Intel Core i9-12900K review: Intel. Is. Back.

After a long absence, Intel's 12th-gen Core i9-12900K and its hybrid design puts Intel back on top in desktop CPUs while offering next-generation technology and a big surprise: relatively good value over Ryzen. Everyone likes redemption stories, and Intel's 12th gen Core i9-12900K is a comeback story for the ages. The once mighty and complacent champ was defeated years ago, forced through one humiliating loss after another at the hands of AMD's resurgent Ryzen processors, until finally somehow finding a way back to fighting form and claiming victory once again. Life (and technology) never has that Hollywood ending, but Intel's Core i9-12900K gets pretty damned close. After years of being pummeled by AMD processors, the 12900K's performance makes it the far better CPU for most people than its bitter rival, the Ryzen 9 5950X. No, it's not a knock-out victory by any means, but considering where it excels and the features it packs, Intel's 12th-gen "Alder Lake" processor is the CPU to buy today if you're in the market for a high-end desktop processor. You'll want to read our coverage of Intel's 12th-gen Alder Lake reveal for the full nitty-gritty details of the radical new architecture, but it's essentially a hybrid CPU design built on the Intel 7 process. That alone is a huge deal; after spending over half a decade mired on 14nm transistor technology, Alder Lake finally leaps up a node. It mixes newly designed high-performance CPU cores with smaller, more efficient cores to achieve an optimal balance of performance-to-power ratios. Ever since rumors of Alder Lake first leaked, people (including ourselves) have wondered just what Intel was thinking by mixing its long-anticipated upgraded cores with "Atom-like" efficiency cores.