Ultra 9 185H vs i9-12900K

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Aggregate performance score

Core i9-12900K
2021
16 cores / 24 threads, 125 Watt
26.09
+41%
Core Ultra 9 185H
2023
16 cores / 22 threads, 45 Watt
18.50

Core i9-12900K outperforms Core Ultra 9 185H by a considerable 41% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

Comparing Core i9-12900K and Core Ultra 9 185H processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking191324
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation37.30no data
Market segmentDesktop processorLaptop
SeriesIntel Core i9Intel Meteor Lake-H
Power efficiency19.7538.91
Architecture codenameAlder Lake, Golden Cove, Gracemont (2021)Meteor Lake-H (2023)
Release date27 October 2021 (3 years ago)14 December 2023 (1 year ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$589$640

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

no data

Detailed specifications

Core i9-12900K and Core Ultra 9 185H 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 cores16 (Hexadeca-Core)16 (Hexadeca-Core)
Threads2422
Base clock speed3.2 GHz3.9 GHz
Boost clock speed5.2 GHz5.1 GHz
Bus typeDMI 4.0no data
Bus rate8 × 16 GT/sno data
Multiplier32no data
L1 cache768 KB112 KB (per core)
L2 cache4 MB2 MB (per core)
L3 cache6 MB24 MB (shared)
Chip lithography10 nmIntel 4 nm
Die size215.25 mm2"no data
Maximum core temperature100 °C110 °C
Maximum case temperature (TCase)72 °Cno data
64 bit support++
Windows 11 compatibility+no data
Unlocked multiplier+-

Compatibility

Information on Core i9-12900K and Core Ultra 9 185H 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
SocketFCLGA1700FCBGA2049
Power consumption (TDP)125 Watt45 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i9-12900K and Core Ultra 9 185H. 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++
vPro++
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)++
Speed Shift++
Turbo Boost Technology2.0no data
Hyper-Threading Technology++
TSX-+
Idle States+no data
Thermal Monitoring++
Flex Memory Accessno data+
SIPP++
Turbo Boost Max 3.0++
Deep Learning Boost++
Supported AI Software Frameworks-OpenVINO™, WindowsML, ONNX RT

Security technologies

Core i9-12900K and Core Ultra 9 185H 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 i9-12900K and Core Ultra 9 185H are enumerated here.

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

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i9-12900K and Core Ultra 9 185H. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory typesDDR4, DDR5DDR5
Maximum memory size128 GB96 GB
Max memory channels22
Maximum memory bandwidth76.805 GB/sno data
ECC memory support+-

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics cardIntel UHD Graphics 770Intel® Arc™ graphics
Quick Sync Video++
Clear Video HD+no data
Graphics max frequency1.55 GHz2.35 GHz
Execution Units32no data

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Core i9-12900K and Core Ultra 9 185H integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supported44

Graphics image quality

Maximum display resolutions supported by Core i9-12900K and Core Ultra 9 185H integrated GPUs, including resolutions over different interfaces.

Max resolution over HDMI 1.44096 x 2160 @ 60Hz4096 x 2304 @ 60Hz (HDMI 2.1 TMDS) 7680 x 4320 @ 60Hz (HDMI2.1 FRL)
Max resolution over eDP5120 x 3200 @ 120Hz3840x2400 @ 120Hz
Max resolution over DisplayPort7680 x 4320 @ 60Hz7680 x 4320 @ 60Hz

Graphics API support

APIs supported by Core i9-12900K and Core Ultra 9 185H integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.

DirectX1212.2
OpenGL4.54.6

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i9-12900K and Core Ultra 9 185H.

PCIe version5.0 and 4.05.0
PCI Express lanes208
PCI supportno data5.0 and 4.0

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.

i9-12900K 26.09
+41%
Ultra 9 185H 18.50

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.

i9-12900K 41435
+41%
Ultra 9 185H 29390

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.

i9-12900K 2647
+18%
Ultra 9 185H 2243

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.

i9-12900K 15555
+29.9%
Ultra 9 185H 11970

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.

i9-12900K 9859
Ultra 9 185H 10244
+3.9%

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.

i9-12900K 71819
+15.4%
Ultra 9 185H 62262

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.

i9-12900K 18753
+33.4%
Ultra 9 185H 14053

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.

i9-12900K 3.66
+1.4%
Ultra 9 185H 3.71

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.

i9-12900K 46
+31.3%
Ultra 9 185H 35

Cinebench 15 64-bit multi-core

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

i9-12900K 4057
+44.4%
Ultra 9 185H 2809

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.

i9-12900K 289
+7.8%
Ultra 9 185H 268

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.

i9-12900K 3.5
+9.7%
Ultra 9 185H 3.19

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.

i9-12900K 19.3
+70.4%
Ultra 9 185H 11.3

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.

i9-12900K 11834
+49%
Ultra 9 185H 7940

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.  

i9-12900K 201
+24.2%
Ultra 9 185H 162

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.  

i9-12900K 367
+15.3%
Ultra 9 185H 318

Geekbench 5.5 Multi-Core

i9-12900K 17776
+31.4%
Ultra 9 185H 13531

Blender(-)

i9-12900K 125
Ultra 9 185H 177
+41.9%

Geekbench 5.5 Single-Core

i9-12900K 2006
+7.9%
Ultra 9 185H 1858

7-Zip Single

i9-12900K 6576
+18.7%
Ultra 9 185H 5540

7-Zip

i9-12900K 97316
+35.5%
Ultra 9 185H 71843

WebXPRT 3

i9-12900K 325
+12.5%
Ultra 9 185H 289

CrossMark Overall

i9-12900K 2308
+30.4%
Ultra 9 185H 1770

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 26.09 18.50
Recency 27 October 2021 14 December 2023
Threads 24 22
Power consumption (TDP) 125 Watt 45 Watt

i9-12900K has a 41% higher aggregate performance score, and 9.1% more threads.

Ultra 9 185H, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 2 years, and 177.8% lower power consumption.

The Core i9-12900K is our recommended choice as it beats the Core Ultra 9 185H in performance tests.

Note that Core i9-12900K is a desktop processor while Core Ultra 9 185H is a notebook one.


Should you still have questions on choice between Core i9-12900K and Core Ultra 9 185H, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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Intel Core i9-12900K
Core i9-12900K
Intel Core Ultra 9 185H
Core Ultra 9 185H

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Community ratings

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Questions & comments

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