12 Cores — 17 Processors Compared

Decision table

12 Cores: which one for what?

The 17 models on this page are scored only against each other, for the use you pick. Scores come from the spec sheets; no price and no advertising go in.

What will you use it for? Gaming Content Creation On-device AI Battery Life

Leads for Gaming: AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 39284%

Leads for Content Creation: AMD Ryzen AI Max 39071%

Leads for On-device AI: Snapdragon X2 Elite X2E-80-10084%

Leads for Battery Life: Intel Core Ultra 5 225U76%

#16#15#8#15
Apple M6Apple
12 · 12 · SoC (soldered)
56% 50% 62% 50%
Why it ranks here
Nothing stands out for this use; the score comes from overall balance.
Why it ranks here
Nothing stands out for this use; the score comes from overall balance.
Why it ranks here
- Editorial tag: On-device AI
Why it ranks here
Nothing stands out for this use; the score comes from overall balance.
#1#2#9#14
AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 392AMD
12 · 24 · 5 GHz
84% 71% 58% 50%
Why it ranks here
- Editorial tag: Gaming
- 5 GHz boost
- 64 MB L3 cache
Why it ranks here
- Editorial tag: Content Creation
- 5 GHz boost
Why it ranks here
- 50 TOPS NPU
Why it ranks here
Nothing stands out for this use; the score comes from overall balance.
#5#11#11#7
Intel Core Ultra 5 338HIntel
12 · 12 · 4.7 GHz
72% 52% 55% 61%
Why it ranks here
- Editorial tag: Gaming
Why it ranks here
Nothing stands out for this use; the score comes from overall balance.
Why it ranks here
- 47 TOPS NPU
Why it ranks here
- 25 W — among the frugal ones here
#14#13#10#6
Intel Core Ultra 5 336HIntel
12 · 12 · 4.6 GHz
60% 51% 55% 61%
Why it ranks here
Nothing stands out for this use; the score comes from overall balance.
Why it ranks here
Nothing stands out for this use; the score comes from overall balance.
Why it ranks here
- 47 TOPS NPU
Why it ranks here
- 25 W — among the frugal ones here
#10#3#14#11
Intel Core i7-1360PIntel
12 · 16 · 5 GHz
63% 69% 50% 54%
Why it ranks here
- 5 GHz boost
Why it ranks here
- Editorial tag: Content Creation
- 5 GHz boost
Why it ranks here
Nothing stands out for this use; the score comes from overall balance.
Why it ranks here
Nothing stands out for this use; the score comes from overall balance.
#12#9#7#1
Intel Core Ultra 5 225UIntel
12 · 14 · 4.8 GHz
61% 55% 64% 76%
Why it ranks here
Nothing stands out for this use; the score comes from overall balance.
Why it ranks here
Nothing stands out for this use; the score comes from overall balance.
Why it ranks here
- Editorial tag: On-device AI
- 12 TOPS NPU
Why it ranks here
- Editorial tag: Battery Life
- 15 W — among the frugal ones here
#13#14#5#4
Snapdragon X2 Elite X2E-78-100Qualcomm
12 · 12 · 4 GHz
61% 51% 79% 62%
Why it ranks here
- 34 MB L3 cache
Why it ranks here
Nothing stands out for this use; the score comes from overall balance.
Why it ranks here
- Editorial tag: On-device AI
- 80 TOPS NPU
Why it ranks here
- Editorial tag: Battery Life
#8#12#3#5
Snapdragon X2 Elite X2E-84-100Qualcomm
12 · 12 · 4.7 GHz
64% 52% 82% 62%
Why it ranks here
- 34 MB L3 cache
Why it ranks here
Nothing stands out for this use; the score comes from overall balance.
Why it ranks here
- Editorial tag: On-device AI
- 85 TOPS NPU
Why it ranks here
- Editorial tag: Battery Life
#3#6#2#9
AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 475AMD
12 · 24 · 5.2 GHz
73% 64% 82% 59%
Why it ranks here
- 5.2 GHz boost
- Current model — 9 months on the market
