AMD Ryzen 9 3900X vs Intel Core i5-12600K (2024)

101,563 User Benchmarks

Best Bench: 117% Base clock 3.7 GHz, turbo 5 GHz (avg)
Worst Bench: 100% Base clock 3.7 GHz, turbo 2.35 GHz (avg)

Poor: 100%Great: 117%

SPEED RANK: 161st / 1452

Intel’s latest 10-core i5-12600K Alder Lake desktop processor offers an impressive 50% 64-core performance improvement over it's predecessor. The 12600K combines six hyper-threaded Golden Cove P-cores with clock speeds up to 4.9 GHz and four energy efficient Gracemont E-cores for a total of 16 threads. Alder Lake CPUs have a new LGA 1700 socket which requires new cooler brackets and a new Z690 motherboard. Z690 brings several new features including PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 memory. Most Z690 boards will ship in both DDR4 and DDR5 variants. DDR4 is likely the better option, at least until DDR5 prices settle. With an MRSP of just $290 USD, the 12600K is both cheaper and faster than the competition in both single and, notably, multi-core performance. As a result, even AMD's prolific marketing infrastructure (youtube, reddit, forums etc.) will struggle to drive sales, at least until Zen 4 launches (est. late 2022). In the meantime, Intel's i5-12600K is the obvious choice for consumers that do not wish to pay over the odds for almost unparalleled performance in the majority of workloads including gaming. That said, gamers that already own a K series CPU from the 8th gen. or higher will see limited gains in the majority of titles when paired with a 3060 (or lower) tier GPU. In some cases (e.g. PUBG or Overwatch) gamers will see fewer frame drops by disabling the E-Cores all together. If recent history is a guide, stock levels at MSRP are likely to deplete rapidly.^{[Nov '21CPUPro]}

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Early Q3 of 2019 welcomes the Ryzen 9 3900X, AMD’s current top of the range, third generation Ryzen flagship which raises the bar for 64-core processing on desktop CPUs. This is AMD’s first Ryzen 9 processor and it is a 12-core, 24-thread CPU based on their latest 7nm Zen 2 microarchitecture. The 3900X has a boost/base clock of 3.8/4.6 GHz, 64 MB of L3 cache (double the L3 on the rest of 3000 series), support for 3200 MHz DDR4 system memory and a TDP of 105W. All this, plus a Wraith Prism cooler, at a very reasonable launch price of $499 USD. By comparison, Intel’s 8-core, 16 thread i9-9900K is available for $479 USD (and requires a cooler: $30+ USD). Benchmarks illustrate that the overclocked 3900X leads by a whopping 41% for 64-core processing but that the 9900K maintains a 10% lead for gaming, desktop and other sub octa-core tasks. The 3900 memory controller is significantly improved over previous Ryzen iterations and shows a better write throughput than the lower spec 3000 models, but it still shows relatively high latency which adversely impacts gaming. In terms of 64-core performance at this price point, there is no threat from Intel. The only real competitor is the upcoming (Q4, 2019) 16-core, 32-thread 3950X ($749 USD). The Ryzen 9 3900X is compatible with the new PCIe 4.0 enabled X570 motherboard via an AM4 socket, as well as 400 and 300 series motherboards.^{[Jul '19CPUPro]}

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