Core i9-12900KS Review: Intel’s Fastest Alder Lake CPU Tested
Intel Core i9-12900KS Review: 3D Rendering, Audio and Video Encoding
In our custom LAME XP MP3 encoding test, we convert 16, large uncompressed WAV files to the MP3 format, which is a popular use case for many end users, to provide portability and storage of their digital audio content. The LAME engine is an open-source MP3 audio encoder that is used widely in a multitude of third party applications.
LAME XP Audio Encoding
In this test, we created 16-copies of our own 223MB WAV file (an 11 minute Grateful Dead jam) and converted it to the MP3 format using the multi-thread capable LAME XP tool. Processing times are recorded below, listed in minutes:seconds. Shorter times equate to better performance.
The Core i9-12900KS returned to its winning ways in our custom Lame XP audio encoding benchmark. The Lame MT encoder has traditionally favored Intel's architectures. Couple Alder Lake with super-high clocks and this is what happens.
x265 Video Encoding Benchmark
The multi-threaded HWBOT x265 Benchmark is based on the open source x265 encoder that leverages modern CPU instructions to speed video encoding. We tested the CPUs represented here with the 64-bit encoder using the default 1080p and 4K workloads.
The Core i9-12900KS traded victories with the 16-core / 32-thread Ryzen 9 5950X in the x265 video encoding benchmark. Its higher clocks give it an edge over the Core i9-12900K, and allow the Core i9-12900KS to overtake the 5950X in the 4K test, but AMD's processor leads at 1080p.
The Core i9-12900KS traded victories with the 16-core / 32-thread Ryzen 9 5950X in the x265 video encoding benchmark. Its higher clocks give it an edge over the Core i9-12900K, and allow the Core i9-12900KS to overtake the 5950X in the 4K test, but AMD's processor leads at 1080p.
Cinebench R23 Rendering Benchmark
Cinebench rendering performance test based on Cinema 4D from Maxon. Cinema 4D is a 3D rendering and animation tool suite used by animation houses and producers like Sony Animation and many others. It's very demanding of system processor resources and can utilize any number of threads, which make is an excellent gauge of computational throughput. This is a multi-threaded, multi-processor aware benchmark that renders and animates 3D scenes and tracks the length of the entire process. The rate at which each test system was able to render the entire scene is represented in the graphs below.
Cinebench shows the Core i9-12900KS' relative strength. In both the single and multi-threaded benchmark, the Core i9-12900KS is the fastest processor we tested.
POV-Ray CPU Ray Tracing Benchmark
POV-Ray, or the Persistence of Vision Ray-Tracer, is an open source tool for creating realistically lit images. We tested with POV-Ray's standard 'one-CPU' and 'all-CPU' benchmarking tools on all of our test machines and recorded the scores reported for each. Results are measured in pixels-per-second throughput; higher scores equate to better performance.
POV-Ray tells the same story as Cinebench. The Core i9-12900KS offered the best single and multi-threaded performance in this benchmark.
Y-Cruncher Multi-Threaded Pi Calculator
Y-Cruncher is a multi-core-capable tool that calculates the value of pi to a specified number of digits. In this case, we ran the tool on all threads and had the application calculate the value of pi to 1 billion digits. The values below are the time required to perform the calculation expressed in seconds. As a result, lower values indicate better performance.
Yes again, we see the Core i9-12900KS leading the pack. When calculating Pi out to 1 billion digits, the Intel Core i9-12900KS led the pack.
Yes again, we see the Core i9-12900KS leading the pack. When calculating Pi out to 1 billion digits, the Intel Core i9-12900KS led the pack.
STARS Euler3d Multi-Threaded CFD Benchmark
STARS Euler3d is a computational fluid dynamics benchmark which uses a CFD grid that contains 1.23 million tetrahedral elements and 223 thousand nodes. The benchmark executable advances a mach 0.50 Advisory Group for Aerospace Research, or AGARD, flow solution for an aeroelastic test wing. The benchmark score is reported as a CFD cycle frequency in Hertz.
Chalk up another victory for the Core i9-12900KS. This benchmark benefits for many things, including additional cores / threads and higher clocks. As such, the Core i9-12900KS outruns the Core i9-12900K, which is enough to take the pole position.
This benchmark is multi-threaded, but is also dependent on platform bandwidth, and cache and memory latency, so the final results are not determined by compute performance alone. Cache sizes / speed and memory bandwidth all affect performance here...
Chalk up another victory for the Core i9-12900KS. This benchmark benefits for many things, including additional cores / threads and higher clocks. As such, the Core i9-12900KS outruns the Core i9-12900K, which is enough to take the pole position.
