Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) vs Intel Core i9 12900KF
[ VERDICT ]
Winner: Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) (97/100)
Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) leads overall with a score of 97/100 compared to Intel Core i9 12900KF (69/100), offering superior measured performance and technical specifications.
Benchmark Performance Comparison
Normalized Lab Scores| Benchmark | Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) | Intel Core i9 12900KF |
|---|---|---|
| Efficiency | 98.0 Excellent WINNER | 47.0 Poor |
| Performance | 100.0 Excellent WINNER | 76.0 Good |
Detailed Technical Specifications
CPU
| Specification | Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) | Intel Core i9 12900KF |
|---|---|---|
| Base Frequency (E) | 4.38 GHz | 2.4 GHz |
| Base Frequency (P) | 4.61 GHz | 3.2 GHz |
| E-Cores | 12 | 8 |
| E-Threads | 12 | 8 |
| L1 Cache | 192K (per core) | 64K (per core) |
| Multiplier | 46x | 32x |
| P-Cores | 6 | 8 |
| P-Threads | 6 | 16 |
| Total Cores | 18 | 16 |
| Total Threads | 18 | 24 |
| Unlocked Multiplier | No | Yes |
| Bus Frequency | — | 100 MHz |
| L2 Cache | — | 14MB (shared) |
| L3 Cache | — | 30MB (shared) |
| Turbo Boost Frequency (E) | — | 3.9 GHz |
| Turbo Boost Frequency (P) | — | 5.1 GHz |
GeekBench v6
| Specification | Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) | Intel Core i9 12900KF |
|---|---|---|
| Background blur | 100.3 images/sec | 66.8 images/sec |
| Clang compilation | 262.5 Klines/sec | 141 Klines/sec |
| File compression | 2530 MB/sec | 1150 MB/sec |
| HTML 5 Browser | 738.1 pages/sec | 363.2 pages/sec |
| PDF Renderer | 744.9 Mpixels/sec | 475.6 Mpixels/sec |
| Photo processing | 250.8 images/sec | 138.5 images/sec |
| Ray tracing | 46.5 Mpixels/sec | 33.9 Mpixels/sec |
| Text processing | 450.7 pages/sec | 274.8 pages/sec |
General
| Specification | Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) | Intel Core i9 12900KF |
|---|---|---|
| Codename | Apple M5 | Alder Lake |
| Instruction Set | ARMv9 | x86-64 |
| Integrated GPU | Apple M5 Pro GPU (20-core) | No |
| Released | March 3, 2026 | October 27, 2021 |
| Type | Laptop | Desktop |
| Vendor | Apple | Intel |
| AMD Equivalent | — | -AMD Ryzen 9 5950X |
| Model number | — | i9-12900KF |
| Successor | — | -Intel Core i9 14900KF |
Memory Support
| Specification | Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) | Intel Core i9 12900KF |
|---|---|---|
| ECC Support | No | Yes |
| Max. Memory Bandwidth | 307 GB/s | 76.8 GB/s |
| Max. Memory Size | 64 GB | 128 GB |
| Memory Channels | 16 | 2 |
| Memory Types | - LPDDR5X-9600 | - DDR5-4800- DDR4-3200 |
Package
| Specification | Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) | Intel Core i9 12900KF |
|---|---|---|
| Fabrication Process | 3 nm | 10 nm |
| Peak Temperature | 100°C | 100°C |
| Socket | Apple M-Socket | LGA-1700 |
| Transistors | 28 billions | — |
| Max. Boost TDP (PL2) | — | 241 W |
| TDP (PL1) | — | 125 W |
PassMark
| Specification | Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) | Intel Core i9 12900KF |
|---|---|---|
| Data compression | 697.9 MBytes/sec | 532.8 MBytes/sec |
| Data encryption | 40.8 GBytes/sec | 29.2 GBytes/sec |
| Extended instructions | 33.3B Matrices/sec | 33.4B Matrices/sec |
| Find prime numbers | 486M Primes/sec | 138M Primes/sec |
| Floating point math | 186.8 GOps/sec | 104.8 GOps/sec |
| Integer math | 132.7 GOps/sec | 138.3 GOps/sec |
| Physics | 5687 Frames/sec | 2054 Frames/sec |
| Random string sorting | 85.6M Strings/sec | 56.7M Strings/sec |
iGPU
| Specification | Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) | Intel Core i9 12900KF |
|---|---|---|
| Execution Units | 320 | — |
| GPU Boost Clock | 1620 MHz | — |
| Integrated Graphics | Apple M5 Pro GPU (20-core) | — |
| ROPs | 80 | — |
| Shading Units | 2560 | — |
| TGP | 28 W | — |
| TMUs | 160 | — |
Misc
| Specification | Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) | Intel Core i9 12900KF |
|---|---|---|
| Official Site | — | Intel Core i9 12900KF official page |
| PCI Express Lanes | — | 20 |
| PCI Express Version | — | 5.0 |
| Technologies | — | - Compute: ABM, ADX, BMI1, BMI2, CLMUL, F16C, SHA- Performance: EIST, TBT 2.0, TBT 3.0, TSX- Virtualization: VT-d, VT-x- Security: RDRAND, TXT, XD bit |
Performance Per Watt
| Specification | Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) | Intel Core i9 12900KF |
|---|---|---|
| Blender / Watt | — | 2.92 PPW |
| Cinebench 2024 / Watt | — | 11.7 PPW |
| Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt | — | 129.1 PPW |
| Passmark CPU Mark / Watt | — | 324 PPW |
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