Newegg has the Intel Core i9-12900K - Core i9 12th Gen Alder Lake 16-Core (8P+8E) 3.2 GHz LGA 1700 125W Intel UHD Graphics 770 Desktop Processor - BX8071512900K + MSI PRO Z690-A WIFI DDR5 LGA 1700 Intel Z690 SATA 6Gb/s ATX Intel Motherboard combo on sale for $316.93. Shipping is free.
Deal Instructions:
Add the following products to cart. Both items must be "sold and shipped by newegg" in order to apply combo savings. Here are the links to the newegg product pages:
Combo up savings totaling $100.00 ($10 for the motherboard and $90 for the cpu) should be automatically applied in cart, your total should be $316.93.
If you have any issues you can follow these alternate instructions:
Go to the newegg intel combo builder:
https://www.newegg.com/tools/combo-builder/4293
Select the "MSI PRO Z690-A WIFI ATX Intel Motherboard" and the "Intel Core i9-12900K Desktop Processor" cpu. Then click the button that says "ADD ALL ITEMS TO CART", your total should be $316.93.
The i9-12900k is typically around ~$275 on a decent sale, so $317 for the 12900k plus a competent full size atx z690 ddr5 motherboard which has a vrm configuration (14+1+1) capable of handling the 12900k's power draw without issue is an excellent value. Since the $400 12900k+mobo+32gb ddr5 combo microcenter offers switched back to the worse asus motherboard (from the -p to the -v prime) I'd say this combo is actually slightly better than the microcenter bundle. Additionally, this bundle can be shipped and is available to those who don't live near a microcenter.
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The i9-12900k is a 12th gen alder lake sixteen core (8 performance + 8 efficiency cores) cpu on the lga1700 platform. While technically 3 generations old, intel 13th gen intel cpus only had minor architectural improvements, primarily additional L2 cache and a slightly better memory controller. Intel 14th gen saw entirely negligible architectural improvements. In most respects the i9-12900k is a somewhat slower and less power hungry i7-13700k. The 13700k has the same core configuration, higher clocks (with boosted power usage to match), and more L2 cache for better performance, particularly in gaming. The 12900k's gaming performance on average trades blows with the 7700x (being very slightly slower overall), and while not top tier is absolutely more than sufficient for use with all but the most expensive gpus. Where the 12900k solidly beats the 7700x is cpu intensive productivity workloads. On top of many productivity applications being better optimized for intel, the 12900k has far superior multithreaded performance compared to the 7700x, which is a huge advantage in certain types of heavily multithreaded workloads. Intel quicksync, as mentioned above, also makes the 12900k the obvious choice for any type of video encoding or transcoding. The 12900k is a very power hungry cpu, and isn't very power efficient. While not as power hungry as the 13700k and up, you will need a fairly beefy cooling solution, and depending on what gpu you pair it with you may need a more powerful psu. Air cooling is technically possible, but you'll want a high performance dual tower air cooler if you don't want to get a 240mm or larger aio.
Here's the puget systems content creation review for intel 13th gen (the latest review including the 12900k): https://www.pugetsystem
And here's gamers nexus analysis of intel cpus power draw and efficiency: https://gamersnexus.net/cpus/inte...onsumpti
The motherboard's specs page can be found here (click the "detail" tab up top for more in-depth specs): https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/P...cification
And the manual can be found here: https://download.msi.co
The motherboard in this bundle is lower-midrange (much more towards the midrange than low-end) overall, and uses the last gen high-end z690 chipset. That being said, the newer z790 chipset really isn't much of an upgrade, with the only major advantage being some additional pcie lanes. While the feature-set is only midrange overall, the compromises made tend to make sense, and this board should realistically be far more than sufficient for 99% of people who would be looking at this bundle. This board has: a 14+1+1 phase vrm that can handle the overclocked 12900k without issue, 4 ram slots, 3 pcie x16 slots (1x gen5 x16, 1x gen3 x4,1x gen3 x1), 1 pcie gen3 x1 slot, 4x m.2 slots ( 3x gen4 x4, 1x gen3 x4), 6 sata ports, intel 2.5gb lan, intel wifi 6e + bt 5.2, the low end realtek alc897 audio chip, a competent (though somewhat limited) assortment of usb ports, debug leds, and bios flashback. Please refer to the specs sheet and manual I linked above for more detailed specs. As you can see, while it doesn't have all the top end features that would be nice to have (such as a gen5 m.2 slot, higher end audio chip, 8-layer pcb, additional gen4 x16 slots, rgb, etc.), it is substantially more competent than most motherboards you'll find in the ~$130 range.
