Intel Core i9-12900K and Core i5-12600K review
TechRadar Verdict
Both the Intel Core i9-12900K and Core i5-12600K are among the best processors Intel has released in years, with incredible performance. Intel really has regained its crown, and even though you’ll have to invest in new hardware to even install one of these chips, it’s worth it for all the technology this new platform supports.
Intel has been fighting an uphill battle for the last few years, ever since AMD first revealed its Zen architecture with its Ryzen processors. Ever since then, it seems like Intel has been playing catch-up, both in general performance and in terms of its technology. However, with the Intel Core i9-12900K and the Core i5-12600K, Intel really has pulled ahead, and it looks like Team Blue is back on top – at least for now.
These Alder Lake-S processors mark such a significant improvement over its 11th-generation Rocket Lake predecessors, and Intel can once again claim its “best gaming processor” claim without massaging the numbers too much.
However, these new processors come with a new socket, which means everyone will have to upgrade at least their motherboard – if not their memory and CPU cooler as well. Luckily, there are Z690 motherboards out there that support DDR4 memory which should lower the price of entry for some folks. But for those that want to really embrace all the best technology in PCs today, you’ll be happy to know that DDR5 is here, bringing much higher speeds and lower latency.
(Image credit: Future)
Price and availability
The Intel Core i9-12900K and Intel Core i5-12600K are available now, and have been since November 2021. If you’re looking to get your hands on these processors, the 12900K will be available starting around $589, though this is just a suggested price. At the time of writing, retailers are selling this high-end processor for around $616 / £569 / AU$949.
If you want the more mid-range Intel Core i5-12600K, that is available at the suggested price of $289.
However, this processor is going for around $299 / £279 / AU$499. This makes it much closer to Intel’s suggested pricing than the higher-end processor, which makes sense given the wildly different audiences for these two chips.
If this seems weird to you, you’re not the only one. Rather than set a solid price for its processors, Intel simply releases a suggested price range and lets retailers sell the product for however much they want. That means that while Intel might initially advertise a very attractive price for its processors, the price might vary drastically depending on the time of year.
But either way, these processors really do fall in line with what the competition offers. For instance, the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X is going for around $559 / £514 / AU$809 – and that chip came out all the way back in October 2020. And, as we’ll see a bit later, Intel has quite a leadership position that may make the extra price worth it, especially if you’re doing heavy creative work.
As for the Intel Core i5’s competition, the Ryzen 5 5600X is going for $324 / £286 / AU$399.
In the US and UK, then, Intel has a price advantage with a huge performance advantage pretty much across the board. Gone are the days that Intel lagged behind AMD in both performance and pricing, and Team Blue really has delivered a hard-hitting product at a great price.
(Image credit: Future)
Chipset and features
Both the Intel Core i9-12900K and Core i5-12600K are based off of Intel’s new 12th-generation Alder Lake-S architecture. This is built using the company’s new Intel 7 manufacturing process.
That may seem like we’re saying Intel 7nm process, but it’s a little more complicated than that. Intel 7 is just the name the company is giving to this generation of its 10nm process and marks a significant jump in performance – 10-15% performance per watt, according to a Medium post by Intel Vice President and Director Chris Auth. That’s technically the same size of node, but Intel has made many improvements to the individual transistors that make up the processor that keeps it competitive with AMD’s processors that are built on a technically smaller manufacturing process.
If you want to know all the nitty-gritty details, you really should check out that Medium post, but be aware – it’s not for the faint of heart.
But while it’s easy to get caught up in nanometers, that’s actually not what’s important here. What marks the monumental shift that sees the Core i9-12900K easily claim its leadership position is the way Intel designed the processors of this generation. With Alder Lake, Intel brings the big.LITTLE design philosophy that’s behind the SOC in your smartphone, and scales it up to a full-fat desktop processor.
Basically, you get two sets of CPU cores. In the Intel Core i9-12900K, there are 16 cores, but not all of those are the big CPU cores you’re used to. Instead, they’re split right down the middle, with 8 Performance Cores and 8 Efficiency Cores.
The Performance Cores are more traditional CPU cores, and through a technology called Intel Thread Director, the CPU – without the need of any training – will automatically place heavily threaded workloads on these stronger cores.
Things like PC games, Blender, Adobe Premiere video editing, and other heavy workloads will all go on these stronger dual-threaded cores to muscle through and get things done quick.
And while that heavy lifting is being done on the Performance Cores (we’ll call them P-Cores from here out), Intel Thread Director will direct all background tasks to the Efficiency Cores (or, E-Cores). That way, things like your browser running in the background, or listening to Spotify while grinding in Destiny 2 won’t slow down what you really need the performance for.
We were initially worried that this new, more complicated CPU core layout would introduce bugs, especially as it arrived at around the same time as Windows 11 – and we all know how buggy a new OS release can be. But, much to our surprise, things have been extremely smooth. And even the issues around game compatibility at Alder Lake’s launch have been fixed, which means there is nothing holding you back from enjoying everything you want to do on your PC with these processors.
(Image credit: Future)
With this new design, Intel was able to pack 16 cores onto the 12900K and keep boost clocks high, reaching a Max Turbo of 5.2GHz out of the box. And, because it’s a K-series chip, you can push it even further if your heart so desires. Even the Intel Core i5-12600K has a high boost speed, topping out at 4.9GHz, even though the mid-range chip has 10 cores – 6 P-cores and 4 E-Cores.
But before you rush out and buy one of these processors and start playing with overclocking, you should be aware that they can get a little hot. Even with the 360mm AIO liquid cooler we use for testing, the Intel Core i9-12900K reaches up to 86°C. The Core i5-12600K fares a little better, only reaching 65°C with the same cooler.
If you’re looking to pick up the flagship Core i9 this time around, you really shouldn’t even bother unless you’re also willing to invest in a pretty serious CPU cooler. Even a 120mm liquid cooler simply won’t cut it – just look at our review of the Alienware Aurora R13 if you want to see what happens there.
But even with the higher temperatures, Intel was able to drastically improve performance over the Core i9-11900K while keeping power consumption around the same level. Throughout our testing, the Core i9-12900K peaked at 252W of power to the 11900K’s 266W. And that’s with 70% higher performance in Blender. Not bad for a gen-on-gen improvement.
But it’s important to note that because there’s a new socket, you may need to buy a new CPU cooler, or at least reach out to your CPU cooler manufacturer to get a new mounting bracket. For our CPU cooler, all we needed was some different screws, to make up for the slightly thinner chip. But because the processor itself is longer, there is a chance that your CPU cooler may just not be compatible. So, make extra sure your cooler is compatible before you seal up your rig.
The shift to this new chip layout would have been enough to make us impressed, but Intel went ahead and included a wealth of new technology on its 12th-generation platform.
Chief among these is DDR5 memory.
It was only a matter of time before we got DDR5 memory on a mainstream computing platform, Intel was just first to the punch. Right now, it’s not necessarily crucial to upgrade your memory, but you should keep in mind that Z690 motherboards are going to support either DDR5 or DDR4 memory, and won’t support both. DDR5 will probably be much more expensive for a while, but it will be more future-proof, and will likely last you through plenty of PC upgrades in the future.
Alder Lake also brings support for PCIe 5.0. That’s pretty exciting, though it feels pointless right now. PCIe 4.0 devices are only now really taking off and it’ll probably be a while before we start seeing SSDs and graphics cards really taking advantage of the technology. But, again, it’s something that will make your system future-proof – to the extent that future-proofing even exists.
