i9-12900 vs i5-5250U

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Aggregate performance score

Core i5-5250U
2015
2 cores / 4 threads, 15 Watt
1.53
Core i9-12900
2022
16 cores / 24 threads, 65 Watt
21.53
+1307%

Core i9-12900 outperforms Core i5-5250U by a whopping 1307% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

Comparing Core i5-5250U and Core i9-12900 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking2136250
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluationno data35.09
Market segmentLaptopDesktop processor
SeriesIntel Core i5no data
Power efficiency9.6531.33
Architecture codenameBroadwell-U (2015)Alder Lake-S (2022)
Release date1 March 2015 (9 years ago)4 January 2022 (2 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$315$489

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

no data

Detailed specifications

Core i5-5250U and Core i9-12900 basic parameters such as number of cores, number of threads, base frequency and turbo boost clock, lithography, cache size and multiplier lock state. These parameters indirectly say of CPU speed, though for more precise assessment you have to consider their test results.

Physical cores2 (Dual-core)16 (Hexadeca-Core)
Threads424
Base clock speed1.6 GHz2.4 GHz
Boost clock speed2.7 GHz5.1 GHz
Bus rate5 GT/sno data
L1 cache64K (per core)80K (per core)
L2 cache256K (per core)1.25 MB (per core)
L3 cache3 MB (shared)30 MB (shared)
Chip lithography14 nmIntel 7 nm
Die size133 mm2215 mm2
Maximum core temperature105 °C100 °C
Maximum case temperature (TCase)105 °C72 °C
Number of transistors1900 Millionno data
64 bit support++
Windows 11 compatibility-+
Unlocked multiplier-+

Compatibility

Information on Core i5-5250U and Core i9-12900 compatibility with other computer components: motherboard (look for socket type), power supply unit (look for power consumption) etc. Useful when planning a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. Note that power consumption of some processors can well exceed their nominal TDP, even without overclocking. Some can even double their declared thermals given that the motherboard allows to tune the CPU power parameters.

Number of CPUs in a configuration11
SocketFCBGA1168FCLGA1700
Power consumption (TDP)15 Watt65 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i5-5250U and Core i9-12900. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensionsIntel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2
AES-NI++
AVX++
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)++
Speed Shiftno data+
Turbo Boost Technology2.02.0
Hyper-Threading Technology++
TSX-+
Idle States++
Thermal Monitoring++
Flex Memory Access+no data
SIPP-+
Smart Response+no data
Turbo Boost Max 3.0no data+
FDI+no data
Fast Memory Access+no data
Deep Learning Boost-+

Security technologies

Core i5-5250U and Core i9-12900 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT-+
EDB++
Secure Key++
Identity Protection+-
OS Guard++

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i5-5250U and Core i9-12900 are enumerated here.

AMD-V+-
VT-d++
VT-x++
EPT++

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i5-5250U and Core i9-12900. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory typesDDR3DDR4, DDR5
Maximum memory size16 GB128 GB
Max memory channels22
Maximum memory bandwidth25.6 GB/s76.8 GB/s
ECC memory support-+

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card
Compare
Intel HD Graphics 6000Intel UHD Graphics 770
Max video memory16 GBno data
Quick Sync Video++
Clear Video+no data
Clear Video HD++
Graphics max frequency950 MHz1.55 GHz
Execution Unitsno data32
InTru 3D+no data

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Core i5-5250U and Core i9-12900 integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supported34
eDP+no data
DisplayPort+-
HDMI+-

Graphics image quality

Maximum display resolutions supported by Core i5-5250U and Core i9-12900 integrated GPUs, including resolutions over different interfaces.

Max resolution over HDMI 1.42560X1600@60Hz4096 x 2160 @ 60Hz
Max resolution over eDPno data5120 x 3200 @ 120Hz
Max resolution over DisplayPort3840x2160@60Hz7680 x 4320 @ 60Hz

Graphics API support

APIs supported by Core i5-5250U and Core i9-12900 integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.

DirectX11.2/1212
OpenGL4.34.5

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i5-5250U and Core i9-12900.

