i9-12900KF vs Pentium Silver

VS

Aggregate performance score

Pentium Silver
2020
1.99
Core i9-12900KF
2021
16 cores / 24 threads, 125 Watt
26.87
+1250%

Core i9-12900KF outperforms Pentium Silver by a whopping 1250% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

Comparing Pentium Silver and Core i9-12900KF processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking1946184
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluationno data38.91
Market segmentLaptopDesktop processor
Seriesno dataIntel Core i9
Power efficiencyno data19.60
Architecture codenameno dataAlder Lake, Golden Cove, Gracemont (2021)
Release date1 July 2020 (4 years ago)27 October 2021 (3 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)no data$564

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

no data

Detailed specifications

Pentium Silver and Core i9-12900KF 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 coresno data16 (Hexadeca-Core)
Threadsno data24
Base clock speedno data3.2 GHz
Boost clock speedno data5.2 GHz
Bus typeno dataDMI 4.0
Bus rateno data8 × 16 GT/s
Multiplierno data32
L1 cacheno data768 KB
L2 cacheno data4 MB
L3 cacheno data6 MB
Chip lithographyno dataIntel 7 nm
Die sizeno data215.25 mm2
Maximum core temperatureno data100 °C
Maximum case temperature (TCase)no data72 °C
64 bit support-+
Windows 11 compatibility-+
Unlocked multiplier-+

Compatibility

Information on Pentium Silver and Core i9-12900KF 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 configurationno data1
Socketno dataFCLGA1700
Power consumption (TDP)no data125 Watt

Technologies and extensions

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

Instruction set extensionsno dataIntel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2
AES-NI-+
AVX-+
vProno data+
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)no data+
Speed Shiftno data+
Turbo Boost Technologyno data2.0
Hyper-Threading Technologyno data+
Idle Statesno data+
Thermal Monitoring-+
Turbo Boost Max 3.0no data+
Deep Learning Boost-+

Security technologies

Pentium Silver and Core i9-12900KF technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

EDBno data+
Secure Keyno data+
OS Guardno data+

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Pentium Silver and Core i9-12900KF are enumerated here.

VT-dno data+
VT-xno data+
EPTno data+

Memory specs

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

Supported memory typesno dataDDR5-4800, DDR4-3200
Maximum memory sizeno data128 GB
Max memory channelsno data2
Maximum memory bandwidthno data76.805 GB/s

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Pentium Silver and Core i9-12900KF.

PCIe versionno data5.0 and 4.0
PCI Express lanesno data20

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.

Pentium Silver 1.99
i9-12900KF 26.87
+1250%

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.

Pentium Silver 3049
i9-12900KF 41126
+1249%

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 1.99 26.87
Recency 1 July 2020 27 October 2021

i9-12900KF has a 1250.3% higher aggregate performance score, and an age advantage of 1 year.

The Core i9-12900KF is our recommended choice as it beats the Pentium Silver in performance tests.

Be aware that Pentium Silver is a notebook processor while Core i9-12900KF is a desktop one.


Should you still have questions on choice between Pentium Silver and Core i9-12900KF, 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 Pentium Silver
Pentium Silver
Intel Core i9-12900KF
Core i9-12900KF

Similar processor comparisons

We picked several similar comparisons of processors in the same market segment and performance relatively close to those reviewed on this page.

Community ratings

Here you can see how users rate the processors, as well as rate them yourself.


2.2 12 votes

Rate Pentium Silver on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
4 539 votes

Rate Core i9-12900KF on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about Pentium Silver or Core i9-12900KF, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.