Intel Core i9-12900HX vs Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Core i9-12900HX CPU1 vs CPU2 Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
Intel Core i9-12900HX Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the Intel Core i9-12900HX and the Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.

We compare the Intel Core i9-12900HX 16 core processor released in Q2/2022 with the Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) which has 20 CPU cores and was introduced 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 i9-13900HX Successor Apple M2 Ultra (76-GPU)

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Core i9-12900HX is a 16 core processor with a clock frequency of 2.30 GHz (5.00 GHz). The processor can compute 24 threads at the same time. The Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) clocks with 0.60 GHz (3.20 GHz), has 20 CPU cores and can calculate 20 threads in parallel.

Intel Core i9-12900HX Characteristic Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
16 Cores 20
24 Threads 20
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
Yes Hyperthreading No
Yes Overclocking ? No
2.30 GHz (5.00 GHz)
8x Golden Cove
A-Core 0.60 GHz (3.20 GHz)
16x Firestorm
1.70 GHz (3.60 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 i9-12900HX Characteristic Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
-- AI hardware Apple Neural Engine
-- AI specifications 32 Neural cores @ 22 TOPS

Internal Graphics

Graphics (iGPU) integrated into the processor not only enable image output without having to rely on a dedicated graphics solution, but can also efficiently accelerate video playback.

Intel UHD Graphics 770 GPU Apple M1 Ultra (64 Core)
0.30 GHz GPU frequency 0.39 GHz
1.55 GHz GPU (Turbo) 1.30 GHz
11 GPU Generation 1
10 nm Technology 5 nm
3 Max. displays 5
32 Compute units 1024
256 Shader 8192
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
64 GB Max. GPU Memory 64 GB
12 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 UHD Graphics 770 GPU Apple M1 Ultra (64 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 / Encode 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

Up to 128 GB of memory in a maximum of 2 memory channels is supported by the Intel Core i9-12900HX, while the Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) supports a maximum of 128 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 819.2 GB/s enabled.

Intel Core i9-12900HX Characteristic Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
LPDDR5-5200, LPDDR4X-4266, DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200 Memory LPDDR5-6400
128 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
14.00 MB L2 Cache 52.00 MB
30.00 MB L3 Cache --
5.0 PCIe version 4.0
20 PCIe lanes --
78.8 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The Intel Core i9-12900HX has a TDP of 55 W. The TDP of the Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) is 60 W. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.

Intel Core i9-12900HX Characteristic Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
55 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 60 W
157 W TDP (PL2) --
86 W TDP up 120 W
45 W TDP down --
100 °C Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Intel Core i9-12900HX has 44.00 MB cache and is manufactured in 10 nm. The cache of Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) is at 52.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 5 nm.

Intel Core i9-12900HX Characteristic Apple M1 Ultra (64-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
Q2/2022 Release date Q1/2022
606 $ 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 i9-12900HX Intel Core i9-12900HX
16C 24T @ 5.00 GHz
1902 (100%)
Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
1534 (81%)

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 i9-12900HX Intel Core i9-12900HX
16C 24T @ 2.30 GHz
18845 (78%)
Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-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 i9-12900HX Intel Core i9-12900HX
16C 24T @ 5.00 GHz
1861 (100%)
Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
1793 (96%)

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 i9-12900HX Intel Core i9-12900HX
16C 24T @ 2.30 GHz
15474 (64%)
Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-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 i9-12900HX Intel Core i9-12900HX
16C 24T @ 5.00 GHz
2425 (100%)
Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-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 i9-12900HX Intel Core i9-12900HX
16C 24T @ 2.30 GHz
14620 (61%)
Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-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 i9-12900HX Intel Core i9-12900HX
Intel UHD Graphics 770 @ 1.55 GHz
794 (4%)
Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
Apple M1 Ultra (64 Core) @ 1.30 GHz
21200 (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 i9-12900HX Intel Core i9-12900HX
16C 24T @ 2.30 GHz
35642 (87%)
Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-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 i9-12900HX Intel Core i9-12900HX
16C 24T @ 5.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-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 i9-12900HX Intel Core i9-12900HX
16C 24T @ 5.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-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 i9-12900HX Intel Core i9-12900HX
16C 24T @ 5.00 GHz
736 (100%)
Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-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 i9-12900HX Intel Core i9-12900HX
16C 24T @ 2.30 GHz
7197 (100%)
Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 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 i9-12900HX Intel Core i9-12900HX
16C 24T @ 2.30 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
20C 20T @ 3.20 GHz
379 (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 i9-12900HX Intel Core i9-12900HX
16C 24T @ 5.00 GHz
274 (100%)
Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-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 i9-12900HX Intel Core i9-12900HX
16C 24T @ 2.30 GHz
2894 (100%)
Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-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 i9-12900HX Intel Core i9-12900HX
16C 24T @ 2.30 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
20C 20T @ 0.60 GHz
22 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Intel Core i9-12900HX Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)
Unknown Apple Mac Studio (2022)

News and articles for the Intel Core i9-12900HX and the Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)

Apple M2 Pro with more CPU cores and production in 3 nm ?
Apple M2 Pro with more CPU cores and production in 3 nm ?
Posted by Stefan on 2022-06-28
After Apple surprisingly presented the normal Apple M2 processor as the first successor to the Apple M1 already in June 2022, the Apple M2 Pro and the Apple M2 Max may follow in autumn. The difference in performance compared to the basic version could be even greater this time and range from 25 to 40 percent.

In this article we describe how Apple could realize this and why the price should also go up.
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X - Cinebench R23 Benchmark projection
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X - Cinebench R23 Benchmark projection
Posted by Stefan on 2022-06-10
We give you a preview of AMD's new Zen 4 desktop processors and calculate the performance of the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X top model for the new AM5 socket. The performance data and other technical details come directly from the press kit that AMD released as part of its Financial Analyst Day on June 9, 2022.

Up to 15 percent more single-core performance and 35 percent more multi-core performance of the 16-core model are realistic !
Apple M2 vs Apple M1 - What are the differences?
Apple M2 vs Apple M1 - What are the differences?
Posted by Stefan on 2022-06-09
During WWDC 2022 on June 6th, 2022 Apple surprisingly presented its new Apple M2 processor. This will initially be installed in a completely revised Apple MacBook Air with 13.6 inches, a even thinner form factor and new colors. Apple also updated the already known (old) Apple MacBook Pro 13.3 with touch bar.

Many leakers had counted on Apple not presenting its new second-generation M processor until the fall. But things turned out differently. And there is very likely a reason for that: the improvements in the Apple M2 are limited compared to the predecessor.

Popular comparisons containing this CPUs

1. Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU)Intel Core i9-12900K Apple M1 Ultra (64-GPU) vs Intel Core i9-12900K
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