Intel Core i9-12900HK vs Intel Core i7-1260U

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Core i9-12900HK CPU1 vs CPU2 Intel Core i7-1260U
Intel Core i9-12900HK Intel Core i7-1260U

CPU comparison

Intel Core i9-12900HK or Intel Core i7-1260U - 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 Intel Core i7-1260U has 10 cores with 12 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 4.70 GHz. The CPU supports up to 64 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i7-1260U was released in Q1/2022.
Intel Core i9 (78) Family Intel Core i7 (293)
Intel Core i 12000H (23) CPU group Intel Core i 1200P/1200U (21)
12 Generation 12
Alder Lake H Architecture Alder Lake U
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor --
Intel Core i9-13900HK Successor --

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 Intel Core i7-1260U has 10 CPU cores and 12 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the Intel Core i7-1260U is at 1.10 GHz (4.70 GHz).

Intel Core i9-12900HK Characteristic Intel Core i7-1260U
14 Cores 10
20 Threads 12
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
Yes Hyperthreading Yes
No Overclocking ? No
2.50 GHz (5.00 GHz)
6x Golden Cove
A-Core 1.10 GHz (4.70 GHz)
2x Golden Cove
1.80 GHz (3.80 GHz)
8x Gracemont
B-Core 0.80 GHz (3.50 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 i9-12900HK Characteristic Intel Core i7-1260U
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

The Intel Core i9-12900HK or Intel Core i7-1260U 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 Intel Iris Xe Graphics 96 (Alder Lake)
0.40 GHz GPU frequency 0.25 GHz
1.45 GHz GPU (Turbo) 0.95 GHz
13 GPU Generation 13
10 nm Technology 10 nm
4 Max. displays 4
96 Compute units 96
768 Shader 768
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
32 GB Max. GPU Memory 32 GB
12.1 DirectX Version 12.1

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 Intel Iris Xe Graphics 96 (Alder Lake)
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 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec AVC Decode / Encode
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 Intel Core i7-1260U supports up to 64 GB of memory in 2 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 83.2 GB/s.

Intel Core i9-12900HK Characteristic Intel Core i7-1260U
LPDDR5-5200, LPDDR4X-4266, DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200 Memory LPDDR5-5200, LPDDR4X-4266, DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200
64 GB Max. Memory 64 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
83.2 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 83.2 GB/s
No ECC No
11.50 MB L2 Cache 6.50 MB
24.00 MB L3 Cache 12.00 MB
4.0 PCIe version 4.0
28 PCIe lanes 28
55.1 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth 55.1 GB/s

Thermal Management

The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the Intel Core i9-12900HK is 45 W, while the Intel Core i7-1260U has a TDP of 9 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.

Intel Core i9-12900HK Characteristic Intel Core i7-1260U
45 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 9 W
115 W TDP (PL2) 29 W
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
100 °C Tjunction max. 100 °C

Technical details

The Intel Core i9-12900HK is manufactured in 10 nm and has 35.50 MB cache. The Intel Core i7-1260U is manufactured in 10 nm and has a 18.50 MB cache.

Intel Core i9-12900HK Characteristic Intel Core i7-1260U
10 nm Technology 10 nm
Monolithic Chip design Monolithic
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, AVX2+ ISA extensions SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2
BGA 1744 Socket BGA 1744
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
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
⌀ Multi core performance in 4 CPU benchmarks

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%)
Intel Core i7-1260U Intel Core i7-1260U
10C 12T @ 4.70 GHz
1745 (90%)

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 (100%)
Intel Core i7-1260U Intel Core i7-1260U
10C 12T @ 2.10 GHz
6788 (37%)

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 (100%)
Intel Core i7-1260U Intel Core i7-1260U
10C 12T @ 4.70 GHz
1596 (91%)

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 (100%)
Intel Core i7-1260U Intel Core i7-1260U
10C 12T @ 2.10 GHz
6874 (54%)

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%)
Intel Core i7-1260U Intel Core i7-1260U
10C 12T @ 4.70 GHz
2115 (87%)

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 (100%)
Intel Core i7-1260U Intel Core i7-1260U
10C 12T @ 2.10 GHz
6296 (53%)

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 (100%)
Intel Core i7-1260U Intel Core i7-1260U
Intel Iris Xe Graphics 96 (Alder Lake) @ 0.95 GHz
1456 (65%)

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 (100%)
Intel Core i7-1260U Intel Core i7-1260U
10C 12T @ 2.10 GHz
13307 (46%)

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%)
Intel Core i7-1260U Intel Core i7-1260U
10C 12T @ 4.70 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%)
Intel Core i7-1260U Intel Core i7-1260U
10C 12T @ 2.10 GHz
0 (0%)

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 (100%)
Intel Core i7-1260U Intel Core i7-1260U
10C 12T @ 2.10 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%)
Intel Core i7-1260U Intel Core i7-1260U
10C 12T @ 2.10 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%)
Intel Core i7-1260U Intel Core i7-1260U
10C 12T @ 4.70 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%)
Intel Core i7-1260U Intel Core i7-1260U
10C 12T @ 2.10 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Intel Core i9-12900HK Intel Core i7-1260U
Unknown Unknown

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