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Performance
While Intel has constantly claimed it was making the best processor for gaming with every single generation, the Intel Core i9-12900K is, without a doubt, the best processor for gaming right now.
And it’s not really even close.
Looking at pure gaming performance, the Intel Core i9-12900K is about 2% slower than the Ryzen 9 5900X in Metro Exodus, but it’s a whopping 26% faster in Total War: Three Kingdoms. Even in the 3DMark Time Spy CPU test, which really puts chips to the limit, the Core i9-12900K is 33% faster than the 5900X.
This continues in more creative workloads as well. In Blender, the 12900K is 15% faster than the 5900X, and is 23% faster in Cinebench R23. The numbers for Adobe Premiere and Photoshop look very similar too. With this new flagship, Intel was easily able to take a leadership position throughout our entire test suite – with the exception of Metro Exodus.
What’s perhaps more impressive, though, is how the Intel Core i5-12600K compares to the Ryzen 5 5600X. In gaming, the Core i5-12600K is around 2-8% faster in Total War and Metro, but that number jumps up to a whopping 55% in the Time Spy gaming test. That might not seem like much, but it suggests that Intel has a lot of room to grow, and that this processor will continue to offer improved performance as games are better programmed to take advantage of the new chip layout.
And while a Core i5 processor isn’t really meant to be a creative heavyweight, it’s no slouch. It’s 55% faster than the Ryzen 5 5600X in Blender, and it even looks pretty decent against the much more expensive Ryzen 9 5900X – just 42% slower.
If you’re going to be buying a new processor or just a new computer in general, there’s no reason not to go Intel right now. The performance is just too good to ignore. No matter what you’re going to be using your PC for, you’re going to get some incredible performance from these new processors.
(Image credit: Future)
Buy it if…
You want strong gaming performance
Without a doubt, the Intel Core i9-12900K is the strongest gaming processor on the market right now. And, the Core i5-12600K is no slouch, either.
You want a future-proof platform
While the concept of “future-proof” is flawed, Intel Alder Lake processors like the Core i9-12900K support all the latest and cutting edge PC technologies.
You will not need to upgrade for a long time.
You want an efficient PC for multi-tasking
With the new chip layout giving you dedicated cores for high-performance computing and efficiency cores to power background tasks, you won’t have to worry about a random program slowing you down again.
Don’t buy it if…
You don’t want to upgrade a ton of components
Because these new processors use a new CPU socket, it’s likely that you’ll have to upgrade both your motherboard and CPU cooler to use the Core i9-12900K or Core i5-12600K. And, it’s possible you’ll have to buy all-new memory, too, if you get a board that supports DDR5 RAM.
Jackie Thomas is Deputy Editor at Decisionary. Previously, she was TechRadar’s US computing editor. She is fat, queer and extremely online. Computers are the devil, but she just happens to be a satanist. If you need to know anything about computing components, PC gaming or the best laptop on the market, don’t be afraid to drop her a line on Twitter or through email.
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | TechRadar
TechRadar Verdict
The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D introduces new 3D V-Cache technology that delivers on its lofty promises with incredible Ryzen 9-like gaming performance. It even takes a huge swing at Intel’s latest behemoth, the Core i9-12900K, and manages to land some serious blows. It’s non-gaming performance doesn’t benefit at all from the new 3D V-Cache tech, however, so this is strictly a gamer’s CPU.
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AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D: Two minute review
There were several times while testing the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D processor that I had to look over my notes and mutter under my breath that «this can’t be right,» as I ran the benchmarks again. The numbers held up, and after days of grueling testing it’s indisputable that AMD has delivered one of the best gaming processors we’ve ever tested.
The Ryzen 7 5800X3D is, in many ways, a rearguard action against a strongly resurgent Intel, which has powered itself back onto the field with the incredible performance of its new Alder Lake architecture.
This is especially true with the Core i9-12900K, which is aimed right at the lizard brain of PC enthusiasts and gamers who measure the passage of time in FPS.
- AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D at Best Buy for $399
This is the chip that the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is trying to take down, and while it doesn’t land a decisive knockout blow, that it is even in contention at all is a remarkable feat. The fact that it manages, at times, to outperform the best processor on the consumer market is genuinely shocking, and the fact that it is consistently as fast as the best AMD processors around, despite being an entire performance rung down from the Ryzen 9s, pretty much makes every other processor in AMD’s lineup irrelevant – if you’re a gamer, that is.
If you’re a content creator, developer, or general PC hardware enthusiast, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D isn’t going to have a whole lot for you above what you’d find with other Ryzen chips, and while the performance improvements provided by 3D V-Cache are impressive in synthetic testing, diving into actual gaming on the highest settings only really brings the Ryzen 7 5800X3D to rough parity with competing processors.
And given the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D’s relatively weak non-gaming performance, this becomes less of a gaming processor that you’d built a new rig around and more like giving your gaming PC a bottle of nitrous oxide for an extra boost of performance for a relatively low cost.
If you’re a gamer who already has an AM4 motherboard and system set up around a recent Ryzen chip, then upgrading to the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D at the first possible opportunity is a no-brainer. The performance gains while gaming are tangible in ways few other upgrades can really match, second only to making the move from 8GB RAM to 16GB or 32GB.
If you’re not already set up with an AM4 system, however, buying new hardware just for this chip is hard to justify when spending a little more can get you an Intel Alder Lake chip, which will have competitive gaming performance, but brings a whole lot more to the table than just 3D V-Cache.
Still, the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D is a vital life raft for AMD post-Alder Lake that will likely keep AMD gamers on board for a little while longer until we can move into the Zen 4 era.
And given how impressive 3D V-Cache is, seeing how AMD integrates this new technology into its next gen processors will be something to watch for in the months ahead.
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D: price & availability
(Image credit: Future)
- When is it available? April 20, 2022 in the US
- How much will it cost? MSRP is $449 in the US, which is about £345 / AU$605.
- Will I need to buy a new motherboard, too? It will fit most AM4 motherboards from X470 and B450 onward.
The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D is available as of April 20, 2022, with an MSRP of $449 in the US, which is about £345 / AU$605. This is the same MSRP as the Ryzen 7 5800X, so the additional 3D V-Cache hasn’t contributed to the cost at all. We’ve reached out to AMD about UK and Australia pricing and availability and will update this review when we hear back.
It’s hard to separate the price of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D from its performance, since it’s simply the best value out there right now for gamers with AMD systems, but we’ll touch on the performance in a bit.
If you have been wanting to upgrade your rig for ages but you don’t have the money to drop on the best Intel has to offer – which requires a new motherboard, at least – then you really need to look at the Ryzen 7 5800X3D.
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D specs
Process: 7nm
Socket: AM4
Cores: 8
Threads: 16
Base frequency: 3.8GHz
Boost frequency: 4.7GHz
L3 cache: 32MB + 64MB (3D V-Cache) for 100MB total
TDP: 105W
PCIe: 4.0
Max RAM: 128GB Dual-Channel DDR4-3200
Unlocked: No
Besides getting Ryzen 9 gaming performance at a Ryzen 7 price, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D slots right into the AM4 motherboard you likely already have, saving you from costly new component purchases. What’s more, because the 5800X3D has a thinner die to accommodate the stacked 3D V-Cache, it all fits in the same package size as the past couple Ryzen generations, so whatever cooling solution you were using previously will work with the new chip.
