Intel claims ‘world’s fastest desktop processor’ tag with 12th Gen Core i9-12900KS: Here’s why

On Monday, 28 March, Intel unveiled a special edition variant of its flagship desktop processor, dubbed the Core i9-12900KS. The latter is part of the company’s 12th generation processor lineup, as the ‘S’ in the ‘KS’ part of its badging signifies that it is a special edition processor. Intel, however, has made a tall claim by stating that the Core i9-12900KS is not just fastest, but is, in fact, the “world’s fastest desktop processor”.

The claim is backed up by Intel offering a high turbo boost speed on its performance cores, which can reach 5.5GHz on two of its cores based on the performance load on the processor. It is this, combined with the unlocked cores of the processor and its higher base power consumption, that Intel says can offer sustained peak performance for longer – in turn leading to the claim.

The turbo boost feature on Intel processors allow specific cores on the processor to run at significantly higher performance, therefore catering to heavy, demanding tasks such as ultra high quality video rendering and designing. Having a higher base power throughput means that while the processor in question will consume more power, it will also be able to deliver more performance per core – and typically for longer time periods.

The Intel Core i9-12900KS is, otherwise, very similar to what the Core i9-12900K already offers in the market. It comes with 16 cores, with eight performance cores and eight efficiency ones for lightweight tasks, and 24 threads. The processor also has 30MB of Intel Smart Cache, and supports up to DDR5-4800 memory as well.

As a result, most reports have claimed that the overall performance between the two above-mentioned chips should be largely similar – even as the slightly higher turbo boost speed could offer better peak performance for the most demanding tasks. For reference, the Core i9-12900K processor offers 5.2GHz turbo boost speed, at 125W base power consumption.

Intel’s Core i9-12900KS is largely an answer to AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800X3D, where AMD used its newer, 3D V-cache technology to increase the caching capabilities of the existing Ryzen 7 5800 processor. Using this, AMD claimed the fastest desktop processor tag and stated that its chip could beat the Core i9-12900K on overall performance. However, the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D also had a significantly lower turbo boost speed of 4.5GHz – which Intel has now toppled.

Going forward, it would be interesting to see how future processors from AMD would respond to Intel’s claim. AMD already has its upcoming Ryzen 7000 series of processors, which could take on the Core i9-12900KS.

Intel has issued a global guidance price of $739, or about Rs 56,000, for its absolute flagship processor. However, combined with the supply shortage and retail factors, the 12th gen chip is most likely to sell at a higher price than this.