i3-1215U vs i9-12900HK

Place in the ranking	366	1017
Place by popularity	not in top-100	21
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Series	Intel Alder Lake-P	Intel Alder Lake-M
Power efficiency	36.21	43.15
Architecture codename	Alder Lake-H (2022)	Alder Lake-U (2022)
Release date	4 January 2022 (2 years ago)	23 February 2022 (2 years ago)

Detailed specifications

Core i9-12900HK and Core i3-1215U 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 cores	14 (Tetradeca-Core)	6 (Hexa-Core)
Threads	20	8
Base clock speed	2.5 GHz	1.2 GHz
Boost clock speed	5 GHz	4.4 GHz
L1 cache	80K (per core)	80K (per core)
L2 cache	1.25 MB (per core)	1.25 MB (per core)
L3 cache	24 MB (shared)	10 MB (shared)
Chip lithography	Intel 7 nm	Intel 7 nm
Die size	217 mm²	no data
Maximum core temperature	100 °C	100 °C
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	+	+
Unlocked multiplier	+	-

Compatibility

Information on Core i9-12900HK and Core i3-1215U 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 configuration	1	1
Socket	FCBGA1744	FCBGA1744
Power consumption (TDP)	45 Watt	15 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i9-12900HK and Core i3-1215U. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2	Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2
AES-NI	+	+
FMA	-	+
AVX	+	+
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	+
Speed Shift	+	+
Hyper-Threading Technology	+	+
TSX	+	+
Thermal Monitoring	+	+
Flex Memory Access	+	+
Turbo Boost Max 3.0	+	no data
Deep Learning Boost	+	+

Security technologies

Core i9-12900HK and Core i3-1215U technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT	+	+
EDB	+	+
Secure Key	+	+
OS Guard	+	+

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i9-12900HK and Core i3-1215U are enumerated here.

VT-d	+	+
VT-x	+	+
EPT	+	+

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i9-12900HK and Core i3-1215U. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR4, DDR5	DDR4, DDR5
Maximum memory size	64 GB	64 GB
Max memory channels	2	2

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card	Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics eligible	Intel® UHD Graphics for 12th Gen Intel® Processors
Quick Sync Video	+	+
Graphics max frequency	1.45 GHz	1.1 GHz
Execution Units	96	64

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Core i9-12900HK and Core i3-1215U integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supported

Graphics image quality

Maximum display resolutions supported by Core i9-12900HK and Core i3-1215U integrated GPUs, including resolutions over different interfaces.

Max resolution over HDMI 1.4	4096 x 2304 @ 60Hz	4096 x 2304 @ 60Hz
Max resolution over eDP	4096 x 2304 @ 120Hz	4096 x 2304 @ 120Hz
Max resolution over DisplayPort	7680 x 4320 @ 60Hz	7680 x 4320 @ 60Hz

Graphics API support

APIs supported by Core i9-12900HK and Core i3-1215U integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.

DirectX	12.1	12.1
OpenGL	4.6	4.6

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i9-12900HK and Core i3-1215U.

PCIe version	4.0	4.0
PCI Express lanes	20	20

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.

i9-12900HK 17.22
+152%

i3-1215U 6.84

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.

i9-12900HK 27356
+152%

i3-1215U 10859

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.

i9-12900HK 9397
+19.3%

i3-1215U 7879

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.

i9-12900HK 49924
+157%

i3-1215U 19430

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.

i9-12900HK 3.41

i3-1215U 3.41

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.

i9-12900HK 27
+148%

i3-1215U 11

Cinebench 15 64-bit multi-core

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

i9-12900HK 2836
+251%

i3-1215U 809

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.

i9-12900HK 270
+24.1%

i3-1215U 218

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.

i9-12900HK 3.26
+16.8%

i3-1215U 2.79

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.

i9-12900HK 14.1
+21.6%

i3-1215U 11.6

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.

i9-12900HK 125
+150%

i3-1215U 50

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.

i9-12900HK 300
+50.7%

i3-1215U 199

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.

i9-12900HK 8735
+10%

i3-1215U 7944