All in all, you simply won’t have to spend much money on this processor, and between the new motherboard, cooling, and more, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D can easily come out to almost half the price of making the jump to a Core i9-12900K.
All of that, of course, is in a vacuum where world events and supply shortages don’t affect inventories, pricing, and all the rest. Whether you can get this chip at launch for MSRP remains to be seen, and if past is prologue, the price is likely to shoot up due to pent-up demand.
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D: Chipset & features
(Image credit: Future)
- Built on the same Zen 3 architecture as the Ryzen 7 5800X
- First processor to feature 3D V-Cache technology
- Does not support DDR5 or PCIe 5.0
For all intents and purposes, the underlying Zen 3 architecture for the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D is the same as in the eight-core, 16-thread AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, so much of what is in that review will apply to this chip as well.
If you want to read up on Zen 3, you should definitely check out Jackie’s review for an excellent breakdown of this architecture.
What makes the Ryzen 7 5800X3D different, though, is the introduction of AMD’s new 3D stacked cache, which it calls 3D V-Cache. This additional die is bonded to the underlying Core Complex Die (CCD) of the 5800X (though the die itself has been chemically shaved down to make room for the new cache die).
The additional cache chiplet sits above the processing cores and is connected to the CCD’s L3 cache, which triples the amount of available cache for the processing cores to use. This is an extension though, so the additional distance traveled (even if it is just vertically) does introduce a tiny bit of extra latency above what you’d get with the standard L3 cache pool.
But, this additional cache does save the CPU from having to make substantially longer fetches to main memory for data, so even with the additional latency, you’re saving a lot of time on balance.
(Image credit: Future)
The other major advantage of the 3D stacking process that AMD developed with TSMC is that bonding this additional cache chiplet onto the processing cores and L3 cache keeps its footprint small enough for all of this to fit in the same package as the Ryzen 5800X.
That means it will easily slot into any AM4 socket motherboard, making upgrading from earlier Ryzen chips as simple as swapping out the chips and doing a bios update. Officially, only X470 and B450 motherboards and later are fully compatible with the 5800X3D, but AMD is working with manufacturers of earlier AM4 boards on compatibility.
This also means that existing cooling solutions are fully compatible, and swapping in the new processor into your existing system is as simply as slotting it into the socket, dabbing some thermal paste, and seating the cooling unit securely to the chip. With a quick update to the BIOS, your system should be up and running with the new chip in only a couple of minutes.
Unfortunately, overclocking enthusiasts will have to sit this one out. The way AMD’s 3D V-Cache works is intrinsically tied to how its voltage is managed, so it can’t be changed to give the CPU’s frequency more umph. You are free to overclock the system memory and Infinity Fabric, though, so you’re not completely locked in to the stock settings.
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The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D underperforms in both Single Core and Multi Core benchmarks. (Image credit: Future, Infogram)The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D underperforms in both Single Core and Multi Core benchmarks (Image credit: Future, Infogram)The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D underperforms in both Single Core and Multi Core benchmarks (Image credit: Future, Infogram)The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D underperforms in both Single Core and Multi Core benchmarks (Image credit: Future, Infogram)The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D underperforms in 3DMark’s Time Spy CPU test as well. (Image credit: Future, Infogram)PCMark 10 also shows the weakness of the Ryzen 7 5800X3D compared to its peers.
(Image credit: Future, Infogram)The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D comes in last in most Blender tests. (Image credit: Future, Infogram)At least the Ryzen 7 5800X3D isn’t dead last in Handbrake. (Image credit: Future, Infogram)Again, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D underwhelms in Puget Bench, relative to similar processors. (Image credit: Future, Infogram)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D: Performance
- Ryzen 9 performance at a Ryzen 7 price
- Non-gaming performance does not benefit from 3D V-Cache at all
- Not great for creative content work
So the performance of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D is definitely a mixed bag, at least when compared to its peers. If you are looking to upgrade from an old Zen 2 processor, than there’s nothing but upside here, but the problem gets trickier when you compare it to the most recent releases from both AMD and Intel.
Consistently, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D and the standard Ryzen 7 5800X scored about the same in our benchmarks, and in some cases performed close enough to each other as to be indistinguishable, especially during non-gaming tasks.
But even AMD will tell you that the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is meant to be a gaming processor, and it is in this context that the chip really puts that 3D V-Cache to good use.
For nearly all the computing work out there, cache really doesn’t factor all that much into things. The processor’s controller will fetch some data from RAM and put it in cache and use it as needed. When this data is a spreadsheet or lines of code, very few fetches to RAM will need to be made, as most of the work is reading and writing to the same data in cache.
All that changes with gaming, however. Gaming is especially chaotic and unpredictable, with player actions triggering all kinds of asset loads from memory like animations and sound effects. Loading this all into cache can easily eat up a processing core’s allotted cache addresses before a scene is even rendered fully, so you end up with constant fetching to RAM nearly every frame. With a whopping 100MB of available cache, though, multiple textures, 3D models, and other large asset files can be loaded up quickly, which lets the computer process gameplay quicker, resulting in faster fps.
We tested several games using the fastest, most powerful hardware we had handy, including an RTX 3090 Ti, 32GB RAM, and a Samsung 980 Pro M.2 SSD to give the processors we tested the most freedom to operate without constraints from data bottlenecks elsewhere. We also ran our tests on low quality settings, which takes GPU intensive tasks off the table so that CPU performance can be better measured.
In this environment, the performance of the 3D V-Cache is incredible, easily blowing past the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and Intel Core i9-12900K on every game we tested it on.
The numbers were so unexpected, honestly, that I really did have to rerun a lot of tests just to make sure I hadn’t screwed up some settings. The results were consistent across the board in the end, and the Ryzen 7 5800X3D simply ran away with it at every opportunity.
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The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D handily beats competing chips in Total War: Warhammer III (Image credit: Future, Infogram)The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D also comes out way ahead in Dirt 5, burying the latest Intel processors.
(Image credit: Future, Infogram)The Ryzen 7 5800X3D comes out well ahead in Hitman 3’s Dubai benchmark. (Image credit: Future, Infogram)And in the Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker benchmark, the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D beats its competitors by a healthy margin. (Image credit: Future, Infogram)
But if you’re investing this much money into gaming hardware, you likely aren’t doing so to just run every game on Low Quality at 1080p. So, we also ran these same gaming benchmarks at 4K and max settings, cranking everything from ray tracing to texture quality to the highest it would go.
This definitely brought things down from the lofty heights of 400 fps, but even in this, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D stands out.
In the Total War: Warhammer III battle benchmark, the Ryzen 9 5950X and 5900X pushed 57 fps with every setting cranked to max at 4K. The Ryzen 7 5800X3D, meanwhile, also hit 57 fps.
Likewise with Dirt 5, where all three processors ran at 94 fps at 4K and Ultra settings across the board.
And while the 5950X and 5900X ran at 134 and 133 fps in Hitman 3’s Dubai benchmark at 4K and Ultra settings, the 5800X3D actually pushed out 141 fps on those same settings.
