The Intel 12th Gen Core i9-12900K Review: Hybrid Performance Brings Hybrid Complexity
by Dr. Ian Cutress & Andrei Frumusanu on November 4, 2021 9:00 AM ESTCPU Benchmark Performance: E-Core
In this batch of testing, we're focusing primarily on the E-cores. Intel claimed that the performance was around the level of its Skylake generation of processors (6th Gen to 10th Gen, depending which slide you read), and we had to put that to the test. In this instance, we're comparing to the flagship Skylake processor, the Core i7-6700K, which offered 4C/8T at 91 W. We also did a number of multi-threaded tests to see where the E-cores would line up.
In order to enable E-core only operation, we used affinity masks.
Single Threaded
In these few tests, we can see that the E-core is almost there at 4.2 GHz Skylake. Moving down to 3.9 GHz, perhaps something like the i7-6700, would put it on par.
Multi-Thread Tests
Having a full eight E-cores compared to Skylake's 4C/8T arrangement helps in a lot of scenarios that are compute limited. When we move to more memory limited environments, or with cross-talk, then the E-cores are a bit more limited due to the cache structure and the long core-to-core latencies. Even with DDR5 in tow, the E-cores can be marginal to the Skylake, for example in WinRAR which tends to benefit from cache and memory bandwidth.
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ButIDontWantAUsername - Wednesday, November 10, 2021 - link
How's that validation with Denuvo going? Nothing like upgrading to Intel and having your games suddenly start crashing.Iketh - Tuesday, November 30, 2021 - link
please, no more comments from youtuxRoller - Friday, November 5, 2021 - link
Most desktops at enterprise companies could be replaced with terminals given that most of the people are really just performing data entry & retrieval. The network is the bit doing the work.For people who need old school workstations, then I agree, but that's a damn small (but high margin) market.
blanarahul - Thursday, November 4, 2021 - link
Alder Lake is extremely efficient when gaming - https://www.igorslab.de/en/intel-core-i9-12900kf-c...Scroll down and you'll find a graph detailing total gaming power consumption (CPU + GPU) and CPU power consumed per fps. In both metrics, Alder Lake is doing better than Zen 3 and much better than Rocket Lake.
PC World's review - https://www.pcworld.com/article/548999/12th-gen-co... - conveys that while 12900K goes volcanic in Cinebench, it sips power in a real world workload.
It seems like Alder Lake for desktop has been clocked way beyond its performance/watt sweet spot. It should be very interesting to compare Alder Lake for laptops v/s Zen 3 for laptops.
blanarahul - Thursday, November 4, 2021 - link
To give a short summary for (only) CPU power consumption v/s FPS when playing Horizon Zero Dawn11900K consumes 100 watts for 143 fps
5950X consumes 95 watts for 145 fps
5800X consumes 59 watts for 144 fps
12900K consumes 52 watts for 146 fps
12700K consume 43 (!) watts for 145 fps
Intel is very, very competent with AMD. Considering that 12700K has less E cores and consumes less power, I am very curious how it would do with all E cores disabled and running only on P cores.
Netmsm - Thursday, November 4, 2021 - link
Sounds like there is only gaming world!In PCs it may not be considered as a egregious blunder however you're right Intel is now competitive but to previous AMD's if and only if we wink at Intel's guzzling power.
Some examples from Tom's benches:
y-cruncher
12900k DDR5 consumes 197 watts whereas 5950x consumes 103 watts.
handbrake
12900k DDR5 consumes 224 watts whereas 5950x consumes 124 watts.
blender bmw27
12900k DDR5 consumes 205 watts whereas 5950x consumes 125 watts.
Will you calculate power efficiency, please?
geoxile - Thursday, November 4, 2021 - link
My 5950X uses 130-140W in y-cruncher. And @TweakPC on twitter tested lower PL1 and found the 12900k was only around 5% slower using 150W than 218W. Alderlake being power hungry is only because Intel is pushing 8 P-cores and 8 E-cores (collectively equal to around 4 P-cores according to Intel) to the limit, to compete against 16 Zen 3 cores. You can argue that it's still not as good as the 5950X but efficiency in this case is purely a problem of how much power Intel is allowing by defaultflyingpants265 - Thursday, November 4, 2021 - link
Because they need all that extra power to increase their performance a tiny bit. They're not just doing it for fun.Netmsm - Saturday, November 6, 2021 - link
Exactly 👍Netmsm - Thursday, November 4, 2021 - link
Even Ian has "accidentally" forgotten to put nominal TDP for 12900k in results =))All CPUs in "CUP Benchmark Performance: Intel vs AMD" are mentioned with their nominal TDP except 12900k.
It sounds there's some recommendations! How venal!