Why it ranks here
- 5.2 GHz boost
- Current model — 9 months on the market
Why it ranks here
- Editorial tag: On-device AI
- 60 TOPS NPU
- Current model — 9 months on the market
Why it ranks here
- Current model — 9 months on the market
#2#5#4#8
AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470AMD
12 · 24 · 5.2 GHz
73% 64% 80% 59%
Why it ranks here
- 5.2 GHz boost
- Current model — 9 months on the market
Why it ranks here
- 5.2 GHz boost
- Current model — 9 months on the market
Why it ranks here
- Editorial tag: On-device AI
- 55 TOPS NPU
- Current model — 9 months on the market
Why it ranks here
- Current model — 9 months on the market
#6#8#1#3
Snapdragon X2 Elite X2E-80-100Qualcomm
12 · 12 · 4.7 GHz
71% 57% 84% 67%
Why it ranks here
- 34 MB L3 cache
- Current model — 9 months on the market
Why it ranks here
- Current model — 9 months on the market
Why it ranks here
- Editorial tag: On-device AI
- 80 TOPS NPU
- Current model — 9 months on the market
Why it ranks here
- Editorial tag: Battery Life
- Current model — 9 months on the market
#7#4#13#12
AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3DAMD
12 · 24 · 5.5 GHz
70% 64% 50% 50%
Why it ranks here
- Editorial tag: Gaming
- 128 MB L3 cache
Why it ranks here
- Editorial tag: Content Creation
Why it ranks here
Nothing stands out for this use; the score comes from overall balance.
Why it ranks here
Nothing stands out for this use; the score comes from overall balance.
#4#1#6#13
AMD Ryzen AI Max 390AMD
12 · 24 · 5 GHz
72% 71% 70% 50%
Why it ranks here
- 5 GHz boost
- 64 MB L3 cache
Why it ranks here
- Editorial tag: Content Creation
- 5 GHz boost
Why it ranks here
- Editorial tag: On-device AI
- 50 TOPS NPU
Why it ranks here
Nothing stands out for this use; the score comes from overall balance.
#11#7#16#17
AMD Ryzen 9 9900XAMD
12 · 24 · 5.6 GHz
61% 61% 45% 45%
Why it ranks here
- 5.6 GHz boost
- 26 months on the market — a successor may be near
Why it ranks here
- Editorial tag: Content Creation
- 5.6 GHz boost
- 26 months on the market — a successor may be near
Why it ranks here
- 26 months on the market — a successor may be near
Why it ranks here
- 26 months on the market — a successor may be near
#9#10#12#16
AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370AMD
12 · 24 · 5.1 GHz
63% 53% 53% 49%
Why it ranks here
- 5.1 GHz boost
- 26 months on the market — a successor may be near
Why it ranks here
- 5.1 GHz boost
- 26 months on the market — a successor may be near
Why it ranks here
- 50 TOPS NPU
- 26 months on the market — a successor may be near
Why it ranks here
- 26 months on the market — a successor may be near
#15#17#15#10
Snapdragon X EliteQualcomm
12 · 12 · 4 GHz
58% 47% 48% 57%
Why it ranks here
- 42 MB L3 cache
- 28 months on the market — a successor may be near
Why it ranks here
- 28 months on the market — a successor may be near
Why it ranks here
- 45 TOPS NPU
- 28 months on the market — a successor may be near
Why it ranks here
- Editorial tag: Battery Life
- 28 months on the market — a successor may be near
#17#16#17#2
Intel Core Ultra 5 125UIntel
12 · 14 · 4.3 GHz
53% 49% 45% 71%
Why it ranks here
- 34 months on the market — a successor may be near
Why it ranks here
- 34 months on the market — a successor may be near
Why it ranks here
- 11 TOPS NPU
- 34 months on the market — a successor may be near
Why it ranks here
- Editorial tag: Battery Life
- 15 W — among the frugal ones here
- 34 months on the market — a successor may be near