Overall, at $316.93 this bundle offers a very compelling value to those who don't have a microcenter nearby. While having worse power efficiency and no upgrade path on the dead-end lga 1700 platform are definitely downsides, the price of this combo makes up for it. For those who would be using their system for more cpu dependent workloads, this deal is especially good. A 32gb ddr5 6000 cl30 ram kit (using hynix memory chips) will be around $90 on an excellent sale, making this combo ~$407 when you factor in ram if you wait for a good sale. If you'd be like to add ram to the newegg combo right this instant, I'd recommend either the Team T-Force Delta RGB 32GB FF3D532G6000HC30DC01 (black): https://www.newegg.com/team-32gb/...6820331845
or the Team T-Force Delta RGB 32GB FF4D532G6000HC30DC01 (white): https://www.newegg.com/team-32gb/...6820331846
Both of those ram sticks are ddr5 6000 cl30 using hynix memory chips, and cost $97 after factoring in combo savings, as well as coming with a free usb drive. With added ram the combo would be $413.92.
That being said, for those with a microcenter near them who don't need massive multithreaded performance, the microcenter 7700x bundle and maybe the 7800x3d bundle tend to be a better value. The 12900k bundle microcenter offers switched back to the worse motherboard (asus -v prime instead of -p prime), so I'd say the microcenter 12900k bundle is actually a slightly worse value than this newegg bundle.
For a guy who does Excel, web browsing and some Photo editing (once in a blue moon), would this be a good upgrade from i7 4770 pc. I am seriously been tempted to go for the i5 12th gen combo from Microcenter. I was hoping to get a latest i5 combo deal but looks like intel made lots of 12gen chips.
For a guy who does Excel, web browsing and some Photo editing (once in a blue moon), would this be a good upgrade from i7 4770 pc. I am seriously been tempted to go for the i5 12th gen combo from Microcenter. I was hoping to get a latest i5 combo deal but looks like intel made lots of 12gen chips.
If you've been getting by with a cpu that weak for years, the 12900k is most likely overkill for your use cases. The $250 i5-12600kf bundle microcenter offers is a fairly good value, and should be sufficient. Keep in mind that as an f-sku cpu the 12600kf lacks an igpu (integrated gpu), meaning that you will need a discrete gpu for display output, and it lacks intel quicksync.
Since you are looking at microcenter bundles, it is probably worth considering the $380 7700x bundle. The 7700x is substantially faster than the 12600kf in single threaded performance, though multithreaded performance is a lot closer. While that bundle is likely somewhat overkill for you, the meaningful upgrade path (am5 is guaranteed to support next gen zen5 cpus and almost certainly will support the two generations in the future zen 6 cpus) could potentially allow you to ride out your system for many more years without upgrading your motherboard or ram. You could wait years and then slot in a two generations newer cpu for cheap. The 7700x has an rdna2 based igpu, so you wouldn't require a discrete gpu for display output. Additionally, that bundle comes with 32gb of good quality ddr5 ram as opposed to the 16gb ddr4 ram in the 12600kf bundle. Ultimately the 7700x bundle is a better value overall, but if you just want to get the cheapest system that will fit your needs the 12600kf bundle isn't terrible.
Microcenter's amd bundles have gone on sale $30 cheaper in the past (the 7700x bundle at $350), and next gen zen5 cpus will be released later this year. Therefore, if you're not in any rush, you'll probably be able to get a somewhat better deal at some point in the future.