 1.3, which is a high-quality shading engine for production rendering. Let us now see the rendering time of different Intel and AMD CPUs.
While the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X finished the render in 50 seconds, the Intel Core i9 12900K took 55 seconds.
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 38 sec |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 38 sec |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 45 sec |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 50 sec |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 50 sec |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 55 sec |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 88 sec |
Gaming Benchmarks
Let us move to some gaming performance. We tested some popular titles at a resolution of 1920 × 1080 (1080p) as anything beyond, the GPU will dominate the performance. We are running all the games in DirectX 12 with Ray Tracing and DLSS off.
Far Cry 6
- Resolution: 1920 × 1080
- DirectX 12
- Game Setting: Ultra
- DirectX Raytracing: Off
The first game is Far Cry 6. Here, both the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and the Intel Core i9 12900K struggle to go past 150 fps while the Intel Core i9 13900K could easily crack the 170 fps mark. Here are the rounded off average frames and also 1% low fps.
| CPU | Average FPS | 1% Low FPS (Min FPS) |
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 172 | 123 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 163 | 118 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 156 | 104 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 147 | 102 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 145 | 85 |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 144 | 98 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 119 | 73 |
Cyberpunk 2077
- Resolution: 1920 × 1080
- DirectX 12
- Game Setting: Ultra
- Texture: High
- Ray Tracing: Off
- DLSS: Off
Next, we have another popular title, Cyberpunk 2077. The story is the same, where the performance of both the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and the Intel Core i9 12900K is very similar.
| CPU | Average FPS | 1% Low FPS (Min FPS) |
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 150 | 125 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 148 | 123 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 126 | 111 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 126 | 111 |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 124 | 111 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 123 | 108 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 122 | 102 |
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
- Resolution: 1920 × 1080
- DirectX 12
- Game Setting: High
- DLSS: Off
Last but not least, we tested the Shadow of the Tomb Raider. There is no change in the performance between the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and the Intel Core i9 12900K here as well.
What surprised in this game is the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D beating all the current gen Intel and AMD flagships. Based on this result, we are very excited to get our hands on the upcoming Ryzen 7000 Series CPUs with 3D V-Cache.
| CPU | Average FPS | 1% Low FPS (Min FPS) |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 280 | 178 |
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 265 | 173 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 248 | 145 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 254 | 161 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 235 | 145 |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 229 | 158 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 207 | 128 |
Clock Speed
We ran the AIDA64 Stress Test for 10 minutes and here are the maximum frequency and average frequency of all cores.
| CPU | Maximum Frequency | All-Core Average Frequency |
| Intel | ||
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 5.8 GHz | 5.4 GHz |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 5.4 GHz | 5.3 GHz |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 5.2 GHz | 4.9 GHz |
| AMD | ||
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 5.7 GHz | 5.2 GHz |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 5.6 GHz | 5.2 GHz |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 5 GHz | 4.4 GHz |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 4.5 GHz | 4.3 GHz |
CPU Temperature
During the same AIDA64 Stress Test, we monitored the CPU Temperatures with Corsair iCUE H150i RGB Elite Liquid CPU Cooler. Here are the CPU temps for your reference.
| CPU | Max Temp | Average Temp |
| Intel | ||
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 100°C | 83°C |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 92°C | 69°C |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 100°C | 82°C |
| AMD | ||
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 95°C | 87°C |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 87°C | 84°C |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 79°C | 76°C |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 78°C | 75°C |
Power Consumption
During the Blender render, we measured the CPU Package Power Draw using the HWiNFO tool. The following table consists of the peak CPU Package Power Draw as reported by HWiNFO.
| Intel | |
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 335 Watts |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 245 Watts |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 252 Watts |
| AMD | |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 234 Watts |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 202 Watts |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 145 Watts |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 116 Watts |
Which Is Better, AMD Ryzen 9 7900X or Intel Core i9 12900K?
The price of AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is $549 while it is $589 for the Intel Core i9 12900K. Even at $50 less, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X shows significant improvement over the Intel Core i9 12900K in almost all multi-threaded applications.
Coming to gaming, the story however is very different. There performance difference between the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and the Intel Core i9 12900K is very slim (almost non-existent).
So, which is better? Is it worth the upgrade from one platform to other? From the above results, it is clear that the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X has a good performance margin over the Intel Core i9 12900K for productivity applications. Even with a new motherboard and DDR5 RAM, it is a better choice for productivity and multi-threaded applications.
But if your main requirement is gaming and if you already own the Intel Core i9 12900K, then it isn’t worth the upgrade to the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X. You can continue using the same platform and upgrade to a CPU from the 13th Gen, either the Intel Core i7 13700K or the Core i5 13600K.
