Intel launches Core i9-12900KS as the world’s fastest desktop processor, price starts around Rs 56,000

Intel has finally made details on its Core i9-12900KS public. With the best of Intel technologies, the desktop processor is meant to provide the ultimate gaming experience to all. Here is how.

Intel is finally out with all the details, including price and availability, for its new 12th Gen Intel Core i9-12900KS. Touted to be "the world’s fastest desktop processor," the new Intel chipset will go on sale globally starting April 5. Intel mentions a "recommended customer price" of $739, or about Rs 56,000. So we can expect it to cost anywhere around Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000 in India.

The highlights - other than the world's fastest tag, Intel says that the Core i9-12900KS delivers up to 5.5 GHz max turbo frequency. For context, its rival AMD's Ryzen 9 5900X comes with a base clock of 4.8 GHz, so expect significant performance speeds on the new Intel processor.

The fast processing speed is backed by Intel's proprietary technologies like its Thermal Velocity Boost and Adaptive Boost Technology. And just like any other top-end processor, Intel says that the Core i9-12900KS is meant to provide "the ultimate gaming experience" to even the most extreme gamers.

With Core i9-12900KS, Intel targets "enthusiasts and gamers" who seek the fastest processor speeds available in the market. In numbers, it comes with 16 cores, including eight Performance-cores and eight Efficient-cores, along with 24 threads. The performance maps to 5.5 GHz max turbo frequency, 150W processor base power, and 30MB Intel Smart Cache.

The processor supports PCIe Gen 5.0 and 4.0, up to DDR5 4800 MT/s and DDR4 3200 MT/s. Intel says that the Core i9-12900KS is compatible with existing Z690 motherboards with the latest BIOS.

Intel says that the new processor will be found "at retailers worldwide" as a boxed processor. Other than the direct sales, we should see it integrated into high-end computers from Intel’s OEM partners soon.