I just looked at the tasks run time on my computers and my i3-12100F is twice as fast as my i7-8700k

i3: https://denis.usj.es/denisathome/show_host_detail.php?hostid=238733
i7: https://denis.usj.es/denisathome/show_host_detail.php?hostid=238736

I know the i7 is only 8th gen and the i3 12th gen, but still that's a big difference, is that the AVX2+ benefit ?

I just looked at the tasks run time on my computers and my i3-12100F is twice as fast as my i7-8700k

Well, my Linux machine has
Instruction Set Extensions Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2, Intel® AVX-512

Computer 224473

CPU type 	GenuineIntel
Intel(R) Xeon(R) W-2245 CPU @ 3.90GHz [Family 6 Model 85 Stepping 7]
Number of processors 	16

Operating System 	Linux Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.9 (Ootpa) [4.18.0-513.24.1.el8_9.x86_64|libc 2.28]
BOINC version 	7.20.2
Memory 	125.07 GB
Cache 	16896 KB
Swap space 	15.62 GB
Total disk space 	488.04 GB
Free Disk Space 	480.51 GB
Measured floating point speed 	5.92 billion ops/sec
Measured integer speed 	22.71 billion ops/sec
Average upload rate 	169.81 KB/sec
Average download rate 	9629.98 KB/sec
Average turnaround time 	1.23 days

Here are the three most recent results, but comparing with my other (Windows 10) machine does not make sense as it has a much slower smaller processor.

CPU type 	GenuineIntel
11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1165G7 @ 2.80GHz [Family 6 Model 140 Stepping 1]
Number of processors 	8

41519441 	19689063 	9 Apr 2024, 13:43:10 UTC 	10 Apr 2024, 12:10:18 UTC 	Completed and validated 	3,681.32 	3,663.96 	42.98 	Human ventricular cell models optimization v0.02
x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
41519518 	19689102 	9 Apr 2024, 13:43:10 UTC 	9 Apr 2024, 19:16:09 UTC 	Completed and validated 	3,771.43 	3,731.72 	41.53 	Human ventricular cell models optimization v0.02
x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
41519469 	19689077 	9 Apr 2024, 13:43:10 UTC 	10 Apr 2024, 10:06:43 UTC 	Completed and validated 	3,660.38 	3,642.97 	42.75 	Human ventricular cell models optimization v0.02
x86_64-pc-linux-gnu

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your Xeon has a lot more cache ;-)

some i3 results;

41590933	19724764	9 Apr 2024, 16:58:50 UTC	11 Apr 2024, 4:28:41 UTC	Completed and validated	2,194.71	1,727.97	39.74	Human ventricular cell models optimization v0.02
windows_x86_64
41590930	19724762	9 Apr 2024, 16:58:50 UTC	11 Apr 2024, 4:28:30 UTC	Completed and validated	2,193.70	1,725.91	40.44	Human ventricular cell models optimization v0.02
windows_x86_64
41590808	19724701	9 Apr 2024, 16:58:50 UTC	11 Apr 2024, 4:29:39 UTC	Completed and validated	2,205.79	1,740.73	39.70	Human ventricular cell models optimization v0.02
windows_x86_64
41590782	19724688	9 Apr 2024, 16:58:50 UTC	11 Apr 2024, 4:53:37 UTC	Completed and validated	2,192.18	1,723.09	41.85	Human ventricular cell models optimization v0.02

Some i7 results:

41516859	19687772	9 Apr 2024, 13:34:57 UTC	11 Apr 2024, 3:56:19 UTC	Completed and validated	4,116.32	3,035.09	40.26	Human ventricular cell models optimization v0.02
windows_x86_64
41516994	19687840	9 Apr 2024, 13:34:57 UTC	11 Apr 2024, 3:27:43 UTC	Completed and validated	4,071.97	3,009.78	38.83	Human ventricular cell models optimization v0.02
windows_x86_64
41516733	19687709	9 Apr 2024, 13:34:43 UTC	11 Apr 2024, 1:40:54 UTC	Completed and validated	4,056.41	3,018.53	42.10	Human ventricular cell models optimization v0.02
windows_x86_64
41516814	19687750	9 Apr 2024, 13:34:43 UTC	11 Apr 2024, 2:15:42 UTC	Completed and validated	4,104.62	3,013.83	41.60	Human ventricular cell models optimization v0.02
windows_x86_64