Intel Core i7-12700K - making the i9 look silly!
Intel Core i7-12700K - When i did my launch reviews of the core i9 12900k and core i5 12. 600K. I also showed you this box marked in byro kit, guru, 12 700k, which is the core i7 12700k, and i included figures for all three processors in the charts.
At the time - and you may have wondered what happened to my review of the core i7 12700k - the processor that is in this very test bench - the msi z690 unify well, i hit one or two small delays that sent me down a couple of blind daddies before I returned to the middle road, and now the day has arrived and it's time for my review of the core i7 12700k in the interim.
So i'm going to show it to you for a few seconds. This piece of a4 paper double-sided - and this paperweight perhaps is to do the intel 4004 processor from 50 years ago to show how intel has come on leaps and bounds from this to these, and, quite frankly, that's all i have to say on the subject: yes, intel You'Ve made advances in 50 years and jolly well done so returning to intel 12th gen.
When i reviewed these processors, i used this corsair vengeance, ddr5 memory, which is rated at 5200 mega transfers. It has latency 3838 38 and in the course of the review i said on this msi unifi motherboard. I had to set the xmp voltage manually.
It was correctly detected as requiring 1.25 volts, but it didn't actually run properly or stably. But when i punched in 1.25 it was absolutely fine, which is a curious old thing and g skill sent us this rip jaws s5 memory. It runs on micron integrated circuits.
However, the latency of the g skill memory is slightly slower at 40, rather than 38. For the corsair, however, the g-skill runs on 1.1 volts. The snag: is it didn't play nicely at all with the msi z690 unifi, so msi told us about a beta bias, that's available to reviewers. I don't think it's yet available on the public website, so i installed that bias now.
Clearly, i can't go around testing processors and then test a different processor on a different bias and swap memory. That'S what sent me down a couple of uh blind alleys, so i had to do my original testing, which you saw and then i had to do updated testing with the updated bias and confirm the bias actually made no difference to performance whatsoever.
It was correctly detected as requiring 1.25 volts, but it didn't actually run properly or stably. But when i punched in 1.25 it was absolutely fine, which is a curious old thing and g skill sent us this rip jaws s5 memory. It runs on micron integrated circuits.
However, the latency of the g skill memory is slightly slower at 40, rather than 38. For the corsair, however, the g-skill runs on 1.1 volts. The snag: is it didn't play nicely at all with the msi z690 unifi, so msi told us about a beta bias, that's available to reviewers. I don't think it's yet available on the public website, so i installed that bias now.
Clearly, i can't go around testing processors and then test a different processor on a different bias and swap memory. That'S what sent me down a couple of uh blind alleys, so i had to do my original testing, which you saw and then i had to do updated testing with the updated bias and confirm the bias actually made no difference to performance whatsoever.
It'S purely to do a stability which is good news and the rip jaws memory, which is indeed slightly certain the corsair. So i did all my testing with the corsair, but i plugged in the ripped jaws and have done a couple of memory tests which i'll be showing you as well. The effect of the latency difference is frankly trivial.
I am, however, quite impressed by the fact that you can run this ddr5 memory on xmp on 1.1 volts. We are clearly entering a new era with the combination of intel 12th gen, z690 motherboards at the moment, other chipsets to come and ddr5 memory.
This is all very good news, but it doesn't offer make my review of the core i7 12700k slightly complicated. Happily, having given you that preamble, we can now park the various memories and the i5 and the i9, and we can bring in the test bench and the core i7. 12700K. Our test system consists of the msi meg z690 unifi motherboard processor. Obviously, core i7 12 700 k and we have a separate rocket 40 ssd memory as discussed is g skill, rip jaws s5.
However, most of the testing was done with the corsair vengeance. For the obvious reasons, cooler is the corsair h150i elite lcd that i used in both the core i5 and core i9 reviews and my graphics card. Pallet gaming, pro rtx 3080.
The cables here are because i plug the three fans in to the motherboard directly, so i can control them over pwm, rather than connecting them through iq and corsair zone hub, and these cables around here which are unused are for the rgb, because i don't need rgb On my test rig, do i the power supply sea sonic, prime titanium 850 watt?