What about Alder Lake though? In the Total War: Warhammer III battle benchmark, it pushed 53 fps on the above settings, compared to 57 fps for the 5800X3D. Four fps isn’t a whole lot, but the 5800X3D also scored four fps higher on the Hitman 3 Dubai benchmark, and just 1 fps behind the i9-12900K in Dirt 5. The 5800X3D also scored about 150 points higher in the Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker benchmark, 19163 to 19019, respectively.
It was a similar case with the Intel Core i5-12600K, with both Alder Lake chips running about even with the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, and the Alder Lake chips had the benefit of 32GB of DDR5-4,800MHz RAM, compared to the 32GB of DDR4-3,200MHz for the Ryzen 7 5800X.
The addition of 3D V-Cache essentially turns a Ryzen 7 into the best Ryzen 9 chip out there, and even goes pound for pound with Intel’s next-gen processor, at least as far as gaming is concerned.
In short, if you’re in the market for a new AMD processor for your gaming PC, this is it. This is the chip you’re looking for, and it’s doesn’t cost a penny more in MSRP than the standard Ryzen 7 5800X.
Should you buy an AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D?
(Image credit: Future)
Buy it if…
You want the best gaming processor for your money
The price-for-performance ratio on the 5800X3D is the best you’re going to get with an AMD build.
You don’t want to upgrade your whole rig
Thanks to AM4 socket compatibility, the 5800X3D will drop right into the motherboard you might already have without requiring extra adapters and such to make what you already have work with it.
You want to have some cutting edge hardware
The innovation behind AMD’s 3D V-Cache is truly remarkable, and we’re only beginning to see what this technology can do.
Don’t buy it if…
You want it for something other than gaming
While its gaming performance is phenomenal, the 5800X3D underperforms Ryzen 9 5900X and Ryzen 9 5950X processors in every other category, and let’s not even talk about Alder Lake.
You want DDR5 and PCIe 5.0 support
Unfortunately, Zen 3 doesn’t support DDR5 or PCIe 5.0, which for now is limited to Intel’s Alder Lake chips.
You need to buy a whole new setup anyway
If you need to upgrade your motherboard, cooler, power supply and all the rest, this really isn’t the chip to build a new rig around. You’d be better off with an i9-12900K or a Ryzen 9 5900X.
- First reviewed April 2022
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
John (He/Him) is the US Computing Editor here at TechRadar and he is also a programmer, gamer, activist, and Brooklyn College alum currently living in Brooklyn, NY.
Named by the CTA as a CES 2020 Media Trailblazer for his science and technology reporting, John specializes in all areas of computer science, including industry news, hardware reviews, PC gaming, as well as general science writing and the social impact of the tech industry.
You can find him online on Twitter at @thisdotjohn
Currently playing: The Last Stand: Aftermath, Cartel Tycoon
Best CPU 2022: Our top rated processors
Introduction
Whether you’re looking to build a new PC from scratch or fancy upgrading an existing system, the CPU is one of the most important considerations.
But what are the current best CPU options in 2022?
To answer that question, our team of experts have reviewed as many processors as they can get their hands on. This ranges from budget-friendly chips, to monstrously powerful CPUs for those who crave the fastest speeds possible.
In order to test each CPU, we use multiple synthetic benchmarks, as well as in-game tests to see what kind of performance you can expect. We make sure to keep consistent components for our test rig to ensure fair testing when comparing the performance of the desktop processors.
It’s not all about performance speed, as we also make sure to check out compatible features, power efficiency and thermal performance. And of course, the retail price is always taken into consideration when giving a CPU a final score and verdict.
But before you go rushing off to buy one of our recommendations, be warned, we are expecting Intel to unveil new chips in the near future. Specifically, Intel’s expected to launch its 13th Gen Raptor Lake desktop CPUs in mere months.
With that caveat out of the way, scroll down to see our picks of the best CPUs we’ve reviewed that are currently on sale.
Best CPU at a glance:
- Best overall CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7900X – check price
- Best value CPU: Intel Core i5-12600K – check price
- Best value gaming CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600X – check price
- Most powerful Intel Core Processor: Intel Core i9-12900K – check price
How we test
Learn more about how we test CPUs
We always review multiple CPUs at once to compare data, using consistent components for fair testing where possible.
We use a mix of both synthetic and in-game benchmarks to gauge performance, while also considering additional features and pricing.
We also measure the likes of power consumption and peak temperature under stress to get an idea of performance efficiency.
AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
Best CPU overall
Trusted Score
Pros
- Fantastic multi-core performance
- Top class gaming speeds
- Future-proofed with PCIe 5.
0 and DDR5
- Great power efficiency
Cons
- Requires a powerful cooling system
- Can find better value gaming CPUs elsewhere
- Worth waiting for Intel Raptor Lake before buying
The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is one of the most powerful CPUs AMD has ever released, offering faster speeds than any Intel Core chip currently on the market. The Ryzen 7000 Series runs on AMD’s new Zen 4 architecture that not only brings a performance boost, but also support for DDR5 and PCIe 5.0, enabling you to upgrade to the latest and greatest RAM and SSDs.
AMD claims the Ryzen 9 7900X has a max boost clock speed of 5.6GHz, which leapfrogs the 12th gen Intel Core i9-12900K’s 5.2GHz boost clock. The only part that seemingly hasn’t been upgraded is the amount of cores and threads from the previous gen – there’s still 12 cores and 24 threads.
Those specs didn’t seem to hold back multi-core performance though. In Cinebench R23, a program which simulates CPU-heavy and intensive tasks such as rendering, AMD’s latest flagship chip managed to beat off Intel’s top Alder Lake chip (the i9-12900K) by some margin. The same story proved true in more general benchmarks such as with PCMark 10 Extended, which evaluates the performance of your entire system. Here, the Ryzen 7900X achieved a score of 10,865, while the i9-12900K clocked in with a score of 10,602, which is a fair margin.
In testing, the Ryzen 9 7900X offered outstanding performance and it proved to be the most powerful desktop chip we’ve ever tested for both gaming and intense creative workloads. If you want even more speed, then AMD also offers the Ryzen 9 7950X which packs more cores, while Intel is expected to launch its new Raptor Lake chips in the coming weeks.
Reviewer: Ryan Jones
Full review: AMD Ryzen 9 7900X review
Intel Core i5-12600K
Best value CPU
Trusted Score
Pros
- Excellent gaming performance
- Huge improvements to multi-core performance
- Future-proofed with PCIe 5.0 and DDR5
- Great power efficiency
Cons
- Teething issues for game compatibility
- Requirement of Z690 motherboard drives up cost
Intel’s Core i5 line has consistently been the chips we tend to recommend to most buyers. This is because they typically offer the best value for money, providing a competitive performance and price. Following our latest string of benchmark tests, this remains the case with the Intel Core i5-12600K, which is the CPU we’d recommend to most people.
The chip’s based on the same Alder Lake architecture as the more expensive i9, which gives it the same future-proofed DDR5 and PCIe 5.0 support, letting you enjoy truly next-generation performance and loading speeds.
But what truly blew us away during testing is quite how good it is at gaming. Running big name titles, like Horizon Zero Dawn, Borderlands 3 and Total War: Warhammer 2, the i5 managed to offer radically better speeds than its predecessor. In 1080p resolutions, we regularly saw 30fps gains on the older i5. But more impressively, the CPU also came close to matching the gaming frame rates of the more expensive i9.
