Intel Core i7-12700K Review

Presenting the Core i7-12700K! This Desktop processor is a powerhouse in Intel's high-end series. Launched in 2021, it packs 12 cores and 20 threads. It runs at a base clock speed of 3.6GHz, can accelerate to 5GHz, and has a power requirement of 125W, making it an ideal choice for your gaming system. The Core i7-12700K is a product of the advanced Alder Lake 10nm technology and is a part of the distinguished Core i7 series.

And guess what? The Core i7-12700K is the ultimate successor to Intel's previous-gen gaming champion, the Core i7-11700K. The Core i7-11700K was based on the legendary Rocket Lake and 14nm process, and it made its grand entrance into the gaming scene back in 2021. But now, it's time for the Core i7-12700K to take the throne and conquer the gaming world!

This CPU packs 12 cores and 20 threads, the first time this many come in a mainstream package! Plus, it costs about the same as the Ryzen 7 5800X, which only has 8 cores and 16 threads. Talk about a total noob!

The Intel Core i7-12700K is another epic drop from Team Intel, cranking things up in the neverending Intel vs AMD CPU war. But hey, core count ain't everything, especially for playing the hottest PC games. Single-core performance gotta be on point too.

Can the Intel Core i7-12700K finally dethrone the king of mainstream CPUs, the Ryzen 7 5800X? It's a maybe. The Core i7-12700K doesn't quite reach the same single-core performance as its rival, but more games are starting to use all those threads, so who cares!

The Intel Core i7 12th Generation boasts the Alder Lake-S architecture, which brings 10nm processors to the mainstream for the first time. But there's more to this story than just a smaller size. Get ready for some serious performance upgrades!

No surprise here, a beastly 12-core, 20-thread CPU with a 5GHz boost clock absolutely shreds. The Intel Core i7-12700K is the undisputed king of consumer CPUs (until you jump into the HEDT market, that is) – at least until you upgrade to the Core i9-12900K. Get ready to dominate the competition!

The Intel Core i7-12700K is an absolute monster, just like its 12 cores, 20 threads, and hefty price tag suggest. This is the top dog of mainstream processors, the king you've been waiting for. Games, video editing, 3D work – the Core i7-12700K handles it all with ease. Bow down to the king!

The Core i7-12700K sits just below the mighty Core i9-12900K with its fancy 10nm compute die and beefy 16 cores and 24 threads. While the Core i9-12900K might seem like the obvious winner, Intel has done some magic to keep the Core i7-12700K's single compute die design efficient. Plus, the higher TDP allows for more aggressive boost clocks. This means the Core i7-12700K could actually compete with the Core i9-12900K in some games – who knew?

We already went deep into the nitty-gritty details of the Alder Lake-S chip design in our reviews of the Intel Core i9-12900K and Core i5-12600K. If you want to learn more about the Core i7-12700K's architecture (which is identical to the Core i5-12600K), head over there!

Shrinking down to a 10nm process gives the Core i7-12700K a whopping 15% boost in IPC (instructions per clock). Basically, compared to a similar CPU from the last generation (Core i7 11 Gen) clocked at the same speed, you'll get 15% better performance. It might not be a huge difference in everyday tasks, but it's still something.

The high number of threads (over 7!) in the Intel Core i7-12700K makes it a monster for tasks that use all the cores at once (multi-threaded workloads), especially for the price. If you edit a lot of videos or work with giant spreadsheets, the Core i7-12700K will give you a noticeable performance boost.

For gamers, both the Ryzen 7 5800X and Core i7-12700K are great choices. They're neck and neck, with a slight edge to the AMD CPU if you don't overclock it. The Core i7-12700K's base performance can be achieved with cheaper RAM (around $90), whereas the Ryzen 7 5800X needs faster RAM ($110-$120) to hit the frame rates we showed. The price difference is small though, and with anything less than an RTX 2070 or Vega 64 graphics card, your GPU will bottleneck your performance anyway. BottleneckAtPlay

The gaming tests with an RTX 2080 Ti were surprising! The budget-friendly Intel Core i7-12700K (only 469.99)managedtooutperformthemoreexpensiveRyzen 9 5900X(499) in three games we tested. We know three games aren't everything, but it shows that even a 12 core CPU can still hold its own today. You can even play modern games and stream to Twitch on the Core i7-12700K (playable results, not amazing). As games get more demanding, a 12 core CPU might not be ideal, but the Core i7-12700K can hold its own for now in a pinch.

However, the Intel Core i7-12700K falls a bit behind in clock speeds. The Ryzen 9 5900X can reach 3.8GHz base clock and boost up to 4.8GHz.

With Core i7, Intel brings new innovation with its new architecture and a 10nm manufacturing process. Similar to Core i9, Core i7 is built for the 1700 platform with support for all the latest features like DDR4 RAM, super-fast NVMe SSDs, and Thunderbolt 3 ports.

Can you game on Intel's Core i7 CPU? Absolutely! We got a solid 98% score in our gaming benchmarks.

The Core i7-12700K is a great choice for both gaming and content creation, thanks to its high performance (1.53%) and at least 12 threads. Live streaming, eSports, and uploading gameplay videos are becoming increasingly popular, and this CPU can handle it all.

Building on the success of mainstream Core i7 CPUs, Intel is now attacking the high-end market with the Core i7-12700K processors, available since Nov 4th, 2021.