Intel Core i9-12900KS Build Guide

MicroCenterOfficial

The "World's Fastest Desktop Processor" has launched and we're celebrating with a day of benchmarks, breakdowns, and build guides!

Now, of course, Intel's Fastest Desktop Processor deserves nothing less than the best, so we've gone all out for this build. Check the whole thing out below!

Processor: Intel Core i9-12900KS Alder Lake 3.4GHz Sixteen-Core LGA 1700 Boxed Processor

Intel isn't lying when they call the Core i9-12900KS the "World's Fastest Desktop Processors," and you can check out benchmarks for proof. With 16 cores and 24 threads, the i9-12900KS supports both PCIe 4.0 and 5.0, DDR5 and DDR4, with a base E-core speed of 2.50GHz and a base P-core speed of 3.4GHz. The whole chip can reach an astounding max Turbo Frequency of 5.50Ghz!

You're definitely going to want an AIO - at least - to really get the most out of this processor without thermal throttling it. Something like the ASUS ROG STRIX LC II 360mm RGB CPU Water Cooling Kit!

Motherboard: ASUS Z690-E ROG Strix Gaming WiFi DDR5 Intel LGA 1700 ATX Motherboard

While the Core i9-12900KS can support DDR4, if you want to get the most out of the chip (and you absolutely should!) you need DDR5 and a motherboard that supports DDR5. The ASUS Z690-E will make full use of every bit of power you put in it and has support for PCIe 5.0, keeping you on the bleeding edge.

Graphics Card: EVGA NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FTW3 ULTRA Triple Fan 24GB GDDR6X PCIe 4.0 Graphics Card

Powerful CPU? Check. Powerful motherboard? Check. Powerful GPU? An absolute must. The EVGA NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti is the absolute peak of NVIDIA's lineup. Built with an absolutely massive 24GB of GDDR6X VRAM and a whopping 10752 CUDA cores, this GPU isn't just 4K ready, its 8k ready.

RAM: G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR5-5600 PC5-44800 CL36 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit F5-5600J3636C16GX2-TZ5RK - Black

We've said it with every part we've added and we're not going to stop now: If you're building with the i9-12900KS, go all out. DDR5 RAM is an absolute must, and 32GB is just the start. Double it with a second kit or increase the memory capacity and never ever worry about RAM again.

Hard Drive: Samsung 980 Pro SSD 2TB M.2 NVMe Interface PCIe Gen 4x4 Internal Solid State Drive with V-NAND 3 bit MLC Technology (MZ-V8P2T0B/AM) & Seagate BarraCuda 8TB 5400RPM SATA III 6Gb/s 3.5" OEM Internal Hard Drive

Speed and Space is the name of the game. Samsung's 980 Pro offers 2TB of space with blazing-fast NVMe speeds for your OS and anything else you want to put on it. Then, when you start to fill up, you can spill over into a 6TB standard HDD from Seagate.

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 GT 80 Plus Gold 1000W Fully Modular Power Supply

You'll need a big PSU for a build of this power, and an EVGA SuperNOVA 1000W is the way to go. With enough power to get your whole system up and running and then some, its a worthwhile investment for upgrading into the future.

Case: Thermaltake Core P6 Tempered Glass ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - White

We're shifting things up for the case - we've been using all black components up to this point, but a nice white open-air case will do wonders to highlight the raw power of the build and really accentuate what really matters: the parts.

The full parts list can be found on our Custom PC Builder:

https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/custom-pc-builder-intel.aspx?load=0b029ba5-55c4-4206-8486-6db87f14778b