Apple M3 Ultra vs Intel Core i9 12900KF
We compared two desktop CPUs: Apple M3 Ultra with 32 cores 4.5GHz and Intel Core i9 12900KF with 16 cores 3.2GHz . You will find out which processor performs better in benchmark tests, key specifications, power consumption and more.
Main Differences
Apple M3 Ultra 's Advantages
Released 3 years and 5 months late
Integrated graphics card
Higher specification of memory (6400 vs 4800)
Larger memory bandwidth (819.2GB/s vs 76.8GB/s)
Higher base frequency (4.5GHz vs 3.2GHz)
More modern manufacturing process (3nm vs 10nm)
Intel Core i9 12900KF 's Advantages
Lower TDP (125W vs 140W)
Score
Benchmark
Geekbench 6 Single Core
Apple M3 Ultra
+20%
3247
Intel Core i9 12900KF
2686
Geekbench 6 Multi Core
Apple M3 Ultra
+74%
28107
Intel Core i9 12900KF
16130
General Parameters
Mar 2025
Release Date
Oct 2021
Apple
Manufacturer
Intel
Desktop
Type
Desktop
ARMv8
Instruction Set
x86-64
Apple M3
Core Architecture
Alder Lake
-
Processor Number
i9-12900KF
Apple M-Socket
Socket
LGA-1700
Apple M3 Ultra GPU (80-core)
Integrated Graphics
No
Package
184 billions
Transistor Count
-
3 nm
Manufacturing Process
10 nm
140 W
Power Consumption
125 W
-
Max Turbo Power Consumption
241 W
100 °C
Peak Operating Temperature
100°C
CPU Performance
24
Performance Cores
8
24
Performance Core Threads
16
4.5 GHz
Performance Core Base Frequency
3.2 GHz
-
Performance Core Turbo Frequency
5.1 GHz
8
Efficiency Cores
8
8
Efficiency Core Threads
8
-
Efficiency Core Base Frequency
2.4 GHz
-
Efficiency Core Turbo Frequency
3.9 GHz
32
Total Core Count
16
32
Total Thread Count
24
-
Bus Frequency
100 MHz
45
Multiplier
32x
-
L1 Cache
64 K per core
-
L2 Cache
14 MB shared
-
L3 Cache
30 MB shared
No
Unlocked Multiplier
Yes
Memory Parameters
LPDDR5-6400
Memory Types
DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200
512 GB
Max Memory Size
128 GB
8
Max Memory Channels
2
819.2 GB/s
Max Memory Bandwidth
76.8 GB/s
No
ECC Memory Support
Yes
Graphics Card Parameters
true
Integrated Graphics
-
10240
Shader Units
-
640
Texture Units
-
320
Raster Operation Units
-
1280
Execution Units
-
140
Power Consumption
-
