The Intel 12th Gen Core i9-12900K review: hybrid performance brings hybrid complexity

Overall though, it's no denying that Intel is now in the thick of it, or if I were to argue, the market leader. The nuances of the hybrid architecture are still nascent, so it will take time to discover where benefits will come, especially when we get to the laptop variants of Alder Lake. At a retail price of around $650, the Core i9-12900K ends up being competitive between the two Ryzen 9 processors, each with their good points. The only serious downside for Intel though is cost of switching to DDR5, and users learning Windows 11. That's not necessarily on Intel, but it's a few more hoops than we regularly jump through.

Competition is amazing.