Intel Core i9-10980XE vs Intel Core i9-12900

Last updated:

CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Core i9-10980XE CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Core i9-12900
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-12900

CPU comparison

Intel Core i9-10980XE or Intel Core i9-12900 - 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 Intel Core i9-10980XE has 18 cores with 36 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 4.80 GHz. Up to 256 GB of memory is supported in 4 memory channels. The Intel Core i9-10980XE was released in Q4/2019.

The Intel Core i9-12900 has 16 cores with 24 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 5.10 GHz. The CPU supports up to 128 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i9-12900 was released in Q1/2022.
Intel Core i9 (78) Family Intel Core i9 (78)
Intel Core i 10000X (4) CPU group Intel Core i 12000 (34)
10 Generation 12
Cascade Lake Architecture Alder Lake S
Desktop / Server Segment Desktop / Server
Intel Core i9-9980XE Predecessor Intel Core i9-11900
-- Successor Intel Core i9-13900

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Core i9-10980XE has 18 CPU cores and can calculate 36 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the Intel Core i9-10980XE is 3.00 GHz (4.80 GHz) while the Intel Core i9-12900 has 16 CPU cores and 24 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the Intel Core i9-12900 is at 2.40 GHz (5.10 GHz).
Intel Core i9-10980XE Characteristic Intel Core i9-12900
18 Cores 16
36 Threads 24
normal Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
Yes Hyperthreading Yes
Yes Overclocking ? No
3.00 GHz (4.80 GHz) A-Core 2.40 GHz (5.10 GHz)
8x Golden Cove
-- B-Core 1.80 GHz (3.80 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.
Intel Core i9-10980XE Characteristic Intel Core i9-12900
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

The Intel Core i9-10980XE or Intel Core i9-12900 has integrated graphics, called iGPU for short. The iGPU uses the system's main memory as graphics memory and sits on the processor's die.
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 Intel Core i9-10980XE can use up to 256 GB of memory in 4 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 93.8 GB/s. The Intel Core i9-12900 supports up to 128 GB of memory in 2 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 76.8 GB/s.
Intel Core i9-10980XE Characteristic Intel Core i9-12900
DDR4-2933 Memory DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200
256 GB Max. Memory 128 GB
4 (Quad Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
93.8 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 76.8 GB/s
No ECC Yes
-- L2 Cache 14.00 MB
24.75 MB L3 Cache 30.00 MB
3.0 PCIe version 5.0
48 PCIe lanes 20
47.3 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth 78.8 GB/s

Thermal Management

The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the Intel Core i9-10980XE is 165 W, while the Intel Core i9-12900 has a TDP of 65 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.
Intel Core i9-10980XE Characteristic Intel Core i9-12900
165 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 65 W
-- TDP (PL2) 202 W
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
86 °C Tjunction max. 100 °C

Technical details

The Intel Core i9-10980XE is manufactured in 14 nm and has 24.75 MB cache. The Intel Core i9-12900 is manufactured in 10 nm and has a 44.00 MB cache.
Intel Core i9-10980XE Characteristic Intel Core i9-12900
14 nm Technology 10 nm
Monolithic Chip design Monolithic
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, AVX-512 ISA extensions SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, AVX2+
LGA 2066 Socket LGA 1700
VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d Virtualization VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
Yes AES-NI Yes
Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux Operating systems Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux
Q4/2019 Release date Q1/2022
979 $ Release price 489 $
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Intel Core i9-10980XE to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 2.8 stars (4 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the Intel Core i9-12900 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 5 CPU benchmarks
Intel Core i9-10980XE (63%)
Intel Core i9-12900 (100%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 6 CPU benchmarks
Intel Core i9-10980XE (91%)
Intel Core i9-12900 (100%)

Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 4.80 GHz
1191 (60%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
16C 24T @ 5.10 GHz
1988 (100%)

Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 4.30 GHz
24309 (92%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
16C 24T @ 4.20 GHz
26455 (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.
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 4.80 GHz
1174 (60%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
16C 24T @ 5.10 GHz
1968 (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.
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 4.30 GHz
15841 (100%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
16C 24T @ 4.20 GHz
15712 (99%)

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.
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 4.80 GHz
1573 (60%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
16C 24T @ 5.10 GHz
2637 (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.
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 4.30 GHz
11836 (77%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
16C 24T @ 4.20 GHz
15367 (100%)

Cinebench R20 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 4.80 GHz
480 (63%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
16C 24T @ 5.10 GHz
764 (100%)

Cinebench R20 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 4.30 GHz
8848 (88%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
16C 24T @ 4.20 GHz
10097 (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.
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 4.30 GHz
33095 (90%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
16C 24T @ 4.20 GHz
36739 (100%)

Cinebench R15 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 4.80 GHz
211 (74%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
16C 24T @ 5.10 GHz
287 (100%)

Cinebench R15 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 4.30 GHz
3800 (97%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
16C 24T @ 4.20 GHz
3911 (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.
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
@ 0.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
Intel UHD Graphics 770 @ 1.55 GHz
794 (100%)

Blender 2.81 (bmw27)

Blender is a free 3D graphics software for rendering (creating) 3D bodies, which can also be textured and animated in the software. The Blender benchmark creates predefined scenes and measures the time (s) required for the entire scene. The shorter the time required, the better. We selected bmw27 as the benchmark scene.
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 4.30 GHz
74.9 (100%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
16C 24T @ 4.20 GHz
0 (0%)

CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (Multi-Core)

The CPU-Z benchmark measures a processor's performance by measuring the time it takes the system to complete all benchmark calculations. The faster the benchmark is completed, the higher the score.
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10980XE
18C 36T @ 3.00 GHz
9733 (100%)
Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900
16C 24T @ 2.40 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor
Intel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-12900
Unknown Unknown

News and articles for the Intel Core i9-10980XE and the Intel Core i9-12900

Intel Core i9-13900 benchmark of engineering sample
Intel Core i9-13900 benchmark of engineering sample
Posted by Stefan on 2022-06-15
Intels 13th generation of the Intel Core i series (Raptor Lake) is about to be released and a lot of information is already known from the official side. This information includes e.g. the number of CPU cores, the expected increase in performance and the manufacturing technology of the new CPUs.

We compare the technical data of the Intel Core i9-13900 with its predecessor and look at benchmarks that have already been published.

Popular comparisons containing this CPUs

1. AMD Ryzen 9 5950XIntel Core i9-10980XE AMD Ryzen 9 5950X vs Intel Core i9-10980XE
2. Intel Core i9-12900KIntel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-12900K vs Intel Core i9-10980XE
3. Intel Core i9-12900Intel Core i7-12700 Intel Core i9-12900 vs Intel Core i7-12700
4. Intel Core i9-10980XEAMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X Intel Core i9-10980XE vs AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X
5. Intel Core i9-10900KIntel Core i9-10980XE Intel Core i9-10900K vs Intel Core i9-10980XE
6. Intel Core i9-12900KIntel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-12900K vs Intel Core i9-12900
7. Intel Core i9-10980XEAMD Ryzen 9 3950X Intel Core i9-10980XE vs AMD Ryzen 9 3950X
8. Intel Core i9-12900Intel Core i7-13700 Intel Core i9-12900 vs Intel Core i7-13700
9. Intel Core i9-10980XEIntel Xeon W-2295 Intel Core i9-10980XE vs Intel Xeon W-2295
10. Intel Core i9-13900Intel Core i9-12900 Intel Core i9-13900 vs Intel Core i9-12900


back to index