Overclocked Core i9-12900K Hits 5.2 GHz At 330W, Challenges Ryzen 9 5950X

Intel 12th Generation Alder Lake
(Image credit: Intel)

Intel's 12th Generation Core 'Alder Lake' processors are not yet available commercially, but enthusiasts who managed to lay their hands on these CPUs are already experimenting with overclocking. A Chinese enthusiast this week overclocked his Core i9-12900K to 5.20 GHz on all high-performance cores and managed to leave behind AMD's Ryzen flagship in a multi-threaded test. However, Alder Lake is a very power-hungry beast at 5.20 GHz. 

Overclocking Intel's hybrid 12th Generation Core processors will be somewhat different from overclocking 'traditional' CPUs as enthusiasts will want to increase clock speeds of high-performance Golden Cove cores while keeping energy-efficient Gracemont cores at stock speeds. Apparently, the unlocked Core i9-12900K CPU coupled with enthusiast-grade Intel Z690-based platform support an overclocking setting that allows to overclock only Golden Cove cores and leave Gracemont cores intact, according to a Chinese enthusiast who has a blog at Bilibili (via VideoCardz).

In a bid to overclock high-performance cores of the Core i9-12900K CPU to 5.20 GHz (from 3.20 GHz base and from 5.0 GHz all-core boost), the enthusiast had to increase core voltage all the way to 1.385 Volts at which point power consumption of the chip skyrocketed to 330W (up from stock PL1 value of 125W), though he did not disclose how he measured power consumption. 

But at 5.20 GHz, Intel's Core i9-12900K can score 851 points in the CPU-Z single-threaded benchmark as well as 11986.9 points in CPU-Z multi-thread benchmark. By contrast, AMD's flagship Ryzen 5950X CPU scores 648 and 11906, respectively. Unfortunately, it was not revealed which OS and what kind of memory was used with the Alder Lake CPU. Previously, the Core i9-12900K beat the Ryzen 9 5950X in Geekbench.

 

Alder Lake

(Image credit: https://t.bilibili.com/583591531888281277?tab=2)

Overclocking hardware ahead of launch should always be taken with a bit of skepticism. First up, we do not know whether we are dealing with pre-release or commercial hardware (we are talking both about the CPU and about the motherboard). Secondly, we have no idea whether commercial hardware will support the same capabilities as pre-release hardware. Thirdly, in this particular case, exact hardware and software configurations were not revealed. Finally, benchmarks like CPU-Z do not necessarily reflect real-world performance.

Anton Shilov
Contributing Writer

Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

  • kristoffe
    330w, vs the 5950x at 105w
    Reply
  • artk2219
    330W? Granted thats overclocked, still a bit hungry and toasty though.
    Reply
  • Makaveli
    kristoffe said:
    330w, vs the 5950x at 105w

    As pointed out you are comparing overclocked to stock.

    a 5950X uses more than 105 Watts when you also overclock it I think it hits about 230watts which is still 100 watts lower than this and that is only 8 cores for intel and 16 for AMD so not really a good look. If intel was able to do 16 Performance cores in this thing it would do like 450watts lol.
    Reply
  • RodroX
    I would love to know what did this person used to cool down the cpu?
    Reply
  • spongiemaster
    Makaveli said:
    a 5950X uses more than 105 Watts when you also overclock it I think it hits about 230watts which is still 100 watts lower than this and that is only 8 cores for intel and 16 for AMD so not really a good look. If intel was able to do 16 Performance cores in this thing it would do like 450watts lol.
    What is the power consumption for a 5900x (or 5800x) overclocked to the single threaded performance level of the 12900k here and the multithreaded performance level of a 5950x?
    Reply
  • USAFRet
    I see not mention of the word "stable" in there.
    Reply
  • derekullo
    RodroX said:
    I would love to know what did this person used to cool down the cpu?
    Deep underground ice cave in Antartica.

    If you look past the foot of the ice sculpture on the left you can see the entrance to the cave.
    Reply
  • Phaaze88
    Let me just see the power consumption while using the blasted thing as Intel intended, sheesh.
    The cpu is likely pretty darn fast and power efficient without that nonsense.
    Overclocking is dead The bar for overclocking raised some time ago, cutting off the more casual users.
    Reply
  • Makaveli
    spongiemaster said:
    What is the power consumption for a 5900x (or 5800x) overclocked to the single threaded performance level of the 12900k here and the multithreaded performance level of a 5950x?

    That is impossible to know unless you have LN2 and even then still a maybe.

    Zen 3 doesn't clock high enough with standard cooling to answer that for ST.

    A 5950X with PBO already passed this score in Multi and that is using 200-230 watts.
    Reply
  • lazyabum
    At 10nm, Intel still has a lot of room to work with as AMD goes for 5nm and 3nm early.
    Reply