The cables here are because i plug the three fans in to the motherboard directly, so i can control them over pwm, rather than connecting them through iq and corsair zone hub, and these cables around here which are unused are for the rgb, because i don't need rgb On my test rig, do i the power supply sea sonic, prime titanium 850 watt?
Let us take a quick tour around the bias which will appear familiar if you've watched either macor i9 or core i5 review, starting with the msi, select your cooler to set the power limits feature, and this is starting to get a little bit peculiar with the core. I9, it kind of made sense with the core i5. It really didn't, and also the core i7, so water cooler power limit 4096 watts.
It'S unlimited! That'S what that means, however, tower air cooler. 288 watts is beyond the stock power limit for the core i7 and also what kind of tower air cooler does 288 watts box cooler, 241 watt spot now we're talking about intel kind of power limits and yet look at the depiction of a box. Cooler. 241 watts.
That'S huge anyway. We do indeed have a 360 mil aio. So we'll go with that and let's select xmp motherboard overclock settings, so we've got all the cores enabled just as you'd expect everything's on auto there. We can see the g skill memory, 40, 40, 40, 76 and 1.1 volts and we go across the hardware monitor and we can see the fan control in the unified, doing its exemplary job and into windows.
We can see in hw info that the core i7 has eight p cores and four equals so fewer equals than the core i9, more p cores than the core i5. We also know it has a lower power limit according to intel, but not according to msi, and it boosts to a lower speed. Let us start blender and see what happens. Our p cores run at 4.7 gigahertz our equals at 3.
Gigahertz power limit over here, 496 watts, as we saw in the bios actual cpu package. Power is 162 163 watts cpu package temp is in the low 60s. Ambient out here is lower than 20s are quite cool. Obviously, we haven't had a chance for any heat soak as yet, but the temperatures are well under control system is nice and quiet and is running at a decent speed, let's dive into performance, which is after what we want to know about. How does the core i7 compared to the i9 and that mighty core i5?
It'S unlimited! That'S what that means, however, tower air cooler. 288 watts is beyond the stock power limit for the core i7 and also what kind of tower air cooler does 288 watts box cooler, 241 watt spot now we're talking about intel kind of power limits and yet look at the depiction of a box. Cooler. 241 watts.
That'S huge anyway. We do indeed have a 360 mil aio. So we'll go with that and let's select xmp motherboard overclock settings, so we've got all the cores enabled just as you'd expect everything's on auto there. We can see the g skill memory, 40, 40, 40, 76 and 1.1 volts and we go across the hardware monitor and we can see the fan control in the unified, doing its exemplary job and into windows.
We can see in hw info that the core i7 has eight p cores and four equals so fewer equals than the core i9, more p cores than the core i5. We also know it has a lower power limit according to intel, but not according to msi, and it boosts to a lower speed. Let us start blender and see what happens. Our p cores run at 4.7 gigahertz our equals at 3.
Gigahertz power limit over here, 496 watts, as we saw in the bios actual cpu package. Power is 162 163 watts cpu package temp is in the low 60s. Ambient out here is lower than 20s are quite cool. Obviously, we haven't had a chance for any heat soak as yet, but the temperatures are well under control system is nice and quiet and is running at a decent speed, let's dive into performance, which is after what we want to know about. How does the core i7 compared to the i9 and that mighty core i5?
The surprising core i5? Is the new core i7 a waste of silicon, or is it a diamond in the rough time for some charts in 7-zip v19? The compressing test core i7 is high. In the charts you can overclock this processor by an easy 300 megahertz using the intel extreme tuning utility and look at the results. We'Re going pretty much head to head with the 12 core ryzen 9
In the decompressing test, not quite so impressive now the new i7 is beaten by the 8 core ryzen 7 bapco crossmark the test that was pushed at us by intel for reasons. I cannot explain the core i9 running on autos at the top of the chart. Then we have the three overclocked i9 i7 i5 and then the i7 on auto, followed by the i5 on auto blender classroom Core i7 is hard on the heels of the 12 core ryzen 9.
