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Apple M2 vs Intel Core i9-12900KF
Last updated:
Benchmarks
Performance Overview
Average performance across multiple benchmarks
Single-core performance
Multi-core performance
Cinebench 2026 Single-Thread
Single-core performance
Apple M2
100 %
8C / 8T · 3.50 GHz
16C / 24T · 5.20 GHz
Cinebench 2026 Multi-Core
Multi-core performance
Apple M2
38 %
8C / 8T · 3.50 GHz
Intel Core i9-12900KF
100 %
16C / 24T · 5.20 GHz
Cinebench 2024 Single-Core
Single-core performance
Apple M2
97 %
8C / 8T · 3.50 GHz
Intel Core i9-12900KF
100 %
16C / 24T · 5.20 GHz
Cinebench 2024 Multi-Core
Multi-core performance
Apple M2
35 %
8C / 8T · 3.50 GHz
Intel Core i9-12900KF
100 %
16C / 24T · 5.20 GHz
Cinebench R23 Single-Core
Single-core performance
Apple M2
80 %
8C / 8T · 3.50 GHz
Intel Core i9-12900KF
100 %
16C / 24T · 5.20 GHz
Cinebench R23 Multi-Core
Multi-core performance
Apple M2
31 %
8C / 8T · 3.50 GHz
Intel Core i9-12900KF
100 %
16C / 24T · 5.00 GHz
Geekbench 6 Single-Core
Single-core performance
Apple M2
97 %
8C / 8T · 3.50 GHz
Intel Core i9-12900KF
100 %
16C / 24T · 5.20 GHz
Geekbench 6 Multi-Core
Multi-core performance
Apple M2
63 %
8C / 8T · 3.50 GHz
Intel Core i9-12900KF
100 %
16C / 24T · 5.00 GHz
Geekbench 5, 64bit Single-Core
Single-core performance
Apple M2
94 %
8C / 8T · 3.50 GHz
Intel Core i9-12900KF
100 %
16C / 24T · 5.20 GHz
Geekbench 5, 64bit Multi-Core
Multi-core performance
Apple M2
50 %
8C / 8T · 3.50 GHz
Intel Core i9-12900KF
100 %
16C / 24T · 5.00 GHz
More benchmarks
Cinebench 2026 (ST)
218 entries
218 entries
Cinebench 2026 (MC)
219 entries
219 entries
Cinebench 2024 (SC)
427 entries
427 entries
Cinebench 2024 (MC)
422 entries
422 entries
Cinebench R23 (SC)
690 entries
690 entries
Cinebench R23 (MC)
665 entries
665 entries
Geekbench 6 (SC)
1,989 entries
1,989 entries
Geekbench 6 (MC)
1,927 entries
1,927 entries
Cinebench R20 (SC)
666 entries
666 entries
Geekbench 5 (SC)
2,512 entries
2,512 entries
Cinebench R20 (MC)
615 entries
615 entries
Geekbench 5 (MC)
2,483 entries
2,483 entries
FP32 SP (iGPU)
2,219 entries
2,219 entries
Blender 3.1 Benchmark
213 entries
213 entries
PassMark CPU-Mark
2,504 entries
2,504 entries
Blender 2.81 (bmw27)
190 entries
190 entries
CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (SC)
250 entries
250 entries
CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (MC)
751 entries
751 entries
V-Ray CPU-Render
251 entries
251 entries
Cinebench R15 (SC)
1,113 entries
1,113 entries
Cinebench R15 (MC)
1,110 entries
1,110 entries
CPU performance per watt (efficiency)
140 entries
140 entries
AI performance (NPU)
218 entries
218 entries
Specifications
At a glance
|
Wischen
|
Apple M2 | Intel Core i9-12900KF |
|---|---|---|
| Family | Apple M series (38) | Intel Core i9 (81) |
| CPU group | Apple M2 (8) | Intel Core i 12000 (34) |
| Architecture | M2 | Alder Lake S |
| Technology | 5 nm | 10 nm |
| Segment | Notebook | Desktop |
| Socket | LGA 1700 | |
