Apple M1 Pro vs Intel Core i9-12900

Processor comparisons   21-10-2022
   You may have difficulties with the choice of a CPU, you will solve them by reading the comprehensive tests Apple M1 Pro vs Intel Core i9-12900 and see which is better for games or simple use for rendering, video editing, programming, streaming, machine learning. Here is useful information from real streaming and video editing tests or various benchmarks. A careful review of all the technical characteristics, to make it easier to understand, is made by the table.
   From the comparison video, you can get the results of joint testing in software tests like Prime95, World of Tanks enCore Benchmark, SuperPi, RealBench, GeekBench 6, 5.2, Gears 5, Furmark, WPrime, 7zip, 3DMark, PCMark 10, MATLAB, UserBenchmark, Dolphin Emulator, AIDA64, Blender, DaVinci Resolve Studio, VeraCrypt, PassMark, Cinebench 23 (20, 15), Handbrake, Blender.
   Gaming performance of processors in:

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands
Fortnite
Grand Theft Auto V
Call of Duty: Warzone and Modern Warfare
Rainbow Six Siege
Red Dead Redemption 2
Apex Legends
Death Stranding
Cyberpunk 2077
Last Man Standing
Valorant
Assassin's Creed Valhalla
Borderlands 3
Overwatch
Watch Dogs Legion
Fallout 76
Halo Infinite
DOOM: Eternal
Valheim

After looking at the data these benchmarks and videos, you can already make an informed decision about which CPU is better to buy for gaming Intel Core i9-12900 or Apple M1 Pro.

Summary benchmark results

As a percentage of the maximum value based on a sample from the entire base of all processors
Processor Benchmark

M1 Pro

59%

Core i9-12900

65%

The number of this parameter shows the performance of the processors in single-threaded and multi-threaded mode. In this comparison, Core i9-12900 is 9% better than M1 Pro. The data source is several popular tests. More detailed information of the benchmarks is below.

Gaming performance
Summary result of all game benchmarks.

M1 Pro

57%

Core i9-12900

59%

The maximum result in this parameter is 100 percent, which is the performance of the most powerful processor currently available. And of course, this is a server processor, on which no one will run games. Because this processor costs several tens of thousands of dollars. Therefore, if you think that the selected CPU has a small game result, look at the FPS that it produces in real games in the summary table below.
List of less popular games in which processors were compared: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Forza Horizon 4, Metro Exodus, Half-Life: Alyx, Resident Evil 7 Biohazard, Ghostrunner, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG), Horizon Zero Dawn, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS GO), Monster Hunter World, League of Legends (LOL), DOTA 2A, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, NBA 2K20, Hitman 3, Control, Battlefield V, Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Gaming benchmark

Fortnite	101.0	104.3
Valorant	114.8	118.6
Cyberpunk 2077	64.3	66.4
Apex Legends	107.9	111.5
Call of Duty Warzone	86.1	88.9
Overwatch	93.0	96.0
Red Dead Redemption 2	79.2	81.8
DOOM Eternal	57.4	59.3
Warzone	89.5	92.5
Assassin's Creed	96.4	99.6
Valheim	95.3	98.4

The numbers in this table indicate the maximum FPS that was received on the device with the corresponding processor. Depending on the configuration of the computer (RAM size and Video Card) and graphics quality settings (Ultra, Medium, Normal), the results may differ quite significantly. We recommend that you better study the results of the Cinebench, GeekBench and Passmark becnmarks.
The computers participating in the comparing not only were the equipped with different amounts of RAM and different video cards. But users also tested them at different screen resolutions: 4K, 2K or FullHD. So the game benchmark data is approximate. But all video cards met the average system requirements of games. To be sure exactly how much performance the processor will be in games, if you compare it in one assembly with the video card that is installed in your computer.

Power consumption

M1 Pro

358%

Core i9-12900

96%

To make a final decision on which processor is better, you should also consider the generation of its core. It is clear that the newer the generation, the better the performance of the processor in games and benchmarks, as well as its energy efficiency. In this case the M1 Pro is more energy efficient than the Core i9-12900 as it consumes less power: 16W vs. 65W. Power consumption is particularly important for laptops. And TDP should be taken into account when choosing a processor cooling system. It is necessary to calculate so that the TDP data specified in the cooler specification is greater than the TDP of the compared processor.

