Apple M2 vs Intel Core i7-12700KF. Specifications, performance, tests

Background information about the processors being compared, series, generation and market segment.

• Segment
  Mobile Desktop / Server
• Family
  Apple M series Intel Core i7
• Generation
  2 12
• CPU group
  Apple M2 Intel Core i 12000
• Predecessor
  -- Intel Core i7-11700KF

Basic parameters such as number of cores, number of threads, base and turbo frequency, and cache size. These parameters indirectly tell about the speed of the processor, the higher they are the better.

• Frequency
  3.50 GHz 3.60 GHz
• CPU Cores
  8 12
• Turbo (1 Core)
  No turbo 5.00 GHz
• CPU Threads
  8 20
• Hyperthreading
  No Yes
• Overclocking
  No Yes
• Core architecture
  hybrid (big.LITTLE) hybrid (big.LITTLE)
• A core
  4x Avalanche 8x Golden Cove
• B core
  4x Blizzard 4x Gracemont

Internal Graphics does not affect the performance of the CPU, performs the work of the graphics card in its absence or on mobile devices.

• GPU name
  Apple M2 (8 Core) Intel Iris Xe Graphics 32 (Alder Lake S)
• GPU frequency
  3.50 GHz 0.40 GHz
• GPU (Turbo)
  No turbo 1.45 GHz
• Execution units
  128 32
• Shader
  0 256
• Max. GPU Memory
  16 GB 16 GB
• Max. displays
  3 4
• Generation
  2 12
• DirectX Version
  12
• Technology
  5 nm 10 nm
• Release date
  Q1/2022 Q4/2021

Built-in codecs used to encode and decode content. Significantly speeds up the required operations.

• h265 / HEVC (8 bit)
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
• h265 / HEVC (10 bit)
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
• h264
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
• VP9
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
• VP8
  Decode Decode
• AV1
  Decode Decode
• AVC
  Decode Decode / Encode
• VC-1
  Decode Decode
• JPEG
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode

Types, channel quantity of RAM supported by Intel Core i7-12700KF and Apple M2. Depending on the motherboards, higher or lower memory frequencies may be supported.

• Memory type
  LPDDR5-5500 DDR4-3200DDR5-4800
• Max. Memory
  16 GB 256 GB
• ECC
  No No
• Memory channels
  2 2
• PCIe version
  4.0 5.0
• PCIe lanes
  20

• AES-NI
  Yes Yes

Compare the TDP requirements of TDP Apple M2 and Intel Core i7-12700KF to select a cooling system. Note, the TDP value refers to thermal watts, not electrical watts.

• TDP (PL1)
  15 W 125 W
• TDP up
  20 W --
• TDP (PL2)
  -- 228 W / 56 s
• TDP down
  10 W --
• Tjunction max.
  -- 100 °C

Architecture, interfaces, additional instructions supported by Apple M2 and Apple M2, virtual machine technologies and process technology.

• Instruction set (ISA)
  ARMv8-A64 (64 bit) x86-64 (64 bit)
• Virtualization
  None VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
• ISA extensions
  Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, AVX2+
• L2-Cache
  16.00 MB 2.50 MB
• L3-Cache
  -- 25.00 MB
• Architecture
  M2 Alder Lake S
• Technology
  5 nm 10 nm
• Socket
  N/A LGA 1700
• Release date
  Q1/2022 Q4/2021
• Part Number
  -- BX8071512700K