Home > CPU Comparison > Core i5 11400F or Core i3 12100F: what's better?

Intel Core i5 11400F vs i3 12100F

44 out of 100
Intel Core i5 11400F
VS
48 out of 100
Intel Core i3 12100F
Intel Core i5 11400F
Intel Core i3 12100F

We compared two desktop CPUs: the 2.6 GHz Intel Core i5 11400F with 6-cores against the 3.3 GHz i3 12100F with 4-cores. On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.

  1. Review
  2. Differences
  3. Performance
  4. Specs
  5. Comments

Review

General overview and comparison of the processors
Single-Core Performance
Performance in single-threaded apps and benchmarks
Multi-Core Performance
Measure performance when all cores are involved
Power Efficiency
The efficiency score of power consumption
The "iGPU" and "Power Efficiency" have a minor impact on the NanoReview Score for desktop CPU.
NanoReview Final Score
Choose your main usage scenario to recalculate the Final Score and see which CPU suits your needs.
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Value for money (Beta)

Global average CPU prices are used by default! For better accuracy, enter your current prices and click “Calculate".
Currency
VS
56.0
(Average)
Value Index
113.2
(Excellent)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 12100F and 11400F
Advantages of Intel Core i5 11400F
  • Has 2 more physical cores
  • 2% higher Turbo Boost frequency (4.4 GHz vs 4.3 GHz)
Advantages of Intel Core i3 12100F
  • Around 26.8 GB/s (54%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • More modern manufacturing process – 10 versus 14 nanometers
  • Newer PCI Express version – 5.0
  • Newer - released 9 months later
  • 22% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 2529 vs 2072 points

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core i5 11400F
vs
Core i3 12100F

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Submit your benchmark results

GeekBench v6

The new version of this benchmark emulates common operations often used in real-world apps
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
File compression 681.4 MB/sec 792.9 MB/sec
Clang compilation 59.6 Klines/sec 60.1 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 169.4 pages/sec 204.1 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 242 Mpixels/sec 263.7 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 201.4 pages/sec 267.7 pages/sec
Background blur 42.5 images/sec 48.6 images/sec
Photo processing 68.9 images/sec 82.8 images/sec
Ray tracing 13.6 Mpixels/sec 14.4 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 761 & 1026 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Core i5 11400F +21%
16869
Core i3 12100F
13953
Integer math 57.6 GOps/sec 40.8 GOps/sec
Floating point math 34.2 GOps/sec 31.9 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 53M Primes/sec 59M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 24.2M Strings/sec 15.9M Strings/sec
Data encryption 10.2 GBytes/sec 8 GBytes/sec
Data compression 208 MBytes/sec 159.7 MBytes/sec
Physics 833 Frames/sec 972 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 15.9B Matrices/sec 10.8B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 6204 & 3972 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Core i5 11400F +25%
133.53
Core i3 12100F
106.99

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 8 PPW 7.6 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 126.1 PPW 152.2 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 259.5 PPW 240.6 PPW
Blender / Watt 2.05 PPW 1.84 PPW
These are rough calculations, as most CPUs surpass PL1 TDP wattage even in multicore workloads.

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Intel Core i5 11400F
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2024-05-15 (amir)Cinebench 202484 / 522
Add View all (1)
Intel Core i3 12100F
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2025-11-02 (idkez)Cinebench 202485 / 442
Add View all (1)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i5 11400F and i3 12100F

General

Vendor Intel Intel
Released March 16, 2021 January 4, 2022
Type Desktop Desktop
Instruction Set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Rocket Lake Alder Lake
Model number i5-11400F i3-12100F
Integrated GPU No No
Successor - Intel Core Ultra 5 225F - Intel Core i3 14100F
Intel CPU rating (195th and 172nd place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 6 4
P-Threads 12 8
Base Frequency (P) 2.6 GHz 3.3 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 4.4 GHz 4.3 GHz
Total
Total Cores 6 4
Total Threads 12 8
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 26x 33x
Bus Bandwidth 8 GT/s -
L1 Cache 64K (per core) 80K (per core)
L2 Cache 512K (per core) 1280K (per core)
L3 Cache 12MB (shared) 12MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Fabrication Process 14 nm 10 nm
TDP (PL1) 65 W 58 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) - 89 W
Socket LGA-1200 LGA-1700
Peak Temperature 100°C 100°C
Desktop CPU ranking (132nd and 115th place)

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR4-3200 - DDR5-4800
- DDR4-3200
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 128 GB
Memory Channels 2 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 50 GB/s 76.8 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

Official Site Intel Core i5 11400F official page Intel Core i3 12100F official page
PCI Express Version 4.0 5.0
PCI Express Lanes 20 20

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
222 (26.4%)
620 (73.6%)
Total votes: 842

Competitors

1. Intel Core i5 11400F vs AMD Ryzen 5 5500
2. Intel Core i5 11400F vs Intel Core i5 10400F
3. Intel Core i5 11400F vs AMD Ryzen 5 5600G (1)
4. Intel Core i3 12100F vs AMD Ryzen 5 5500
5. Intel Core i3 12100F vs Intel Core i5 12400F (1)
6. Intel Core i3 12100F vs AMD Ryzen 5 5600 (1)
7. Intel Core i3 12100F vs Intel Core i3 13100F
8. Intel Core i3 12100F vs Intel Core i3 12100
9. Intel Core i3 12100F vs AMD Ryzen 5 3600 (1)
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Intel Core i3 12100F or i5 11400F?
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