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The 12th Gen Intel Core i9 12900K is still one of the best processors you can buy. They are the beasts of Intel’s previous generation and – despite being overshadowed a little by Raptor Lake – are still in a pretty dominating position.
Whether you want to experience the fun of, say, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla or use them just for professional productivity, they won’t disappoint you. And they can now be found for less, given Intel 13th Gen’s release. Let’s get started.
- Intel Core i9 12900K, $515 at Amazon
- Intel Core i9 12900K, $499.99, at Best Buy
- Intel Core i9 12900KS, $599.99 at Best Buy
Why Choose an Intel Core i9 12th Gen
There can be a lot of reasons for you to use a 12th Gen Core i9 system. Intel didn’t create these beasts without any reason, and they can serve many home office, gaming, and productivity purposes. So, what makes them a suitable choice?
Over time, many new applications or programs require higher processor speeds. And when you have to use these programs, it becomes complicated for a back-dated processor to function correctly.
Intel created these CPUs to suit modern technology needs – and they’re still modern, with the 12900KS released in April 2022.
Multitasking
You likely won’t be using your i9 system for gaming purposes alone. A system powered by an i9 can handle plenty of programs running at once. The i9 12th gen processors have the capacity of super multitasking without even a single glitch.
With the support of both DDR5 4800 and DDR4 3200, the i9 offers fast memory speeds without overclocking. Whether you want to play a game with your Discord running in the background, or have heavy Excel files open with Adobe software running, the i9 can handle it all.
Video Editing
You must work on different applications simultaneously if your work revolves around video editing. For that purpose, Intel’s Core i9 12th gen is a perfect choice, as video editing programs require a lot of processing power.
They have a turbo max boost frequency of up to 5.5 GHz, which is best for all-purpose video editing (including encoding), gaming, and rendering. Especially when dealing with modern-day high-resolution cameras and recordings, the Core i9 will come in handy.
Gaming Purpose
If you are a fan of, say, Modern Warfare 2 or Halo infinite, both these games demand speed. And Intel’s Core i9 is best-suited, paired with a gaming graphics card, for playing modern AAA games without lag.
Systems with the 12900K offer top-notch speed rates with Intel’s UHD 630 integrated graphics processor clocked at 3.7 to 4.9GHz as a base, and options for 32GB of DDR4 and 128GB of DDR5 RAM (although DDR5 support depends on the motherboard).
Even though both these RAM amounts are over-qualified for today’s gaming requirements, they can easily support upcoming titles too. Therefore, buying an Intel Core i9 is an excellent choice if you don’t want the very latest (and most expensive) CPUs.
Music Production
Intel’s 12th Gen Core i9 is one of the best options for music production or editing, and there are many reasons for that. Music production, like video editing, requires much multi-tasking to handle heavy and complex audio tasks.
The i9 offers a speed of 16 cores, out of which 8 are performance and the remaining for efficiency. This helps a lot in managing and running heavy tasks.
To store extensive data on music production, the Core i9 has 30MB of cache memory which is more than enough. A Core i9 system needs an LGA 1700-compatible motherboard too, which plays a vital role in supporting all music-related tasks.
Graphic Designers
The Intel 12th Gen Core i9 is the best 12th Gen processor for graphic designers due to the incredible blend of affordability and performance they offer – particularly since the 13900K has dropped the price of the 12900K SKU.
Being the second-most-recent generation of processors from Intel, you will receive 16 cores with around 24 threads. But even more impressive for graphic designers is the max clock speed of about 5.5 GHz with 30 MB cache speed.
These specs matter a lot to graphic designers as they run highly intensive applications which involve multitasking. Therefore, to avoid complications, Intel has blessed the Core i9 with one of the highest speeds.
Animation Designers
The Core i9 12th Gen systems are a good option for animation designing workers as well, even though Core i5 can easily manage animation designing tasks with smooth functionality.
But if you are working on heavy projects which require multi-tasking without any interruption over different programs or applications, it’s easy to recommend a Core i9 if the budget allows.
Pair with a top-rated graphics card and the high clock speed and threads all contribute towards better functionality. Moreover, to support heavy 3D modeling, the Core i9 12900K has a built-in integrated Intel UHD Graphics 770 chip for smoothness.
Is Intel i9 extreme?
The Intel i9 range boasts some very powerful processors, to the extent that one might call it extreme. The Intel® Core™ i9-10980XE Extreme Edition Processor is a key example – the clue is in the name. This is mega powerful, and is probably overkill for most users.
What is the lifespan of a gaming CPU?
A good quality CPU can technically last up to ten years. However, it will have depreciated in terms of gaming performance massively during that time. If you want to stay ahead of the competition, you’d be wise to replace your gaming CPU every 2-5 years. This depends on the nature of the games you are playing, of course. Newer, more detailed ones will need the latest CPUs to run.
This being said, a really top-of-the-range CPU like the Intel i9 series should last a long time, so you won’t need to replace it for at least 4-5 years unless you are really concerned about perfectly equipped for the latest games.
PC Guide Expert View
Intel recently released its 13900K, but the Core i9 12th Gen is still fantastic in terms of overall functionality.
Intel clearly considered different aspects of a system’s use while keeping modern time requirements in mind. And, whether it’s a professional, gaming, or other use, i9 12th Gen systems are more than qualified to meet daily heavy requirements for a good while yet.