And while the new mid-range AMD Ryzen 5 7600X offers a similar price and an improved performance, it still can’t quite match the i5-12600K for multi-core performance. This makes the Intel i5 the best value processor for those who plan on using the chip for both gaming and content creation.
The Intel Core i5-12600K also delivered one of the lowest peak power consumption of all the recent processors we’ve tested, meaning you won’t need an uber-expensive, high-capacity PSU to get it running smoothly. As a result, this is a very cost-effective option.
Reviewer: Ryan Jones
Full review: Intel Core i5-12600K review
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
Best value gaming CPU
Trusted Score
Pros
- Outstanding gaming performance
- Support for DDR5 and PCIE 5.0
- Great power efficiency
- Affordable price
Cons
- Subpar multi-core performance
- Requires a high-end cooler
- Worth waiting for Intel Raptor Lake
The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X offers the benefits of the Zen 4 CPU architecture at an affordable price, supporting both DDR5 and PCIe 5. 0, enabling you to make use of the speediest RAM and SSDs. As these new Ryzen 7000 CPUs work with a new socket, AM5, you will also need to purchase a new motherboard. It will be expensive, but once you’ve made the initial outlay, you’ll be futureproofed for a number of years.
The Ryzen 5 7600X shines at gaming performance. In testing, it beat off a pair of formidable Intel Alder Lake processors, including the flagship i9-12900K. This is all thanks to the high frequency speeds, hitting a peak of 5.3GHz without overclocking.
While this chip may excel with its price-to-performance ratio for gaming, the same unfortunately can’t be said for its multi-core performance for tasks such as rendering. This is evident when taking a look at the results for Cinebench R23. In this benchmark, the 7600X’s result put it behind Intel 12th gen options (Intel Core i9-12900K and Intel Core i5-12600K).
In more general computing benchmarks such as PCMark 10 though, the 7600X offered a score that was only bested by the more expensive 7900X and i9-12900K, which suggests it’s a great cheap for general computing and gaming, although we suggest looking elsewhere for high-end content creation.
Reviewer: Ryan Jones
Full review: AMD Ryzen 5 7600X review
Intel Core i9-12900K
Most powerful Intel Core processor
Trusted Score
Pros
- Huge gains in multi-core performance
- Most powerful gaming CPU performance
- Very good for streaming games
- Future-proofed with PCIe 5.0 and DDR5
Cons
- Expensive
- High peak temperature
- Only slightly better than i5 for gaming
It’s difficult to recommend the Intel Core i9-12900K since the arrival of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X. The AMD chip is more affordable, while seeing a better single-core and multi-core performance. But the i9 is a supremely powerful chip with excellent futureproofing, so is still a a worthwhile option if you’d prefer to stay loyal to Intel instead of switching over to AMD.
During our benchmark tests, we found the Intel Core i9-12900K to offer incredibly competitive multi-core and gaming speeds.
It delivered a near 2x multi-core performance increase on its predecessor according to our Geekbench 5 and Cinebench R23 results. These speeds makes the Intel i9 an easy recommendation for power users and gamers in general.
We were also very pleased with the chip’s new PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 support which lets the 12900K work with the latest and greatest SSDs and RAM currently available.
But during our checks, we found it’s still an outright power hog and requires an incredibly powerful CPU cooler to run efficiently. The 335.5W peak power draw we detected while benchmarking is also a sizable 100W-plus increase on what we measured reviewing more mainstream chips, such as the Intel i5-12600K and Ryzen 7 5800X. But if you’re craving one of the most powerful consumer chips around, you’re going to have to settle for a high power draw.
But don’t forget, Intel is about to launch the Raptor Lake range, which could see the Intel Core i9-12900K discounted in the very near future.
Reviewer: Ryan Jones
Full review: Intel Core i9-12900K review
We also considered…
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
Can this jack-of-all-trades processor compete with Intel Rocket Lake?
Intel Core i5-11600K
Intel’s mid-range desktop processor offers a high-class gaming performance
AMD Ryzen 9 3900X
One of the best and most versatile desktop processors available
We’ve reviewed
See all reviews
FAQs
How much RAM is enough?
We recommend having at least 8GB of RAM for general tasks, but if you’re looking to play games or edit video etc, then we suggest upping that to 16GB of RAM and beyond.
What is better: GHz or cores?
It really depends on your workload. Having high frequency speeds is obviously very important, especially for intensive tasks such as gaming and content creation. But it’s also important to have multiple cores to improve the efficiency of multi-tasking, especially when using apps such as Adobe Premiere Pro.
Can CPU affect FPS?
Yes, a more powerful CPU can have a positive impact on your FPS when gaming, but a GPU will be more influential here.
You might like…
Full specification
‹
UK RRP
USA RRP
EU RRP
AUD RRP
Manufacturer
Release Date
First Reviewed Date
Power Consumption
Boosted Clock Speed
Architecture
Base Clock Speed
Number of Cores
Number of Threads
Motherboard Chipset
Manufactoring Process
Graphics
Intel Core i5-12600K
–
$289
–
–
Intel
2021
04/11/2021
195.
6 W
4.90 GHz
Intel Core 12th Generation
3.70 GHz
10
16
Z690
–
Intel UHD Graphics 770
Intel Core i9-12900K
–
$589
–
–
Intel
2021
04/11/2021
–
5.20 GHz
12th Gen Intel Core (Alder Lake)
3.20 GHz
16
24
Z690
–
Intel UHD Graphics 770
AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
£579.99
$549
€669.00
AU$590
AMD
2022
–
216 W
5.6 GHz
Zen 4
4.7 GHz
12
24
X570
5 nm
AMD Radeon Graphics
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
£319.99
$299
€369.90
–
AMD
2022
–
168.5 W
5.3 GHz
Zen 4
4.7 GHz
6
12
x670
5 nm
AMD Radeon Graphics
›
Trusted Reviews test data
‹
PCMark 10
Cinebench R23
Geekbench 5 single core
Geekbench 5 multi core
Power consumption
Peak temperature
Borderlands 3 frame rate (4K)
Borderlands 3 frame rate (Quad HD)
Borderlands 3 frame rate (Full HD)
Horizon Zero Dawn frame rate (4K)
Horizon Zero Dawn frame rate (Quad HD)
Horizon Zero Dawn frame rate (Full HD)
Dirt Rally (4K)
Dirt Rally (Quad HD)
Dirt Rally (Full HD)
Intel Core i5-12600K
9470
16892
1742
12049
195.
6 W
68 °C
41 fps
74
102
54 fps
95 fps
116 fps
99 fps
172 fps
220 fps
Intel Core i9-12900K
9966
26503
1899
16810
–
97.01 °C
41 fps
74
104
54 fps
95 fps
117 fps
99 fps
172 fps
230 fps
AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
10865
27528
2180
18613
216 W
95.5 °C
29.7 fps
59.63
81.19
48 fps
77 fps
94 fps
65.24 fps
106.45 fps
157.88 fps
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
10537
15119
2054
11055
168.5 W
88.88 °C
35.84 fps
62.14
82.82
47 fps
78 fps
91 fps
65.4 fps
107.32 fps
138.33 fps
›
By Reece Bithrey
Contact via Twitter
Contact via linkedin
Contributor
Reece has been writing for Trusted Reviews since 2019 on a freelance basis thanks to a few days’ work experience and writes about all things computing.
He’s currently studying International History &a…
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Best of 2022: desktops | Digital World magazine
The best desktops will help you work or play, for example, allow you to run modern games.