PCIe version2.05.0 and 4.0
PCI Express lanes1220

Synthetic benchmark performance

Various benchmark results of the processors in comparison. Overall score is measured in points in 0-100 range, higher is better.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance rating. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

i5-5250U 1.53
i9-12900 21.53
+1307%

Passmark

Passmark CPU Mark is a widespread benchmark, consisting of 8 different types of workload, including integer and floating point math, extended instructions, compression, encryption and physics calculation. There is also one separate single-threaded scenario measuring single-core performance.

i5-5250U 2435
i9-12900 34206
+1305%

GeekBench 5 Single-Core

GeekBench 5 Single-Core is a cross-platform application developed in the form of CPU tests that independently recreate certain real-world tasks with which to accurately measure performance. This version uses only a single CPU core.

i5-5250U 815
i9-12900 2535
+211%

GeekBench 5 Multi-Core

GeekBench 5 Multi-Core is a cross-platform application developed in the form of CPU tests that independently recreate certain real-world tasks with which to accurately measure performance. This version uses all available CPU cores.

i5-5250U 1568
i9-12900 13395
+754%

Cinebench 10 32-bit single-core

Cinebench R10 is an ancient ray tracing benchmark for processors by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. Its single core version uses just one CPU thread to render a futuristic looking motorcycle.

i5-5250U 4104
i9-12900 8949
+118%

Cinebench 10 32-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 10 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R10 using all the processor threads. Possible number of threads is limited by 16 in this version.

i5-5250U 8721
i9-12900 68729
+688%

3DMark06 CPU

3DMark06 is a discontinued DirectX 9 benchmark suite from Futuremark. Its CPU part contains two scenarios, one dedicated to artificial intelligence pathfinding, another to game physics using PhysX package.

i5-5250U 3393
i9-12900 17464
+415%

wPrime 32

wPrime 32M is a math multi-thread processor test, which calculates square roots of first 32 million integer numbers. Its result is measured in seconds, so that the less is benchmark result, the faster the processor.

i5-5250U 19.5
i9-12900 2.67
+630%

Cinebench 11.5 64-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 11.5 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R11.5 which uses all the processor threads. A maximum of 64 threads is supported in this version.

i5-5250U 3
i9-12900 39
+1296%

Cinebench 15 64-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 15 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R15 which uses all the processor threads.

i5-5250U 260
i9-12900 3299
+1169%

Cinebench 15 64-bit single-core

Cinebench R15 (standing for Release 15) is a benchmark made by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. It was superseded by later versions of Cinebench, which use more modern variants of Cinema 4D engine. The Single Core version (sometimes called Single-Thread) only uses a single processor thread to render a room full of reflective spheres and light sources.

i5-5250U 107
i9-12900 262
+145%

Cinebench 11.5 64-bit single-core

Cinebench R11.5 is an old benchmark by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. It was superseded by later versions of Cinebench, which use more modern variants of Cinema 4D engine. The Single Core version loads a single thread with ray tracing to render a glossy room full of crystal spheres and light sources.

i5-5250U 1.16
i9-12900 3.16
+172%

TrueCrypt AES

TrueCrypt is a discontinued piece of software that was widely used for on-the-fly-encryption of disk partitions, now superseded by VeraCrypt. It contains several embedded performance tests, one of them being TrueCrypt AES, which measures data encryption speed using AES algorithm. Result is encryption speed in gigabytes per second.

i5-5250U 1.5
i9-12900 17.2
+1047%

WinRAR 4.0

WinRAR 4.0 is an outdated version of a popular file archiver. It contains an internal speed test, using 'Best' setting of RAR compression on large chunks of randomly generated data. Its results are measured in kilobytes per second.

i5-5250U 2423
i9-12900 10739
+343%

x264 encoding pass 2

x264 Pass 2 is a slower variant of x264 video compression that produces a variable bit rate output file, which results in better quality since the higher bit rate is used when it is needed more. Benchmark result is still measured in frames per second.  

i5-5250U 16
i9-12900 148
+796%

x264 encoding pass 1

x264 version 4.0 is a video encoding benchmark uses MPEG 4 x264 compression method to compress a sample HD (720p) video. Pass 1 is a faster variant that produces a constant bit rate output file. Its result is measured in frames per second, which means how many frames of the source video file were encoded per second.  

i5-5250U 89
i9-12900 310
+250%

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 1.53 21.53
Integrated graphics card 2.20 6.16
Recency 1 March 2015 4 January 2022
Physical cores 2 16
Threads 4 24
Power consumption (TDP) 15 Watt 65 Watt

i5-5250U has 333.3% lower power consumption.

i9-12900, on the other hand, has a 1307.2% higher aggregate performance score, 180% faster integrated GPU, an age advantage of 6 years, and 700% more physical cores and 500% more threads.

The Core i9-12900 is our recommended choice as it beats the Core i5-5250U in performance tests.

Be aware that Core i5-5250U is a notebook processor while Core i9-12900 is a desktop one.


Should you still have questions on choice between Core i5-5250U and Core i9-12900, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

Vote for your favorite

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite CPU.


Intel Core i5-5250U
Core i5-5250U
Intel Core i9-12900
Core i9-12900

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Community ratings

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Questions & comments

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