AMD Athlon II X4 638 vs Intel Core i9-12900TE

Last updated:

CPU comparison with benchmarks


AMD Athlon II X4 638 CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Core i9-12900TE
AMD Athlon II X4 638 Intel Core i9-12900TE

CPU comparison

AMD Athlon II X4 638 or Intel Core i9-12900TE - which processor is faster? In this comparison we look at the differences and analyze which of these two CPUs is better. We compare the technical data and benchmark results.

The AMD Athlon II X4 638 has 4 cores with 4 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 2.70 GHz. Up to 16 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The AMD Athlon II X4 638 was released in Q1/2012.

The Intel Core i9-12900TE has 16 cores with 24 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 4.80 GHz. The CPU supports up to 128 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i9-12900TE was released in Q1/2022.
AMD Athlon II (52) Family Intel Core i9 (78)
AMD Athlon II X4 (Llano) (5) CPU group Intel Core i 12000 (34)
2 Generation 12
Llano Architecture Alder Lake S
Desktop / Server Segment Desktop / Server
-- Predecessor --
-- Successor Intel Core i9-13900TE

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The AMD Athlon II X4 638 is a 4 core processor with a clock frequency of 2.70 GHz. The Intel Core i9-12900TE has 16 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 1.10 GHz (4.80 GHz).

AMD Athlon II X4 638 Characteristic Intel Core i9-12900TE
4 Cores 16
4 Threads 24
normal Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
No Hyperthreading Yes
No Overclocking ? No
2.70 GHz A-Core 1.10 GHz (4.80 GHz)
8x Golden Cove
-- B-Core 1.00 GHz (3.60 GHz)
8x Gracemont

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Processors with the support of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors. Algorithms for ML improve their performance the more data they have collected via software. ML tasks can be processed up to 10,000 times faster than with a classic processor.

AMD Athlon II X4 638 Characteristic Intel Core i9-12900TE
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

The integrated graphics unit of a processor is not only responsible for the pure image output on the system, but can also significantly increase the efficiency of the system with the support of modern video codecs.

no iGPU GPU Intel UHD Graphics 770
GPU frequency 0.30 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) 1.55 GHz
-- GPU Generation 11
Technology 10 nm
Max. displays 3
-- Compute units 32
-- Shader 256
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
-- Max. GPU Memory 64 GB
-- DirectX Version 12

Hardware codec support

A photo or video codec that is accelerated in hardware can greatly accelerate the working speed of a processor and extend the battery life of notebooks or smartphones when playing videos.

no iGPU GPU Intel UHD Graphics 770
No Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode / Encode
No Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) Decode / Encode
No Codec h264 Decode / Encode
No Codec VP9 Decode / Encode
No Codec VP8 Decode / Encode
No Codec AV1 Decode
No Codec AVC Decode / Encode
No Codec VC-1 Decode
No Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

The AMD Athlon II X4 638 supports a maximum of 16 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i9-12900TE can connect up to 128 GB of memory in 2 memory channels.

AMD Athlon II X4 638 Characteristic Intel Core i9-12900TE
DDR3-1333 Memory DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200
16 GB Max. Memory 128 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
21.3 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 76.8 GB/s
No ECC Yes
4.00 MB L2 Cache 14.00 MB
-- L3 Cache 30.00 MB
2.0 PCIe version 5.0
-- PCIe lanes 20
-- PCIe Bandwidth 78.8 GB/s

Thermal Management

The TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The AMD Athlon II X4 638 has a TDP of 65 W, that of the Intel Core i9-12900TE is 35 W.

AMD Athlon II X4 638 Characteristic Intel Core i9-12900TE
65 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 35 W
-- TDP (PL2) 106 W
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. 100 °C

Technical details

The AMD Athlon II X4 638 has a 4.00 MB cache, while the Intel Core i9-12900TE cache has a total of 44.00 MB.