Their design is sleeker and smaller than the desktop PCs of yesteryear.
These devices have very fast processors, large displays and memory. With them, creative workers and gamers can enjoy technology to the fullest.
These modern computers are quite small in size and do not take up all the space on the desktop. A number of them have an all-in-one design that makes the computer look like an advanced tablet. Other copies are smaller than a book and come without a monitor, mouse, and keyboard (you need to buy them separately).
- Best overall: HP Pavilion 24 All-in-One
- Best All-in-One: Apple iMac 27″
- Best for Gaming: Corsair VENGEANCE i17200 Gaming PC
- Best for Photo Editing: Apple Mac Mini M1
- Best Under $500: Intel Frost Canyon NUC 10 Mini Desktop
Processor. Today’s video streaming, graphics-intensive games, and memory-intensive editing software require a powerful desktop processor.
Memory. Many desktop computers have multiple drives with enough memory to run complex applications, programs, and games. To expand the memory, you need a microSD card.
Updates available. Due to ever-changing technology, desktop computers quickly become obsolete if they cannot be improved through upgrades available in the store or through after-sales service.
Available ports. It’s not just about the number of ports, but also about the quality and their location. A small number of desktop PCs have ports on the front to maintain a streamlined look, but this often makes it difficult to connect devices, monitors, and so on. The ports must also provide support for the devices to be used. For example, an Apple computer with a USB-A port can charge other Apple devices. However, this feature is missing from many past iMacs (though not the ones on our list).
Why it’s the best: The HP Pavilion 24 balances performance and affordability, making it suitable for work and home users who don’t need high processing speeds and great graphics.
Specs:
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 5
- Class: all-in-one
- Boot disk capacity: 256 SSD (upgrades available)
Benefits:
- Adequate graphics for casual games
- High performance AMD Ryzen 5
- Excellent webcam and sound
- 5 USB ports
Drawbacks:
- Wi-Fi 5
- Graphics won’t please gamers
The HP Pavilion 24 All-in-One strikes a balance between great performance and a good price. This model is not a budget desktop PC, but for less than $1,000 (or more if you get the right upgrade) you get a performance device. You will be able to view pages, work with several applications, process streaming video and texts. A sufficiently powerful AMD Ryzen processor allows you to do all this at the same time.
Another advantage of the monoblock is its impressive sound. In the case of regular online meetings in Zoom, you will get a good picture with the HP webcam.
The monitor/stand weighs only 14.8 pounds, making it easy to move around. The kit includes a white keyboard. It would be better if it was wireless, however, in general, it has an attractive appearance, it works well. The AMD Radeon graphics card allows you to play casual games. However, if you want to make heavy use of 3D capabilities, a more expensive model with a graphical upgrade is probably better.
There are limits to what HP can offer. It’s not the best option for serious gamers, it has WiFi 5. It’s not too bad, but given that some of the more expensive models have faster WiFi 6, it’s a little sad for an otherwise excellent PC.
Why the best: The is an incredibly fast 10-core processor, upgraded graphics and a huge 27-inch screen, high speed, memory and storage combined in a modern, intuitive system.
Feature:
- All-in-one class
- Boot disk capacity: 1 TB
- Processor: Intel Core i9-10910
Benefits:
- Breathtaking graphics
- Matte or glossy 5K display surface
- Fast work
- USB Type-A port
Drawbacks:
- Less impressive keyboard
- Price
The 27-inch Apple iMac has an impressive list of features, from the visuals and 5K screen to the design.
Available as a matte or nanotexture or glossy display. 5120 x 2880 pixel resolution and 1 billion colors let you see every detail in a movie or game. Nanotexture will help reduce glare in bright light, while maintaining color vibrancy. The viewing will be breathtaking.
Visual effects don’t matter without processing power. iMacs have them. Intel Core i9-10910 is the best update available. This iMac also supports Hyper-Threading. The most advanced version of the Radeon Pro 5700 Xt graphics card has 16 GB of video memory. The model is equipped with a USB Type-A port, which is needed to charge Apple devices. It was missing from previous versions of iMac.
Once you start upgrading this all-in-one, it will become expensive, beyond the budget of many people in the first place. Another problem with this model is the keyboard. The iMac comes with wireless accessories, but the keyboard isn’t the most comfortable.
Why: Core i9 and RTX 3080 processors deliver amazing 4K gaming.
Features:
- Processor: Intel Core i9-10850K
- Class: play
- Boot disk capacity: 1 TB
Benefits:
- Good price for a premium build
- Excellent design
- Many RGB options
- Great for photo editing
- 4K premium games
Faults:
- Loud fans
- Expensive, though justified for a gaming PC
Corsair VENGEANCE i17200 Gaming PC is a powerful 4K gaming desktop. It’s fast thanks to the Intel Core i9-10850K and the RTX 3080 graphics card.
Corsair earned high marks for its steel and tempered tinted glass chassis.
It is equipped with six fans, three of which are visible through the front panel, where you can also install and configure RGB lighting schemes. Fans are sometimes too noisy.
The graphic power and high speed of computing allow you to use it not only to play, but also to edit graphics and photos.
The model is not cheap, but gives a lot of experience with one of the best monitors for gaming.
Why: The Apple M1 processor further improves performance. Thanks to him, photo editing is easy.
Feature:
- Class: Small Form Factor (SFF)
- Boot disk capacity: 256 GB
- Processor: Apple M1
Benefits:
- Suitable for all applications thanks to the processing speed of
- It can edit 8K videos, run iOS games and apps
- Small claims
Drawbacks:
- 16 GB maximum memory and no eGPU
- Unable to upgrade memory later than
The small size of the Apple Mac Mini M1 hides a powerful Apple M1 processor-on-a-chip (SoC) that makes it easy to run modern games, photo editing software, streaming. Its versatility makes this small desktop PC one of the top picks.
Mini allows you to edit 8K video, play games that previous Mini models could not handle.
The only downside to the M1 is that it only comes with 16GB of RAM. It’s not expandable with an eGPU, which is what many photographers and videographers usually rely on. However, most people, even photo editors, don’t need it.
The Mini is available in several configurations and has fewer Thunderbolt ports than the previous model. However, many devices can connect to this PC.
Why the best: The is a great desktop for those on a budget, thanks to its small size, expandable RAM, and port options.
Features:
- Processor: Intel Core i3 (up to i7)
- Format: Small Form Factor
- Boot Disk Capacity: Varies
Benefits:
- Energy efficient
- Good processor performance
- Easy upgradeable RAM
- Lots of port options to match the size of
Drawbacks:
- Not suitable for games
- Noisy
The Intel Frost Canyon NUC 10 Mini Desktop PC offers a lot of features at a price that most people can afford.
This computer has many ports, including the front panel.
It comes with different processor configurations, from Intel Core i3 to i7. With the i7, you will have more options to work and play, but not at the level of a hardcore gamer. Unlike some other small form factor PCs, it is possible to upgrade the RAM to a higher capacity RAM.
When operating, your computer consumes less power, saving you money over the life of your PC. But this computer is noisy.
Budget
Estimate your budget soberly. Please note that desktop computers have more powerful processors than laptops at the same price.
Some desktop PCs that are designed to view and process texts start at $300. Everything affects the cost, from the format to the video card. When choosing a budget model, give preference to one that can be upgraded later.
