Intel Core i9-12900K vs Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Core i9-12900K CPU1 vs CPU2 Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
Intel Core i9-12900K Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)

CPU comparison

Intel Core i9-12900K or Apple M1 Max (32-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 i9-12900K has 16 cores with 24 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 5.20 GHz. Up to 128 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i9-12900K was released in Q4/2021.

The Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) has 10 cores with 10 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.20 GHz. The CPU supports up to 64 GB of memory in 4 memory channels. The Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) was released in Q3/2021.
Intel Core i9 (78) Family Apple M series (23)
Intel Core i 12000 (34) CPU group Apple M1 (9)
12 Generation 1
Alder Lake S Architecture M1
Desktop / Server Segment Mobile
Intel Core i9-11900K Predecessor --
Intel Core i9-13900K Successor Apple M2 Max (38-GPU)

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Core i9-12900K has 16 CPU cores and can calculate 24 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the Intel Core i9-12900K is 3.20 GHz (5.20 GHz) while the Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) has 10 CPU cores and 10 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) is at 0.60 GHz (3.20 GHz).

Intel Core i9-12900K Characteristic Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
16 Cores 10
24 Threads 10
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
Yes Hyperthreading No
Yes Overclocking ? No
3.20 GHz (5.20 GHz)
8x Golden Cove
A-Core 0.60 GHz (3.20 GHz)
8x Firestorm
2.40 GHz (3.90 GHz)
8x Gracemont
B-Core 0.60 GHz (2.06 GHz)
2x 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 i9-12900K Characteristic Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
-- AI hardware Apple Neural Engine
-- AI specifications 16 Neural cores @ 11 TOPS

Internal Graphics

The Intel Core i9-12900K or Apple M1 Max (32-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 UHD Graphics 770 GPU Apple M1 Max (32 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 512
256 Shader 4096
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
64 GB Max. GPU Memory 32 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 Max (32 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

The Intel Core i9-12900K can use up to 128 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 76.8 GB/s. The Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) supports up to 64 GB of memory in 4 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 409.6 GB/s.

Intel Core i9-12900K Characteristic Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200 Memory LPDDR5-6400
128 GB Max. Memory 64 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 4 (Quad Channel)
76.8 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 409.6 GB/s
Yes ECC No
14.00 MB L2 Cache 28.00 MB
30.00 MB L3 Cache --
5.0 PCIe version 4.0
20 PCIe lanes --
78.8 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the Intel Core i9-12900K is 125 W, while the Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) has a TDP of 45 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.

Intel Core i9-12900K Characteristic Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
125 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 45 W
241 W TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
100 °C Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Intel Core i9-12900K is manufactured in 10 nm and has 44.00 MB cache. The Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) is manufactured in 5 nm and has a 28.00 MB cache.

Intel Core i9-12900K Characteristic Apple M1 Max (32-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
LGA 1700 Socket --
VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d Virtualization Apple Virtualization Framework
Yes AES-NI Yes
Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux Operating systems macOS
Q4/2021 Release date Q3/2021
589 $ Release price --
show more data show more data


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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 4 CPU benchmarks
⌀ Multi core performance in 6 CPU benchmarks

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 i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.20 GHz
126 (100%)
Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
112 (89%)

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 i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.20 GHz
1582 (100%)
Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
796 (50%)

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 i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.20 GHz
1997 (100%)
Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
1534 (77%)

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 i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.00 GHz
27472 (100%)
Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
12402 (45%)

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 i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.20 GHz
1990 (100%)
Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
1783 (90%)

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 i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.00 GHz
17595 (100%)
Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
12693 (72%)

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 i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.20 GHz
2560 (100%)
Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
2397 (94%)

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 i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.00 GHz
16244 (100%)
Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
12439 (77%)

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 i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
Intel UHD Graphics 770 @ 1.55 GHz
794 (7%)
Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
Apple M1 Max (32 Core) @ 1.30 GHz
10600 (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 i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.00 GHz
364 (100%)
Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
192 (53%)

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 i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.00 GHz
40902 (100%)
Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
22255 (54%)

CPU performance per watt (efficiency)

Efficiency of the processor under full load in the Cinebench R23 (multi-core) benchmark. The benchmark result is divided by the average energy required (CPU package power in watts). The higher the value, the more efficient the CPU is under full load.
Intel Core i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
27,472 CB R23 MC @ 240 W
114 (42%)
Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
12,402 CB R23 MC @ 45 W
275 (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 i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.20 GHz
779 (100%)
Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 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 i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.00 GHz
10511 (100%)
Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)

CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (Single-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 i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.00 GHz
817 (100%)
Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 3.20 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 i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 3.20 GHz
11365 (100%)
Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 0.60 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 i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.20 GHz
294 (100%)
Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 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 i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 5.00 GHz
4111 (100%)
Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 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 i9-12900K Intel Core i9-12900K
16C 24T @ 3.20 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
10C 10T @ 0.60 GHz
11 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Intel Core i9-12900K Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)
Unknown Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2021)
Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2021)

News and articles for the Intel Core i9-12900K and the Apple M1 Max (32-GPU)

First Geekbench 5 benchmark of the Intel Core i7-13700K
First Geekbench 5 benchmark of the Intel Core i7-13700K
Posted by Stefan on 2022-07-26
Last week we already reported on the new Intel Core i7-13700K processor from Intel, which is expected in autumn 2022. With 8+8 CPU cores (24 threads), the Intel Core i7-13700K should have the same configuration as last year's Intel Core i9-12900K. With this, Intel wants to finally clear AMD's lead in multi-core performance, which has existed for several years.
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.
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.
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.

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