Software benchmarks

For example you want to use the processor not only for gaming, but also for machine learning, streaming, video rendering or video editing, programming, then first of all you need to pay attention to the performance in multi-threaded mode. In this mode, to reach maximum performance, the CPU uses all threads and cores that it has. You will learn this data from the benchmark tables below. Before you take into account the data from these tests, be sure to make sure that the program that you are going to use on your computer can work in multi-threaded mode. Since there are still many programs that can use only one core to run, and all the advantages of multi-core mode turns out to be unnecessary.
Cinebench 23, 20 an 15
The results of this benchmark show Single-threaded and Multi-threaded CPU performance

	Apple M1 Pro	Intel Core i9-12900
Cinbench 15 Single-core	304	445
Cinbench 15 Multi-core	1716	4687
Cinbench 20 Single-core	590	743
Cinbench 20 Multi-core	2936	10420
Cinbench 23 Single-core	2233	2635
Cinbench 23 Multi-core	11512	29985

Passmark
This popular benchmark displays Multi-threaded and Single-threaded processor performance

	Apple M1 Pro	Intel Core i9-12900
Single-Core	5046	6867
Multi-Core	32596	51262

GeekBench 6, 5.2
This benchmark shows Multi-threaded and Single-threaded processor performance

	Apple M1 Pro	Intel Core i9-12900
Single-Core	1723	1885
Multi-Core	12737	16028

Comparison of specifications

In the specification comparison table, the most useful will be the the possibility of overclocking it and release date of the processor. The later the processor is released, the longer it will last you. And the easier it will be to upgrade the system in the future. The same can be said about overclocking. When the processor can be overclocked, thereby increasing its performance, then it will continue to maintain maximum FPS even in the newest games. The economy are obvious! Accordingly, you do not need to buy a new CPU to enjoy the games any longer.

	Apple M1 Pro	Intel Core i9-12900
Announcement date	October 07, 2021	July 21, 2021
Type	Laptop	Desktop
Socket	M1	FCLGA1700
Core name	8x Firestorm and 2x Icestorm	Alder Lake
Architecture	hybrid (big.LITTLE)	x86
Generation	1	12
Turbo Frequency		5.1 MHz
Frequency	3.2 MHz	3.8 MHz
Cores	10	16
Threads	10	24
Bus rate		16 GT/s
Bit	64	64
Lithography	5 nm	7 nm
Transistors count	34000 millions	12600 millions
Power consumption (TDP)	16 W	65 W
Memory type	LPDDR5 - Up to 6400MHz	Up to DDR5 4800 MT/s Up to DDR4 3200 MT/s
Max. Memory	32 Gb	128 Gb
Memory Frequency	6400	6400
Memory bandwidth	208 GByte/s	76.8 GB/s
L1 cache	4MB	2 MB
L2 cache	24MB	12 MB
L3 cache	24MB	30 MB
Overclocking	No	No
Supports ECC	No	No
Part number	APL1103

In this comparison block, you should pay attention to the differences in clock speed and the number of cores. Here Core i9-12900 is 15% better than M1 Pro in terms of CPU frequency. Another difference is that Core i9-12900 has 6 more core than M1 Pro. Also keep in mind that high CPU frequency affects battery life through power consumption (relevant for laptops).

Result:
The number of parameters for which Apple M1 Pro is better: 6
The number of parameters for which Intel Core i9-12900 is better: 30
All the figures in the text above do not mean that taking them into account you should completely trust a simple comparison of these numbers. Be sure to watch benchmarks video and read the reviews of of people who bought Apple M1 Pro and Intel Core i9-12900 before deciding which CPU to buy for gaming and which not.

Apple M1 Pro - all data

• Cinebench r15 score
• Cinebench r20 score
• Cinebench r23 score
• GeekBench 6, 5.2 score

• Apple M1 Pro specs and review.

Intel Core i9-12900 - all data

• Cinebench r15 score
• Cinebench r20 score
• Cinebench r23 score
• GeekBench 6, 5.2 score

• Intel Core i9-12900 specs and review.