Intel writes that the Core i9-12900KS, which it refers to as the world’s fastest desktop processor, will be available on April 5 with a recommended price of $739. The company will be showing off the chip and talking about its features in a Talking Tech livestream on the same day from 12pm PT / 3pm ET. The event will cover the building of four PCs with industry experts, so it could be pretty interesting. The Core i9-12900KS shares many similarities with the standard Core i9-12900K model, including the 16 cores made up of eight Performance-cores and eight Efficient-cores, 24 threads, and 30MB of L3 cache memory. But the unlocked chip’s base power is pushed from 125W to 150W, allowing it to reach up to 5.5GHz on two cores and an all-core turbo frequency of 5.2GHz. Earlier Cinebench R23 scores put the Core i9-12900KS ahead of the Ryzen 9 5950X. And while it’s only slightly faster than the standard K variant in single-core and multi-threaded Geekbench 5 results, these figures should improve with BIOS optimization.
The Core i9-12900KS’ $739 price, however, is a big step over the Core i9-12900K’s $599 MSRP, and retailers could be selling it for even more, given that Newegg briefly listed the CPU for $799.99. Soon after Intel’s announcement, Maingear revealed (via Tom’s Hardware) some of its systems that will carry the Core i9-12900KS. There’s the mid-tower Vybe, the company’s cheapest pre-build, which comes with air, AIO liquid, and custom loop cooling options alongside an RTX 3050. It starts at $1,599 without the new chip, so expect to pay at least $2,339.
Razer fans will likely love the R1 Razer Edition. It’s covered in the gaming giant’s distinctive logo and traditional green color. There’s plenty of RGB, and the base model has an RTX 3060 Ti but no custom loop option. It starts at $1,699 without the 12900KS, which means it’ll likely be around $2,440.
Finally, there’s the Rush desktop. It uses a Lian Li O11 Dynamic XL E-ATX Full Tower chassis covered in tempered glass, and you can add even more fans if you wish. All three cooling options are available—the custom loop comes with a huge distribution plate at the front. It starts at $2,299 with an RTX 3050 but sans Intel’s new CPU, so expect to pay at least $3,000 for the privilege of owning one of these monsters.
