Intel Core i9-12900HK vs Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Core i9-12900HK CPU1 vs CPU2 Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
Intel Core i9-12900HK Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)

CPU comparison

Intel Core i9-12900HK or Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) - 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 i9-12900HK has 14 cores with 20 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 5.00 GHz. Up to 64 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i9-12900HK was released in Q1/2022.

The Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) has 20 cores with 20 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.20 GHz. The CPU supports up to 128 GB of memory in 8 memory channels. The Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) was released in Q1/2022.
Intel Core i9 (78) Family Apple M series (23)
Intel Core i 12000H (23) CPU group Apple M1 (9)
12 Generation 1
Alder Lake H Architecture M1
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor --
Intel Core i9-13900HK Successor Apple M2 Ultra (60-GPU)

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Core i9-12900HK has 14 CPU cores and can calculate 20 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the Intel Core i9-12900HK is 2.50 GHz (5.00 GHz) while the Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) has 20 CPU cores and 20 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) is at 0.60 GHz (3.20 GHz).

Intel Core i9-12900HK Characteristic Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
14 Cores 20
20 Threads 20
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
Yes Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
2.50 GHz (5.00 GHz)
6x Golden Cove
A-Core 0.60 GHz (3.20 GHz)
16x Firestorm
1.80 GHz (3.80 GHz)
8x Gracemont
B-Core 0.60 GHz (2.06 GHz)
4x Icestorm

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 i9-12900HK Characteristic Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
-- AI hardware Apple Neural Engine
-- AI specifications 32 Neural cores @ 22 TOPS

Internal Graphics

The Intel Core i9-12900HK or Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) 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.

Intel Iris Xe Graphics 96 (Alder Lake) GPU Apple M1 Ultra (48 Core)
0.40 GHz GPU frequency 0.39 GHz
1.45 GHz GPU (Turbo) 1.30 GHz
13 GPU Generation 1
10 nm Technology 5 nm
4 Max. displays 5
96 Compute units 768
768 Shader 6144
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
32 GB Max. GPU Memory 64 GB
12.1 DirectX Version --

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.

Intel Iris Xe Graphics 96 (Alder Lake) GPU Apple M1 Ultra (48 Core)
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec h264 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec VP9 Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VP8 Decode
Decode Codec AV1 No
Decode / Encode Codec AVC Decode
Decode Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

The Intel Core i9-12900HK can use up to 64 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 83.2 GB/s. The Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) supports up to 128 GB of memory in 8 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 819.2 GB/s.

Intel Core i9-12900HK Characteristic Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
LPDDR5-5200, LPDDR4X-4266, DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200 Memory LPDDR5-6400
64 GB Max. Memory 128 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 8 (Octa Channel)
83.2 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 819.2 GB/s
No ECC No
11.50 MB L2 Cache 52.00 MB
24.00 MB L3 Cache --
4.0 PCIe version 4.0
28 PCIe lanes --
55.1 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the Intel Core i9-12900HK is 45 W, while the Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) has a TDP of 60 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.

Intel Core i9-12900HK Characteristic Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
45 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 60 W
115 W TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up 120 W
-- TDP down --
100 °C Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Intel Core i9-12900HK is manufactured in 10 nm and has 35.50 MB cache. The Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) is manufactured in 5 nm and has a 52.00 MB cache.

Intel Core i9-12900HK Characteristic Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
10 nm Technology 5 nm
Monolithic Chip design Chiplet
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) Armv8.5-A (64 bit)
SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, AVX2+ ISA extensions Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation
BGA 1744 Socket --
VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d Virtualization Apple Virtualization Framework
Yes AES-NI Yes
Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux Operating systems macOS
Q1/2022 Release date Q1/2022
635 $ Release price --
show more data show more data


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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 3 CPU benchmarks
Intel Core i9-12900HK (99%)
Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) (93%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 5 CPU benchmarks
Intel Core i9-12900HK (63%)
Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) (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 i9-12900HK Intel Core i9-12900HK
14C 20T @ 5.00 GHz
1938 (100%)
Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
1534 (79%)

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 i9-12900HK Intel Core i9-12900HK
14C 20T @ 3.80 GHz
18197 (75%)
Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
24189 (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 i9-12900HK Intel Core i9-12900HK
14C 20T @ 5.00 GHz
1754 (98%)
Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
1793 (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 i9-12900HK Intel Core i9-12900HK
14C 20T @ 3.80 GHz
12662 (53%)
Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
24055 (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.
Intel Core i9-12900HK Intel Core i9-12900HK
14C 20T @ 5.00 GHz
2426 (100%)
Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
2397 (99%)

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 i9-12900HK Intel Core i9-12900HK
14C 20T @ 3.80 GHz
11894 (50%)
Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
23970 (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 i9-12900HK Intel Core i9-12900HK
Intel Iris Xe Graphics 96 (Alder Lake) @ 1.45 GHz
2223 (14%)
Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
Apple M1 Ultra (48 Core) @ 1.30 GHz
15900 (100%)

Blender 3.1 Benchmark

In the Blender Benchmark 3.1, the scenes "monster", "junkshop" and "classroom" are rendered and the time required by the system is measured. In our benchmark we test the CPU and not the graphics card. Blender 3.1 was presented as a standalone version in March 2022.
Intel Core i9-12900HK Intel Core i9-12900HK
14C 20T @ 3.80 GHz
260 (69%)
Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
379 (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 i9-12900HK Intel Core i9-12900HK
14C 20T @ 3.80 GHz
28632 (70%)
Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
41059 (100%)

Cinebench 2024 (Single-Core)

The Cinebench 2024 benchmark is based on the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxon's 3D program Cinema 4D. The benchmark runs are each 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
Intel Core i9-12900HK Intel Core i9-12900HK
14C 20T @ 5.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
114 (100%)

Cinebench 2024 (Multi-Core)

The Multi-Core test of the Cinebench 2024 benchmark uses all cpu cores to render using the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxons Cinema 4D. The benchmark run is 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
Intel Core i9-12900HK Intel Core i9-12900HK
14C 20T @ 5.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
1624 (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 i9-12900HK Intel Core i9-12900HK
14C 20T @ 5.00 GHz
710 (100%)
Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)

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 i9-12900HK Intel Core i9-12900HK
14C 20T @ 3.80 GHz
6892 (100%)
Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)

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 i9-12900HK Intel Core i9-12900HK
14C 20T @ 3.80 GHz
182 (100%)
Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)

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 i9-12900HK Intel Core i9-12900HK
14C 20T @ 5.00 GHz
257 (100%)
Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)

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 i9-12900HK Intel Core i9-12900HK
14C 20T @ 3.80 GHz
2639 (100%)
Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)

Performance for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)

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. The performance is given in the number (trillions) of arithmetic operations per second (TOPS).
Intel Core i9-12900HK Intel Core i9-12900HK
14C 20T @ 2.50 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
20C 20T @ 0.60 GHz
22 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Intel Core i9-12900HK Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)
Unknown Apple Mac Studio (2022)

News and articles for the Intel Core i9-12900HK and the Apple M1 Ultra (48-GPU)


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