Operating System
Macs are powerful, durable and compatible with iPhones and iPads, but PCs are the most affordable option.
Therefore, choose what is closer to you and what suits your tasks well.
But in the end it all comes down to personal preference. Choose the system that best suits the tasks you do most often. If everyone in your house has a Mac, buy another Mac, not another brand.
Graphics
Creative people may need more graphics power over time. Cheaper desktop PCs may not have a GPU, or GPU. They have an integrated IGP — a graphics processor adapted for ordinary user tasks. However, over time, for many business purposes or cool games, this may not be enough.
Good thing PCs have high power graphics cards. However, they must be supported by the monitor, and 4K and 5K displays will need a good GPU. A 1080p screen does not require constant updates.
Memory and storage
For most people, SSDs are solid state drives. They are smaller and faster. For normal use, a capacity of 250-256 GB is enough.
For a large media or game collection that will continue to grow, look for a model with a terabyte drive or several smaller ones.
Also look for a device with a great SSD with slower hard drives that can store large programs, as well as videos and games — typical memory thieves.
Question: Which brand of desktop computer is best?
Different brands like Dell or HP have their fans, but Apple’s cult is unmatched. The Mini and iMac have a good reputation, with recent updates keeping them at the top. A lot of users stop looking at other brands after switching to a Mac, even though Apple laptops and PCs are among the most expensive on the market.
Do you need high-quality and cheaper equipment? Take a closer look at HP, their models differ in power.
Q: What is the ideal desktop PC for home use?
For web surfing, emailing and streaming, an Apple Mac Mini M1 or small Intel Frost Canyon NUC 10 is a great option. HP Pavilion 24 is also good. television. This is also true for the Apple Mac Mini, which also saves space in the home. Another addition would be a good gaming keyboard.
Q: What do I need to recycle my desktop PC?
Remove or have the hard drive professionally cleaned before disposing of the computer. It stores a lot of personal information, it should not fall into the hands of strangers. Information erased by conventional means is not so difficult to recover with the help of special programs.
Also remove all device connections to the computer. Then contact your nearest electronics recycling organization. You will surely find many similar offers on the Internet.
The HP Pavilion 24 All-in-One is the best desktop, it’s powerful, and it’s not outrageously priced. It is suitable for surfing the web, using text programs and watching videos on a bright, clear screen. The more powerful 27-inch Apple iMac is suitable for any purpose, except perhaps for competing in the most sophisticated 3D games.
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Processors in 2022 — what new manufacturers are preparing
11/28/2021
technology news
computer parts
computers
Intel
AMD
Apple
3777
Each year, companies release new generations of processors.
Users look forward to the announcement of new technologies. It is also interesting to see the giants in the field of architecture development or performance improvement. The processors of 2022 can please users of different devices. Powerful options will be released for PCs and smartphones, and for laptops, competition between different types of architectures will become even fiercer.
12th Gen Intel Core
New Alder Lake processors are scheduled for release in late 2021. They will be able to work with DDR4 or DDR5 RAM. All models in the series are capable of using up to 128 GB of RAM. This is where new standards come in. The processor will use PCI-E 5.0 or 4.0, and support for WiFi 6E and Thunderbolt 4 technologies is also included. The socket type is LGA1700. UHD Graphics 770 will be used as the graphics core here.
As an innovation, the company has started using the terms P-core and E-core. The processor is divided into two clusters. High-performance cores are located in one part, energy-efficient ones in the other.
This scheme is used in the Arm architecture, but Intel uses this approach for the first time. The difference between the types of cores is significant, so the energy-efficient Gracemont are inferior in terms of frequencies and do not use Hyper-Threading. To distribute tasks, the company has developed Thread Director technology.
| i5 | i7 | i9 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| P-core base frequency, GHz | 3.7 | 3.6 | 3.2 |
| Base frequency E-core, GHz | 2.8 | 2.7 | 2.4 |
| Maximum frequency in turbo mode, GHz | 4.9 | 5.0 | 5.2 |
| Maximum E-core frequency, GHz | 3.6 | 3.8 | 3.9 |
| Number of cores | 10 | 12 | 16 |
| Number of threads | 16 | 20 | 24 |
| Cache size, Mb | 20 | 25 | 30 |
Performance boost is promised by 20% when running single thread, and twice when using multi-threaded mode compared to the previous generation of processors from Intel.
The process technology has changed, it is now equal to 10 nm. Models with top specifications will also require good cooling. At the base frequency, they produce up to 125 W of thermal energy, when using the turbo mode, this figure can almost double.
13th Generation Core Desktop Processors
Expect processors codenamed Raptor-Lake towards the end of 2022. Intel will continue to develop a new architecture option with a combination of different types of cores. At the same time, the number of energy efficient ones will increase compared to the 12th generation. Raptor-Lake improvements over Alder Lake:
- turbo frequency up to 5.5 GHz;
- up to 36 MB cache;
- twice as many energy efficient cores;
- , the number of productive cores will remain unchanged, but they will be released with an updated microarchitecture.
It is known that the socket and the manufacturing process do not change. For Raptor-Lake boards with LGA1700 are also suitable.
TDP at the base frequencies will remain the same, but in the case of using the turbo mode, there will be a slight increase in heat dissipation. More details will be available throughout the year.
AMD Zen 4
The new 2022 AMD processors will switch to the new Zen 4 architecture. The main change that everyone is waiting for is a reduction in the process technology to 5 nm. If there are no changes in the company’s plans, then users will see the new design in the first half of the year.
According to user Broly_X1, the appearance of processors on the new architecture should be expected closer to the 4th quarter of 2022, and the announcement will take place in the fall. According to Moore’s Law is Dead, Zen 4 will be released in the third quarter of next year. Insiders don’t always hit the mark. Accurate information, as always, is worth waiting for from AMD representatives.
Main changes for processors using Zen 4:
- process reduction;
- transition to a new socket;
- PCI increase and support for version 4 of this technology;
- DDR5 support.
In addition to the new architecture, users will also be able to see the new socket. The long-lived AM4 is slowly going out of business. Zen 4 will use AM5 based on the LGA principle, which distinguishes this connector from its predecessors. Up to this point, the company has been using PGA sockets for desktop systems.
AMD Ryzen 6000
Much of the information is hearsay and therefore varies greatly. Twitter user Yuri Bubliy, who can be found by the nickname “1usmus”, talks about a possible exit at the end of January next year. The processor will receive an advanced Zen 3+ architecture. In this case, we can expect that the new model will be a response to the hybrid architecture proposed by Intel’s competitor. No confirmation of the accuracy of the information was received.
Ryzen 6000 processor will be released later and will use Zen 4. It will use a new socket and the frequency will increase to 5 GHz. But before the official announcement of the company, all this remains only a rumor.
Exact information should be expected from company representatives. The premiere date is still unknown.
The processor will be called Rembrand. More energy-efficient notebook models with the U label and high performance desktop versions with the H label will be released.
Apple M1X and Apple M2
The success of the M1 processors drew attention to SoC technology. Apple is expected to continue and reveal a new line in 2022. M1X chips can get 10 cores. The big.LITTLE hybrid model is used here. They are divided by performance level, but in the case of these processors from Apple, 8 cores out of 10 will be high-performance. For the graphics component, the number of cores can also increase. The type of microarchitecture will remain the same, but the amount of memory and cores will increase.