Looking good cinebench, r23 multi-core, core i7 drops behind the core i9 to a slightly surprising extent, when you consider they have the same number of performance cores. What you see here is the effect of those efficient cores. Cinebench r23 single core. The new core s7 does well but is beaten by the core i9, as you'd expect and also by the overclocked core i5 handbrake conversion. H.264.
The core i7 is fighting it out fairly evenly with the 12 core ryzen 9 And in hand brake with an h.265 conversion, the new core i7 beats the 12 core core i9 and is close to the 16 core ryzen 9.
3D mark time spy, just the cpu test, core i7 close on the heels of the core i9 and beating the core i5, this chart dominated by the new intel processors in our gaming tests. We start with the venerable deus ex mankind divided at 1080p. We can see the overclocked core i7 close to the top of the chart, just behind the new i9.
Also overclocked. The i7 on auto, on the other hand, drops a fair way down and is pretty much on par with the i7 11th gen, the sx at 1440p. It'S a similar story: overclocked. The i7 is doing very well on auto it's in the middle of the chart. Moving on to a newer game, far cry 6 at 1080p, the overclocked i7 doing very nicely on auto doing perfectly okay, but less impressive, far cry 6.
At 1440p, the two results incredibly close, far cry new dawn at 1080, the overclocked i7 close to the top of the chart, the i7 on auto much further down, far cry new dawn at 1440, again, the i7 doing perfectly okay, but more or less in the middle Of the chart watch dogs legion at 1080, just look at the i7, both overclocked and on auto.
The core i7 is fighting it out fairly evenly with the 12 core ryzen 9 And in hand brake with an h.265 conversion, the new core i7 beats the 12 core core i9 and is close to the 16 core ryzen 9.
3D mark time spy, just the cpu test, core i7 close on the heels of the core i9 and beating the core i5, this chart dominated by the new intel processors in our gaming tests. We start with the venerable deus ex mankind divided at 1080p. We can see the overclocked core i7 close to the top of the chart, just behind the new i9.
Also overclocked. The i7 on auto, on the other hand, drops a fair way down and is pretty much on par with the i7 11th gen, the sx at 1440p. It'S a similar story: overclocked. The i7 is doing very well on auto it's in the middle of the chart. Moving on to a newer game, far cry 6 at 1080p, the overclocked i7 doing very nicely on auto doing perfectly okay, but less impressive, far cry 6.
At 1440p, the two results incredibly close, far cry new dawn at 1080, the overclocked i7 close to the top of the chart, the i7 on auto much further down, far cry new dawn at 1440, again, the i7 doing perfectly okay, but more or less in the middle Of the chart watch dogs legion at 1080, just look at the i7, both overclocked and on auto.
The results are very similar, but in this test the spreader frame rates is small watchdogs. Legion 1440p. The i7 drops down the chart this one dominated by amd. However, look the frame rates are pretty much identical and then we move on to the technical tests.
Ada64 memory latency, the new processors, are using ddr5 and we can see that the core i7, both with the corsair memory and g skill right down the bottom of the chart. However, the g skill is slightly slower than corsair in the ada64 memory bandwidth test. You can see the intel 12th gen processors dominate this chart. Not surprisingly, ddr5 has monumental bandwidth. You can see here.
The g is skill losing out slightly to the corsair our value for money benchmark. We take cinebench r23 score. We divide by the cost in pounds. This is dominated by the core i5, which is an absolute jewel. However, the core i7 is not that far behind it's a good value processor, it performs well, similarly cinebench r23 score divided by watts.
This is the system power at the wall, not just the processor. The core i7 does well, however, ryzen 9 is far more efficient and does brilliantly cpu temperature in blender. The core i7 12 700 k on auto is drawing 170 watts and you can see it runs at a steady 72 degrees celsius with a 360 mil aio cooler, overclocked the processor by a few hundred megahertz, and now we're looking at 210 watts for the package power Temperature is under control at 85 celsius, unlike the overclock core i9.
Ada64 memory latency, the new processors, are using ddr5 and we can see that the core i7, both with the corsair memory and g skill right down the bottom of the chart. However, the g skill is slightly slower than corsair in the ada64 memory bandwidth test. You can see the intel 12th gen processors dominate this chart. Not surprisingly, ddr5 has monumental bandwidth. You can see here.
