Intel Core i5 12600K and Core i9 12900K With ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero Review

Up Close

The main box for the 12th Gen CPUs is huge, and comes complete with a shot of the die for those of you who like that kind of thing. It’s certainly a statement on the shelf.

  
  

We know processors aren’t the most aesthetically pleasing things to see, but it’s nice to have a look anyway. If only to show that we do have them on hand and aren’t just pulling numbers out of thin air like some websites.

  

The chip that will sell in the thousands, the Intel Core i5-12600K.

  

And the flagship Core i9-12900K.

  

For our CPU tests we’re utilising the ASUS ROG Z690 Maximus Hero and 32GB of Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR5 along with our usual test hardware. We’ve also taken the plunge and moved across to Windows 11, although thankfully being based upon the Windows 10 foundations there is little performance difference so our benchmarks will be close enough.