Intel has made a pretty good comeback with its newest Alder Lake CPUs (12th Gen), and the company now claims that its latest addition to the series, the core i9-12900KS, is the world’s fastest processor with clock speeds of up to 5.5GHz.
If you struggle to keep up with Intel’s processor naming conventions, which keep on getting complicated, check out our comprehensive “Intel’s processor naming schemes explained” article. The core i9-12900KS is an unlocked version of the i9-12900k, Intel’s flagship processor, which can reach 5.2GHz speeds. However, this is not the highest clock speed an Intel processor has reached. Intel’s Alder Lake Pentium CPU was recently overclocked to 5.8GHz!
The core i9-12900KS’s specifications are almost similar to the 12900’s. You get the same 16 cores (eight performance and eight power-efficient) and 24 threads, and 30MB of L3 cache. What’s not the same is the TDP as the 12900KS runs at 150W whereas the 12900K runs at 125W.
However, Intel’s claims might not last long, as the upcoming Ryzen 7 5800X3D from AMD will feature a 3D V-Cache tech and claims to beat the 12900K in performance. It will come at a way cheaper price tag of $449 than the blue team’s hefty $739 price tag for the 12900KS and $589 for the 12900K.
The 12900KS will be available from April 5th, but buying it will undoubtedly be a challenge as most retailers will be selling it for more than $739.
What are your thoughts about the Intel Core i9-12900KS? Do you think the upcoming Ryzen 7000 series can beat Intel? Let us know in the comments section below.