The g is skill losing out slightly to the corsair our value for money benchmark. We take cinebench r23 score. We divide by the cost in pounds. This is dominated by the core i5, which is an absolute jewel. However, the core i7 is not that far behind it's a good value processor, it performs well, similarly cinebench r23 score divided by watts.
This is the system power at the wall, not just the processor. The core i7 does well, however, ryzen 9 is far more efficient and does brilliantly cpu temperature in blender. The core i7 12 700 k on auto is drawing 170 watts and you can see it runs at a steady 72 degrees celsius with a 360 mil aio cooler, overclocked the processor by a few hundred megahertz, and now we're looking at 210 watts for the package power Temperature is under control at 85 celsius, unlike the overclock core i9.
Which is just out of hand, power consumption for the system, the core i7 on auto the systems, drawing 290 watts, overclocked 349 watts perfectly acceptable numbers, but this chart, as you'd expect dominated by amd wading Through all those graphs for effectively the third time core i9 core i5 now core i7 has really brought home.
A big point to me when intel started discussing their hybrid architecture for 12th gen alder lake, and they were talking about eight p cores and eight equals, which most of us were thinking of as atom cores. We pretty much all came to the thought of shame that be much better if it was 10 p cores and 0 equals, and i was not hugely impressed by core i9 far too hot far too juicy no margin for overclocking, at least with my sample.
By contrast, core i5 and absolute belter, storming performance doesn't take much power really good, and now the core i7, which sits obviously between those two processors and the conclusion i've reached, is that the p cores the golden cove calls on intel 7 process aren't particularly great.
By contrast, core i5 and absolute belter, storming performance doesn't take much power really good, and now the core i7, which sits obviously between those two processors and the conclusion i've reached, is that the p cores the golden cove calls on intel 7 process aren't particularly great.
The e cores the grace monte carls - they are what save intel 12th gen, so cutting the e cores from eight in the core nine to four in the core i7. It really makes a significant difference in some of our performance charts much more different than i would ever have expected in the first place, and now i've looked through those charts. Again, it's really come home.
However, core i7 is 200 pounds cheaper than core i9. The core i9 that i don't much like so my conclusion to this review is forget about core i9 12 900 k, core i7 12 700 k makes far better sense. However, kick guru's vote still goes to the core. I5 12 600 k.
So when intel said to me, when we're heading into the launch of these processors - yes, yes, we'll give you a core i7, but don't focus on it too much. Here'S the i9 here's the i5. They were completely correct. The i9 has the kind of headline performance figures and the i5 is the one you should buy and the i7 falls in the middle. So here are my detailed pros and cons for the core. I7 12700k. The i7 offers decent gaming performance.
The combination of the eight p cores and the four e cores is a decent combination. It'S much better value than the core i9 12 900 k. You can easily overclock it by 300 megahertz again, this is significant. The i9: you can push it by 100, megahertz or mine any rate, and it's a bad move. The i5.
I could push by 500 megahertz this i7, exactly in the middle 300 megahertz and it's a sensible overclock and it runs nice and cool under load. And then we have the cons. The negatives, a z690 motherboard and ddr5 memory will cost you a small fortune when the sub zed chipsets come out at ces next uh next, not quite next month, a few weeks away.
No doubt those motherboards will be cheaper, but you'll still be looking at ddr5. If you want the full joy of intel, 12th gen, so still quite an expensive step up the reduced number of e cores in the core i7 hertz performance compared to the i9.
To my mind, more so than the slight reduction in clock, speed and intel's power efficiency still requires work. The intel 7 process, this current architecture, they've been delayed for ages. No doubt the next iterations will be better, but this has been the case for so long with intel. You know, wait till the next version. This is getting there, but it's still not there.
Amd'S n3 on tsmc7 nanometer shows the way the power efficiency can go on the desktop. That'S it core 7 12700k is done. However, i do have one more video on the intel 12th gen processors to come in the near future and that's before we get to the new releases of processors.
Amd'S n3 on tsmc7 nanometer shows the way the power efficiency can go on the desktop. That'S it core 7 12700k is done. However, i do have one more video on the intel 12th gen processors to come in the near future and that's before we get to the new releases of processors.