| Predecessor | Apple M1 | Intel Core i9-11900KF |
| Successor | Apple M3 | Intel Core i9-13900KF |
CPU Cores and Base Frequency
|
Wischen
|
Apple M2 | Intel Core i9-12900KF |
|---|---|---|
| CPU Cores / Threads | 8 / 8 | 16 / 24 |
| Hyperthreading / SMT | ✗ | ✓ |
| Core architecture | hybrid (big.LITTLE) | hybrid (big.LITTLE) |
| Core Cluster 1: | 4x Avalanche 0.66 - 3.50 GHz |
8x Golden Cove 3.20 - 5.20 GHz |
| Core Cluster 2: | 4x Blizzard 0.60 - 2.42 GHz |
8x Gracemont 2.40 - 3.90 GHz |
| L2-Cache | 20.00 MB | 14.00 MB |
| L3-Cache | 30.00 MB | |
| Overclocking | ✗ | ✓ |
Integrated graphics (iGPU)
|
Wischen
|
Apple M2 | Intel Core i9-12900KF |
|---|---|---|
| GPU name | Apple M2 (10 Core) | no iGPU |
| GPU frequency | 0.45 - 1.40 GHz | |
| CUs / Shader | 160 / 1280 | / |
| Raytracing | ✗ | ✗ |
| Max. displays | 2 | |
| Max. GPU Memory | 24 GB | |
| Technology | 5 nm | |
| Release date | Q2/2022 |
NPU AI performance
|
Wischen
|
Apple M2 | Intel Core i9-12900KF |
|---|---|---|
| AI hardware | Apple Neural Engine | |
| AI specifications | 16 Neural cores @ 15.8 TOPS | |
| NPU + CPU + iGPU |
Memory & PCIe
|
Wischen
|
Apple M2 | Intel Core i9-12900KF |
|---|---|---|
| Memory | LPDDR5-6400 (102.4 GB/s) | DDR5-4800 (76.8 GB/s) DDR4-3200 (51.2 GB/s) |
| Max. Memory | 24 GB | 128 GB |
| Memory channels | 2 | 2 |
| ECC | No | No |
| PCIe | 4.0 | 5.0 x 20 |
| PCIe Bandwidth | 78.8 GB/s |
Thermal Management
|
Wischen
|
Apple M2 | Intel Core i9-12900KF |
|---|---|---|
| TDP | 20 W | 125 W |
| TDP (PL2) | 241 W | |
| TDP up | 30 W | |
| TDP down | 10 W | |
| T. junction max. | 100 °C | 100 °C |
Technical details
|
Wischen
|
Apple M2 | Intel Core i9-12900KF |
|---|---|---|
| Chip design | Monolithic | Monolithic |
| AES-NI | ✓ | ✓ |
| Operating systems | macOS, iPadOS | Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux |
| Instruction set | Armv8.5-A (64 bit) | x86-64 (64 bit) |
| ISA extensions | Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation | SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, AVX2+ |
| Release date | Q2/2022 | Q4/2021 |
| Release price | 564 $ | |
| Documents | Technical data sheet | Technical data sheet |
User Reviews
Your rating
Here you can rate one or both of the processors. The average rating of Apple M2 is 4.4 stars (746 ratings), while Intel Core i9-12900KF has received 4.4 stars (37 ratings).
Click on the stars to rate one or both processors.
Most popular CPUs in both categories
1
Apple M5 Max (18-CPU 32-GPU)
18C / 18T · 4.61 GHz
2
Apple M3 Ultra (28-CPU 60-GPU)
28C / 28T · 4.06 GHz
3
Apple M2 Ultra (76-GPU)
24C / 24T · 3.50 GHz
4
Apple M5 Max (18-CPU 40-GPU)
18C / 18T · 4.61 GHz
5
Apple M3 Ultra (32-CPU 80-GPU)
32C / 32T · 4.06 GHz
6
Apple M5 Pro (15-CPU 16-GPU)
15C / 15T · 4.61 GHz
7
Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C / 20T · 3.20 GHz
8
Apple M2
8C / 8T · 3.50 GHz
9
Intel Core i9-12900KF
16C / 24T · 5.20 GHz
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