From its tenth generation CPUs that Intel assigns several “Power Limits” being the PL1 the one that can be reached in an indefinite time and the PL2 within 100 seconds.
A particularity of the Intel Core 12 is that they allow to assign what is the PL2 for an indefinite time. Esto no significa que el procesador este todo el rato bajo dichas velocidades de reloj, ya que a la mínima que la temperatura empieza a acercarse a un punto peligroso inmediatamente el ratio de ciclos por segundo baja para así bajar el voltaje y con y ello la temperatura the consumption.
So there is logically a point of consumption higher than normal, but cold enough to be stable and with greater efficiency than placing the CPU at the maximum possible consumption.
What is the most efficient point of the Intel i9-12900K?
Using the multi-threaded benchmark included in CPU-Z An i9-12900K was put to the test with different consumption limits for the processor, the results can be seen in the table above these images. We can observe a typical effect that occurs in all processors regardless of their architecture, its efficiency plus consumption increases, however, the total performance obtained is much lower.
Obviously, no one with two fingers of a brain is going to put a processor like the i9-12900K At such low performance, however, what interests us is the energy efficiency of the i9-12900K within consumption limits beyond the 125W that the CPU stipulated as PL1. And what is the surprise? Well with a 150 W consumption limit efficiency per watt is a 53% mayor with 250 W of consumption and the temperature of 74 ° C and, therefore, it is low enough to keep it below this level of consumption for a long time.
Considering the fact that we can make the PL1 and PL2 values the same in the Intel Core 12, running the i9-12900K at 150W is a bad idea at first glance, but considering that the temperature reached is less than 80 ° C, this gives a sufficient margin. Of course, we recommend that you have a good cooling system for safety and stability.
It gives us clues for future Core 12 variants
We know that Intel has versions with a lower PL1 of its Alder Lake-S architecture stored under the chamber, we are talking on the one hand of the 65 W desktop versions and of the Alder Lake-H55, a version of the Intel Core for desktop, although loosely packaged in BGA and designed for high-end laptops and would never cease to be an i9-12900K for laptops.
Well, these data allow us to know the efficiency of the architecture at much lower consumption, this is where the performance per watt is much higher. In view of these figures, AMD will have a hard time if it wants to steal the throne from Intel in laptops and it should be added that desktop CPUs do not have the measures to reduce the consumption of their counterparts for laptops, therefore the efficiency will be much greater.
