Question Should I upgrade from an i5-12400 to an i9-12900K ?

[sin69sin]

Hi All,

Im looking to boost my system and was wondering from anyones experience if its worth going from
an i5-12400 to the i9-12900K. I realise I'd have to upgrade the cooler so looking at Be Quiet! Pure Rock Pro 3 (I like their kit and it is quiet). My main use is for games but I also use Blender for 3D printing and Premiere Pro for video editing. Upgrade cost is about AUS $600. Is it worth the upgrade?
Any other comments on improving what I have are also welcome.

Current PC Specs
CASE: Corsiar 5000D Airflow
MOBO: MSI PRO Z690-A LGA 1700 DDR4
CPU: Intel i5-12400
GPU: MSI gaming trio RTX4070
CPU Cooler: Be Quiet Pure Rock 2 FX
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 4 x16GB 3200 DDR4 (four sticks as great price)
PSU: Corsair 850w 80+ Gold Modular
STORAGE: 2 x samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 1 TB ( 1 for operating etc other for games and video editing)
STORAGE: Lexar SSD NQ970 4TB (for movies and video file storage)

Cheers all!

Stephen

 

[Aeacus]

Is it worth the upgrade?

Why i9-12900K? Since your MoBo, with latest BIOS, supports Intel 13th and 14th gen CPUs as well. Where the beefiest chip you can plop into is i9-14900KS.

Quite a bit of difference between those two chips,
comparison: https://technical.city/en/cpu/Core-i9-12900K-vs-Core-i9-14900KS

Any other comments on improving what I have are also welcome?

I see no reason why to upgrade other components. Build is solid.

Btw, model of your PSU is? And how old it is?

 

[Why_Me]

Hi All,

Im looking to boost my system and was wondering from anyones experience if its worth going from an i5 12400 to the i9 12900K. I realise I'd have to upgrade cooler so looking at Be Quiet! Pure Rock Pro 3 (I like ther kit and it is quiet). My main use is for games but also use Blender for 3d printing and Premiere Pro for video editing. Upgrade cost is about AUS $600. Is it worth the upgrade? Any other comments on improving what I have are also welcome?

CASE: Corsiar 5000D Airflow
MOBO: MSI PRO Z690-A LGA 1700 DDR4
CPU: Intel i5 12400
GPU: MSI gaming trio RTX4070
CPU Cooler: Be Quiet Pure Rock 2 FX
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 4 x16GB 3200 DDR4 (four sticks as great price)
PSU: Corsair 850w 80+ Gold Modular
STORAGE: 2 x samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 1 TB ( 1 for operating etc other for games and video editing)
STORAGE: Lexar SSD NQ970 4TB (for movies and video file storage)

Cheers all!

Stephen

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *Intel Core i7-12700F 2.1 GHz 12-Core Processor ($379.00 @ Centre Com)
Total: $379.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-06-22 16:12 AEST+1000

 

[dark_globe]

your build is solid , and yes absolutely you will see a big performance difference
both in gaming and even more so in applications .
but as mentioned you can buy an even stronger chip for that motherboard .
although it is true that the high end 13th and 14th gen chips had their issues with degradation .
AFAIK intel was never able to fully fix that ,
but there are steps and settings you can do to ensure better longevity of your cpu

 

[Aeacus]

Upgrade cost is about AUS $600. Is it worth the upgrade?

For $600 AUD, you can get i7-14700K.

Like so:
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-14700K 3.4 GHz 20-Core Processor ($575.00 @ Amazon Australia)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($55.00 @ Scorptec)
Total: $630.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-06-22 15:20 AEST+1000

Sure, price goes a touch over the budget but it is thanks to CPU cooler, which is value king. You will not find better CPU cooler with less price than Peerless Assassin 120 SE is it.

i9-12900K vs 17-14700K: https://technical.city/en/cpu/Core-i9-12900K-vs-Core-i7-14700K
Quite a bit of performance uplift.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *Intel Core i7-12700KF 3.6 GHz 12-Core Processor ($179.97 @ Amazon)
Total: $179.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-06-22 01:13 EDT-0400

OP is in Australia, not US. So, US prices doesn't apply.

 

[sin69sin]

Why i9-12900K? Since your MoBo, with latest BIOS, supports Intel 13th and 14th gen CPUs as well. Where the beefiest chip you can plop into is i9-14900KS.

Quite a bit of difference between those two chips,
comparison: https://technical.city/en/cpu/Core-i9-12900K-vs-Core-i9-14900KS


I see no reason why to upgrade other components. Build is solid.

Btw, model of your PSU is? And how old it is?

Cheers, been put off with the 14th gen plus alittle higher that what i want to pay. thank you.

 

[sin69sin]

Why i9-12900K? Since your MoBo, with latest BIOS, supports Intel 13th and 14th gen CPUs as well. Where the beefiest chip you can plop into is i9-14900KS.

Quite a bit of difference between those two chips,
comparison: https://technical.city/en/cpu/Core-i9-12900K-vs-Core-i9-14900KS


I see no reason why to upgrade other components. Build is solid.

Btw, model of your PSU is? And how old it is?

The PSU is a Corsair RM850x, about a year old.

 

[Aeacus]

Cheers, been put off with the 14th gen plus alittle higher that what i want to pay.

I don't get it.

i9-12900K costs $613 AUD.
i7-14700K costs $574 AUD, while being ~27% better than i9-12900K.
i7-14700KF costs $534 AUD, while being ~28% better than i9-12900K.
pcpp: https://au.pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/gGH7YJ,BmWJ7P,TWP8TW/

Paying $80 AUD more for ~28% worse performance. Doesn't make sense for me.

The PSU is a Corsair RM850x, about a year old.

Good quality PSU and does fine. So, not even PSU needs a replacement.