Core i9 12900K
Intel desktop processor · Core i 12th gen · launched November 2021
Check the price on AmazonAffiliate link. Street prices move; the figures on this page are launch prices.
Launch price in today's dollars
The Core i9 12900K launched at $589 in 2021. Adjusted with the U.S. Consumer Price Index, that is about $719 in 2026 dollars (7-month average), a 22% rise over 5 years. At its launch price that is 58 Blender points per $100.
Method: launch price × (CPI 2026 average ÷ CPI 2021 average), calendar-year averages of BLS series CPIAUCSL. 2026 covers 7 months so far.
Blender rendering score
Median score 342 (middle half of runs 323–358) across 410 community runs on Blender 4.x with the CPU backend. That is #36 of 290 desktop processors in our dataset with a score, and #2 of 17 in the Core i 12th gen.
This is a rendering benchmark (samples per minute over the monster, junkshop and classroom scenes), not a gaming benchmark. It says how fast the part renders in Blender's Cycles engine and nothing about frame rates. Source: Blender Open Data, CC0, snapshot 2026-09-06.
Specifications
| Vendor | Intel |
|---|---|
| Series | Core i 12th gen |
| Launched | November 2021 |
| Launch price | $589 (1,000-unit price) |
| Socket | LGA 1700 |
| Cores / threads | 16 / 24 |
| Base clock | 3.2 GHz |
| Boost clock | 5.2 GHz |
| L3 cache | 30 MB |
| Rated power | 125 W (base power), up to 241 W |
| Integrated graphics | UHD 770 |
| Tier | 9-series |
The Intel 9-series over time
Intel desktop processors in the same tier around this one, oldest first, re-releases left out. Prices in launch dollars and in 2026 dollars; scores are Blender 4.x medians where they exist.
| Part | Year | Launch price | In 2026 $ | Blender |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core i9 10900TE | 2020 | $488 | $624 | — |
| Core i9 10850K | 2020 | $453 | $579 | 220 |
| Core i9 11900 | 2021 | $439 | $536 | 176 |
| Core i9 11900F | 2021 | $422 | $515 | — |
| Core i9 11900K | 2021 | $539 | $658 | 204 |
| Core i9 11900KF | 2021 | $513 | $626 | 189 |
| Core i9 11900T | 2021 | $439 | $536 | — |
| Core i9 11900KB | 2021 | — | — | 168 |
| Core i9 12900K | 2021 | $589 | $719 | 342 |
| Core i9 12900KF | 2021 | $564 | $689 | 337 |
| Core i9 12900 | 2022 | $489 | $553 | 251 |
| Core i9 12900F | 2022 | $464 | $525 | 276 |
| Core i9 12900T | 2022 | $489 | $553 | — |
| Core i9 12900KS | 2022 | $739 | $836 | 356 |
| Core i9 13900K | 2022 | $589 | $666 | 488 |
| Core i9 13900KF | 2022 | $564 | $638 | 484 |
Compare with
- Core i7 12700K · 2021 · $409 · 280
- Core i7 12700KF · 2021 · $384 · 281
- Core i9 11900K · 2021 · $539 · 204
- Core i9 11900KF · 2021 · $513 · 189
- Core i9 12900KF · 2021 · $564 · 337
- Core i5 13600K · 2022 · $319 · 299
- Core i5 13600KF · 2022 · $294 · 286
- Core i7 13700K · 2022 · $409 · 378
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