The Core i9-12900HX, the top-end Alder Lake mobile chip that will use BGA packaging in order to solder a full desktop die on to a laptop motherboard with optimized voltage and power output, was just spotted on Geekbench inside an unreleased Lenovo laptop. Discovered by Benchleaks, this laptop, codenamed “Lenovo 82TD” also packs in a freakin’ RTX 3080 Ti mobile along with 32GB of memory, so you know it’s a proper beast.
Core i9-12900HX specs rundown
Coming back to the 12900HX, it’s pretty much Intel’s best mobile chip to ever exist. It packs 16 cores along with 24 threads making it the first-ever 16-core mobile processor inside a laptop, beating AMD to the punch. Out of those 16 cores, eight are Performance Cores while the other eight are Efficiency Cores with hyperthreading enabled only on P-Cores, hence the odd 24-thread count. That constitutes a 14% increase in core and a 20% increase in the thread count. As for the clock speeds, the chip will run at a base frequency of 2.5Ghz with a boost clock going as high as 4.89Ghz (according to the benchmark) but it’s likely that the final retail sample will be marketed with a 5Ghz boost clock. That is more or less identical to the clock speeds on all other Core i9 Alder Lake mobile chips out right now. However, what is not identical is the upgraded 55W TDP on the 12900HX versus 45W on others. Before we get to the benchmark, it’s important to note that this isn’t the only HX-series Alder Lake mobile chip Intel has planned. Reportedly, there is also an i5-12650HX SKU and potentially another i9-12980HX SKU somewhere out in the wild, although the 12980 is a big question mark as we haven’t even gotten the 12980H(K) yet. The special thing about these HX-series chips, apart from the 55W TDP, is that they are all using desktop silicon, and through BGA packaging, Intel is able to solder these chips on laptop motherboard delivering unprecedent power.
The benchmark
The Core i9-12900HX scored 1,921 points in the Geekbench 5 single-core test while managing to net 15,974 points in the multi-core test. The CPU next-in-line to the 12900HX, Intel’s Core i9-12900HK isn’t officially part of the Geekbench database so there is no average score to go by but we can still compare it against other CPUs of its class to see how it stacks up. In terms of single-core performance, the 12900HX is ever so slightly edged out by the Core i9-12900H (1,962 vs 1,921 points) but scores ~16% more points compared to the Ryzen 9 6900HX and the Intel Core i9-11980HK (both 1,616). Moreover, the most recent benchmark lead for the Core i9-12900HK showed the CPU achieving 1800 points in the single-core test, which means that the Core i9-12900HX is about 7% faster on average in this regard. Now, coming to the multi-core numbers, as expected they’re best-in-class. Core i9-12900HX’s 15,974 points trump the previous king, the Core i9-12900HK, by at least 10% whereas AMD’s flagship Ryzen 9 6900HX is left behind in the dust with a whooping 36% which only scored 10,151 points in the same test. All in all, the Core i9-12900HX is plain faster than everything else on the market, with the only possible exception being the newly-announced M1 Ultra. Intel is planning to announce and release the Core i9-12900HX around the same time as the desktop Core i9-12900KS—the pre-binned silicon lottery version of the Core i9-12900K that boosts as high as 5.5Ghz. With this release, Intel will stretch its lead even further leaving AMD to be prominent only in the thin and light market where efficiency is king. And the most interesting bit is that this isn’t even the fastest Alder Lake mobile chip planned. That title goes to the Core i9-12980HX, a largely unknown SKU that is shrouded in mystery. But, for now, the Core i9-12900HX will have to do, and from the looks of it, it’s an absolute monster.