M2 will probably be inferior in performance to the M1X chip. Laptops based on it can get passive cooling, which indicates a small heat dissipation.
Chips will be used in Macbook. At the same time, the energy-efficient M2 has been developed for the Air series, and the M1X has been modified and strengthened for the Pro. The latter is scheduled for release in the 4th quarter of 2021, and the M2 will be released in the first quarter of 2022. The new generation can rival the Intel Core i5 laptop version in single-threaded performance. Arm since the eighth generation is capable of using 64 bit addresses. The new architecture includes a set of useful technologies. Processors can use SVE2 instructions, the Realms hardware container, in addition to improved metrics for machine learning. There will also be a new Mali GPU. It combines increased performance with a 20% reduction in energy consumption.
We can expect that these chips will become the basis for smartphones at the end of 2022. They will be able to compete with the usual options from Intel or AMD as the basis of laptops.
| Processor model | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Cortex-X2 | The top performance model for laptops and smartphones. |
| Cortex-A710 | An energy efficient and productive option for phones and laptops. |
| Cortex-A510 | Chip for smartphones and smart home systems with optimal energy efficiency. |
In 2022, the confrontation between Intel and AMD will continue, in which Arm processors can also wedge. Both companies have taken a step forward. Intel has a process advancement and a new architecture option. AMD is also reducing the size of transistors, but there are no significant changes in the design of the cores. Arm architecture is ramping up power and moving towards a brighter future. And Apple will delight fans with new devices with new chips.
Articles about other computer components and technology may be useful to you:
- new laptops in 2022;
- the coolest and most comfortable keyboards;
- best monitors for gaming PCs.
Computers and accessories
Interesting reviews
AMD unveils 5nm Ryzen 7000 processors and 6nm chipsets for them
As expected, AMD today introduced a new generation of processors at Computex 2022 — Ryzen 7000.
These are the world’s first desktop 5nm CPUs.
The new products are built on the new Zen 4 architecture, have integrated RDNA 2 graphics, are made in a new design for Socket AM5, support new memory and interfaces, and finally, these are the world’s first desktop 5nm CPUs.
Ryzen 7000 processors will offer up to 16 Zen 4 cores and double the L2 cache of 1MB per core compared to their Zen 2 and Zen 3 predecessors. Nothing is reported about the third-level cache, as well as the prospects for the release of chips on Zen 4 with an additional 3D V-Cache cache.
Another important detail of the new chips will be a significant increase in clock frequency. AMD indicates that the frequency in the automatic overclocking mode (Max Boost) will be higher than 5 GHz. In addition, the presentation showed how a 16-core sample of the Ryzen 7000 series processor was able to provide a frequency above 5.5 GHz in the game Ghostwire: Tokyo , which is quite impressive.
True, LSS was used to cool it.
AMD noted that the new processors will deliver over 15% per-thread performance gains (compared to Ryzen 95950X in Cinebench R23). Acceleration will provide an increased cache, increased frequencies and architectural improvements that should bring an increase in IPC (the number of executable instructions per clock). Unfortunately, AMD didn’t specify exactly how much IPC gain the Zen 4 architecture would provide on its own. Additional instructions are also provided to speed up the work of processors in artificial intelligence and machine learning systems.
Ryzen 7000 processors, like their predecessors, consist of three dies. Two of them are made according to the TSMC 5nm process technology and contain processor cores with the Zen 4 architecture. The third is a die with I/O interfaces, which, unlike a similar die in the CPU of previous generations, is made according to the 6nm process technology instead of 12nm.
But much more important difference of the new IO die is that it has an integrated graphics processor.
So every AMD Ryzen 7000 desktop processor will be able to offer at least basic integrated graphics. Previously, regular desktop Ryzen did not have “inserts”, but only Ryzen G-series chips had them.
Another important feature of the new IO chip is support for new standards. We are talking about support for DDR5 memory, as well as the PCI Express 5.0 bus. Thus, AMD has caught up with Intel in terms of support for modern technologies in the CPU — the “blue” ones have the specified memory and bus support for Alder Lake-S, introduced at the end of 2021.
The new chips are designed for the new Socket AM5 socket and this is the first socket change for Ryzen processors — all previous generations, from Ryzen 1000 to Ryzen 5000, used Socket AM4. The new connector, among other things, is just needed to provide support for DDR5 and PCIe 5.0. Note that with the new processor socket, AMD has finally moved away from the unloved PGA type connection with legs on the CPU, and switched to LGA execution — the legs are in the socket itself, and on the CPU there are only contact pads, like Intel has for many years.
Chips with TDP up to 170 W are supported, while maintaining compatibility with coolers for Socket AM4.
AMD has not yet announced individual models of Ryzen 7000 processors, nor has it specified a release date. It was only noted that the new generation of Ryzen will debut this fall.
AMD today introduced not only the Ryzen 7000 series desktop processors, but also entry-level solutions for laptops. In the fourth quarter, AMD will release Mendocino 6nm mobile processors combining Zen 2 architecture and RDNA 2 integrated graphics. Laptops based on Mendocino processors will be able to get into the price segment from $399 to $699, offering Zen 2 compute architecture, RDNA 2 graphics architecture, and a combination of four compute cores with eight threads. The Mendocino processor chips will be manufactured using 6nm technology by TSMC.
AMD now offers Dali and Picasso processors based on Zen and Zen+ processor architectures and Vega graphics in the entry-level mobile segment.
The novelty also offers not the latest processor architecture (Zen 2 was released in 2019), but still it has much higher performance. The presence of modern integrated RDNA 2 graphics will also benefit performance. AMD does not specify exactly how many graphics cores the new products will have, it is unlikely that 12, like the Radeon 680M of the older Ryzen 6000 chips. We also note that Mendocino chips will offer support for LPDDR5 memory, which has very high speed, which will also benefit performance.
Notebooks based on Mendocino processors will offer more than ten hours of battery life in mixed usage scenarios. Both Microsoft Windows and Google Chrome OS will be offered as an operating system. Tellingly, AMD is already offering a combination of Zen 2 computing architecture and 6nm manufacturing technology, as Van Gogh APUs are produced according to this recipe and find use in Valve’s Steam Deck game consoles.
The desktop Ryzen 7000 company introduced AMD 600-series chipsets and the new Socket AM5 (LGA 1718), supporting processors with TDP up to 170W.
The new platform will offer support for DDR5 memory and PCIe 5.0 bus for connecting graphics cards and/or memory drives.
As expected, the flagship AMD X670E (Extreme) chipset will provide maximum performance and overclocking capability and will be used in flagship motherboards. It will also allow you to use PCIe 5.0 to connect both solid state drives and video cards. AMD notes that «PCIe 5.0 will be everywhere» here.
A simpler X670 model for «enthusiast overclockers» is about to be released, also with PCIe 5.0 support for storage and optional GPU. Apparently, motherboard manufacturers will decide for themselves which interface to connect to PCIe x16 connectors. AMD did not go into details about how the X670 and X670E chipsets will differ.
Also introduced was the B650 chipset, which will be used in entry-level and mid-range boards. It will only connect memory drives using PCIe 5.0, while PCIe 4.0 will be used for video cards. The company noted that the new bus will be supported by NVMe drives already under development by Gigabyte, Corsair, MSI and others, and will provide read speeds more than 60% faster than PCIe 4.