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Intel Core i9-7980XE vs Intel Core i5-12600KF

Last updated: 2026-07-03

Table of Contents

Summary
Benchmarks
Specifications
User Reviews
Popular Comparisons

Summary

Benchmarks

Performance Overview
Average performance across multiple benchmarks

Single-core performance

Rank 2 - 61 %

Intel Core i9-7980XE

Rank 1 - 100 %

Intel Core i5-12600KF

Multi-core performance

Rank 1 - 100 %

Intel Core i9-7980XE

Rank 2 - 76 %

Intel Core i5-12600KF

Cinebench R23 Single-Core
Single-core performance

18C / 36T · 4.20 GHz

1,281 pts

10C / 16T · 4.90 GHz

1,918 pts

Cinebench R23 Multi-Core
Multi-core performance

18C / 36T · 3.50 GHz

28,196 pts

10C / 16T · 4.50 GHz

17,660 pts

Geekbench 6 Single-Core
Single-core performance

18C / 36T · 4.20 GHz

1,394

10C / 16T · 4.90 GHz

2,472

Geekbench 6 Multi-Core
Multi-core performance

18C / 36T · 3.50 GHz

11,708

10C / 16T · 4.50 GHz

11,991

Cinebench R20 Single-Core
Single-core performance

18C / 36T · 4.20 GHz

446 cb

10C / 16T · 4.90 GHz

741 cb

Geekbench 5, 64bit Single-Core
Single-core performance

18C / 36T · 4.20 GHz

1,121

10C / 16T · 4.90 GHz

1,854

Cinebench R20 Multi-Core
Multi-core performance

18C / 36T · 3.50 GHz

7,671 cb

10C / 16T · 4.50 GHz

6,702 cb

Geekbench 5, 64bit Multi-Core
Multi-core performance

18C / 36T · 3.50 GHz

16,495

10C / 16T · 4.50 GHz

11,912

CPU-Z Benchmark 17 Multi-Core
Multi-core performance

18C / 36T · 2.60 GHz

10,563

10C / 16T · 3.70 GHz

5,589

Cinebench R15 (Single-Core)
Single-core performance

18C / 36T · 4.20 GHz

184 cb

10C / 16T · 4.90 GHz

274 cb

Cinebench R15 (Multi-Core)
Multi-core performance

18C / 36T · 3.50 GHz

3,455 cb

10C / 16T · 4.50 GHz

2,596 cb

More benchmarks

Cinebench 2026 (ST)
218 entries

Cinebench 2026 (MC)
219 entries

Cinebench 2024 (SC)
427 entries

Cinebench 2024 (MC)
422 entries

Cinebench R23 (SC)
690 entries

Cinebench R23 (MC)
665 entries

Geekbench 6 (SC)
1,989 entries

Geekbench 6 (MC)
1,927 entries

Cinebench R20 (SC)
666 entries

Geekbench 5 (SC)
2,512 entries

Cinebench R20 (MC)
615 entries

Geekbench 5 (MC)
2,483 entries

Blender 3.1 Benchmark
213 entries

PassMark CPU-Mark
2,504 entries

Blender 2.81 (bmw27)
190 entries

CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (SC)
250 entries

CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (MC)
751 entries

V-Ray CPU-Render
251 entries

Cinebench R15 (SC)
1,113 entries

Cinebench R15 (MC)
1,110 entries

Geekbench 3 (SC)
945 entries

Geekbench 3 (MC)
941 entries

Cinebench R11.5 (SC)
826 entries

Cinebench R11.5 (MC)
837 entries

CPU performance per watt (efficiency)
140 entries

Specifications

At a glance

Wischen	Intel Core i9-7980XE	Intel Core i5-12600KF
Family	Intel Core i9 (81)	Intel Core i5 (336)
CPU group	Intel Core i 7000X (9)	Intel Core i 12000 (34)
Architecture	Skylake X	Alder Lake S
Technology	14 nm	10 nm
Segment	Desktop	Desktop
Socket	LGA 2066	LGA 1700
Predecessor		Intel Core i5-11600KF
Successor	Intel Core i9-9980XE	Intel Core i5-13600KF

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

Wischen	Intel Core i9-7980XE	Intel Core i5-12600KF
CPU Cores / Threads	18 / 36	10 / 16
Hyperthreading / SMT	✓	✓
Core architecture	normal	hybrid (big.LITTLE)
Core Cluster 1:	18x 2.60 - 4.20 GHz	6x Golden Cove 3.70 - 4.90 GHz
Core Cluster 2:		4x Gracemont 2.80 - 3.60 GHz
L2-Cache		9.50 MB
L3-Cache	25.00 MB	20.00 MB
Overclocking	✓	✓

Integrated graphics (iGPU)

Wischen	Intel Core i9-7980XE	Intel Core i5-12600KF
GPU name	no iGPU	no iGPU
GPU frequency
CUs / Shader	/	/
Raytracing	✗	✗
Max. displays
Max. GPU Memory
Technology
Release date

NPU AI performance

Wischen	Intel Core i9-7980XE	Intel Core i5-12600KF
AI hardware
AI specifications
NPU + CPU + iGPU

Memory & PCIe

Wischen	Intel Core i9-7980XE	Intel Core i5-12600KF
Memory	DDR4-2666 (85.4 GB/s)	DDR5-4800 (76.8 GB/s) DDR4-3200 (51.2 GB/s)
Max. Memory	128 GB	128 GB
Memory channels	4	2
ECC	No	No
PCIe	3.0 x 44	5.0 x 20
PCIe Bandwidth	43.3 GB/s	78.8 GB/s

Thermal Management

Wischen	Intel Core i9-7980XE	Intel Core i5-12600KF
TDP	165 W	125 W
TDP (PL2)		150 W
TDP up
TDP down
T. junction max.		100 °C

Technical details

Wischen	Intel Core i9-7980XE	Intel Core i5-12600KF
Chip design	Monolithic	Monolithic
AES-NI	✓	✓
Operating systems	Windows 10, Linux	Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux
Instruction set	x86-64 (64 bit)	x86-64 (64 bit)
ISA extensions	SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, AVX-512	SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, AVX2+
Release date	Q4/2017	Q4/2021
Release price	1999 $	264 $
Documents	Technical data sheet	Technical data sheet

User Reviews

Your rating

Here you can rate one or both of the processors. The average rating of Intel Core i9-7980XE is 4.6 stars (11 ratings), while Intel Core i5-12600KF has received 4.5 stars (157 ratings).

Click on the stars to rate one or both processors.

Intel Core i9-7980XE
18C / 36T · 2.60 - 4.20 GHz

★★★★★

Intel Core i5-12600KF
10C / 16T · 3.70 - 4.90 GHz

★★★★★