AMD Athlon II X4 638 Characteristic Intel Core i9-12900TE
32 nm Technology 10 nm
Unknown Chip design Monolithic
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
MMX, 3DNow!, SSE3, SSE4a ISA extensions SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, AVX2+
FM1 Socket LGA 1700
AMD-V Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
No AES-NI Yes
Windows 10, Linux Operating systems Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux
Q1/2012 Release date Q1/2022
-- Release price 494 $
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the AMD Athlon II X4 638 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 0 stars (0 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the Intel Core i9-12900TE to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 0 stars (0 ratings). Rate now:


Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
AMD Athlon II X4 638 (20%)
Intel Core i9-12900TE (100%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
AMD Athlon II X4 638 (9%)
Intel Core i9-12900TE (100%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Single-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
AMD Athlon II X4 638 AMD Athlon II X4 638
4C 4T @ 2.70 GHz
374 (20%)
Intel Core i9-12900TE Intel Core i9-12900TE
16C 24T @ 4.80 GHz
1861 (100%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
AMD Athlon II X4 638 AMD Athlon II X4 638
4C 4T @ 2.70 GHz
1326 (10%)
Intel Core i9-12900TE Intel Core i9-12900TE
16C 24T @ 3.00 GHz
13738 (100%)

Estimated results for PassMark CPU Mark

Some of the CPUs listed below have been benchmarked by CPU-monkey. However the majority of CPUs have not been tested and the results have been estimated by a CPU-monkey’s secret proprietary formula. As such they do not accurately reflect the actual Passmark CPU mark values and are not endorsed by PassMark Software Pty Ltd.
AMD Athlon II X4 638 AMD Athlon II X4 638
4C 4T @ 2.70 GHz
2248 (8%)
Intel Core i9-12900TE Intel Core i9-12900TE
16C 24T @ 3.00 GHz
29965 (100%)

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The single-core benchmark only evaluates the performance of the fastest CPU core, the number of CPU cores in a processor is irrelevant here.
AMD Athlon II X4 638 AMD Athlon II X4 638
4C 4T @ 2.70 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i9-12900TE Intel Core i9-12900TE
16C 24T @ 4.80 GHz
2481 (100%)

Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The multi-core benchmark evaluates the performance of all of the processor's CPU cores. Virtual thread improvements such as AMD SMT or Intel's Hyper-Threading have a positive impact on the benchmark result.
AMD Athlon II X4 638 AMD Athlon II X4 638
4C 4T @ 2.70 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i9-12900TE Intel Core i9-12900TE
16C 24T @ 3.00 GHz
12411 (100%)

iGPU - FP32 Performance (Single-precision GFLOPS)

The theoretical computing performance of the internal graphics unit of the processor with simple accuracy (32 bit) in GFLOPS. GFLOPS indicates how many billion floating point operations the iGPU can perform per second.
AMD Athlon II X4 638 AMD Athlon II X4 638
@ 0.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i9-12900TE Intel Core i9-12900TE
Intel UHD Graphics 770 @ 1.55 GHz
794 (100%)

Devices using this processor

AMD Athlon II X4 638 Intel Core i9-12900TE
Unknown Unknown

Popular comparisons containing this CPUs

1. Apple M2Intel Core i9-12900TE Apple M2 vs Intel Core i9-12900TE
2. Intel Core i9-12900TIntel Core i9-12900TE Intel Core i9-12900T vs Intel Core i9-12900TE
3. MediaTek Kompanio 500Intel Core i9-12900TE MediaTek Kompanio 500 vs Intel Core i9-12900TE
4. AMD Ryzen 9 5950XIntel Core i9-12900TE AMD Ryzen 9 5950X vs Intel Core i9-12900TE
5. Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU)Intel Core i9-12900TE Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU) vs Intel Core i9-12900TE
6. AMD Ryzen 9 6900HSIntel Core i9-12900TE AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS vs Intel Core i9-12900TE
7. Intel Core i9-12900KSIntel Core i9-12900TE Intel Core i9-12900KS vs Intel Core i9-12900TE
8. Apple M1 Max (24-GPU)Intel Core i9-12900TE Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) vs Intel Core i9-12900TE
9. AMD Ryzen 5 4500UIntel Core i9-12900TE AMD Ryzen 5 4500U vs Intel Core i9-12900TE
10. Intel Celeron G6900TEIntel Core i9-12900TE Intel Celeron G6900TE vs Intel Core i9-12900TE


back to index