Home > CPU Comparison > Core i5 12400F or Core 5 120F: what's better?

Intel Core i5 12400F vs Core 5 120F

49 out of 100
Intel Core i5 12400F
VS
52 out of 100
Intel Core 5 120F
Intel Core i5 12400F
Intel Core 5 120F

We compared two 6-core desktop CPUs: the 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5 12400F against the 2.5 GHz Core 5 120F. 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 (1)

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.
🔌 Usage Scenario:

Value for money (Beta)

Global average CPU prices are used by default! For better accuracy, enter your current prices and click “Calculate".
Currency
VS
66.9
(Good)
Value Index
61.6
(Average)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 120F and 12400F
Advantages of Intel Core 5 120F
  • Newer - released 3 years and 6 months later
  • Supports up to 192 GB DDR5-4800 RAM
  • 2% higher Turbo Boost frequency (4.5 GHz vs 4.4 GHz)

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core i5 12400F
vs
Core 5 120F

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)
Core i5 12400F
2300
Core 5 120F +3%
2364
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Core i5 12400F
9477
Core 5 120F +3%
9805
File compression 789 MB/sec -
Clang compilation 69.9 Klines/sec -
HTML 5 Browser 221 pages/sec -
PDF Renderer 263.7 Mpixels/sec -
Text processing 230 pages/sec -
Background blur 49.5 images/sec -
Photo processing 77.9 images/sec -
Ray tracing 16.2 Mpixels/sec -
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 1128 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Core i5 12400F
3486
Core 5 120F +4%
3636
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Core i5 12400F
19551
Core 5 120F +10%
21477
Integer math 60.1 GOps/sec 66.5 GOps/sec
Floating point math 46.9 GOps/sec 51.4 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 74M Primes/sec 75M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 23.2M Strings/sec 25.1M Strings/sec
Data encryption 11.7 GBytes/sec 13 GBytes/sec
Data compression 233.1 MBytes/sec 257.2 MBytes/sec
Physics 1257 Frames/sec 1337 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 15.9B Matrices/sec 17.4B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 17200 & 2 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 9.8 PPW 10.4 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 145.8 PPW 150.8 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 300.8 PPW 330.4 PPW
Blender / Watt 2.48 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 12400F
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-01-24 (Ecstatify)Geekbench 6 CPU2918 / 13277
📘 2025-08-17 (Olini)Cinebench 2024101 / 664
📘 2025-07-21 (Rolling Manatee)Cinebench 202495 / 640
📘 2025-05-12 (inoklike)Cinebench 202493 / 646
📘 2025-03-04 (RD)Cinebench 202488 / 620
Add View all (5)
Intel Core 5 120F
No benchmark results yet
Add

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i5 12400F and Core 5 120F

General

Vendor Intel Intel
Released January 4, 2022 June 14, 2025
Type Desktop Desktop
Instruction Set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Alder Lake Bartlett Lake-S
Model number i5-12400F 120F
Integrated GPU No No
Successor - Intel Core Ultra 5 225F -
Intel CPU rating (163rd and 138th place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 6 6
P-Threads 12 12
Base Frequency (P) 2.5 GHz 2.5 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 4.4 GHz 4.5 GHz
Total
Total Cores 6 6
Total Threads 12 12
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 25x 25x
L1 Cache 80K (per core) 80K (per core)
L2 Cache 1280K (per core) 1280K (per core)
L3 Cache 18MB (shared) 18MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Fabrication Process 10 nm 10 nm
TDP (PL1) 65 W 65 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 117 W -
Socket LGA-1700 LGA-1700
Peak Temperature 100°C 100°C
Desktop CPU ranking (108th and 100th place)

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR5-4800
- DDR4-3200		 - DDR5-4800
- DDR4-3200
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 192 GB
Memory Channels 2 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 76.8 GB/s 76.8 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

Official Site Intel Core i5 12400F official page Intel Core 5 120F official page
PCI Express Version 5.0 5.0
PCI Express Lanes 20 20

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
21 (63.6%)
12 (36.4%)
Total votes: 33

Competitors

1. Intel Core 5 120F vs AMD Ryzen 5 4500
2. Intel Core 5 120F vs Intel Core i5 14400F
3. Intel Core 5 120F vs Intel Core i5 13400
4. Intel Core 5 120F vs AMD Ryzen 5 8400F
5. Intel Core i5 12400F vs AMD Ryzen 7 5700X
6. Intel Core i5 12400F vs Intel Core i5 13400F (3)
7. Intel Core i5 12400F vs Intel Core i3 14100F
8. Intel Core i5 12400F vs AMD Ryzen 5 5600X (13)
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Intel Core 5 120F or i5 12400F?
🌐 Register your profile and become part of NanoReview community!
Avatar
Anonymous August 14, 2025 at 08:22 PM
WTF intel the cpu basically 12400f it's even in alder lake arc lol
0 Reply
EnglishРусский