Home > CPU Comparison > Core i5 12400F or Core i5 10400F: what's better?

Intel Core i5 12400F vs i5 10400F

49 out of 100
Intel Core i5 12400F
VS
34 out of 100
Intel Core i5 10400F
Intel Core i5 12400F
Intel Core i5 10400F

We compared two 6-core desktop CPUs: the 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5 12400F against the 2.9 GHz i5 10400F. 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.
πŸ”Œ Usage Scenario:

Value for money (Beta)

Global average CPU prices are used by default! For better accuracy, enter your current prices and click β€œCalculate".
Currency
VS
66.9
(Good)
Value Index
34.3
(Mediocre)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 10400F and 12400F
Advantages of Intel Core i5 12400F
  • Around 35.2 GB/s (85%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • Newer PCI Express version – 5.0
  • 58% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 2300 vs 1459 points
  • Has 6 MB larger L3 cache size, helping fully utilize a high-end GPU in gaming
  • More modern manufacturing process – 10 versus 14 nanometers
  • Newer - released 1 year and 8 months later
  • 2% higher Turbo Boost frequency (4.4 GHz vs 4.3 GHz)

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core i5 12400F
vs
Core i5 10400F

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Cinebench 2026 (Single) - 353
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) - 1994
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 789 MB/sec 452.1 MB/sec
Clang compilation 69.9 Klines/sec 50.3 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 221 pages/sec 139.6 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 263.7 Mpixels/sec 190.7 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 230 pages/sec 151 pages/sec
Background blur 49.5 images/sec 33.8 images/sec
Photo processing 77.9 images/sec 51.9 images/sec
Ray tracing 16.2 Mpixels/sec 10.3 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 1128 & 435 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Core i5 12400F +62%
19551
Core i5 10400F
12095
Integer math 60.1 GOps/sec 41.5 GOps/sec
Floating point math 46.9 GOps/sec 26 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 74M Primes/sec 35M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 23.2M Strings/sec 23.2M Strings/sec
Data encryption 11.7 GBytes/sec 4.1 GBytes/sec
Data compression 233.1 MBytes/sec 186 MBytes/sec
Physics 1257 Frames/sec 694 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 15.9B Matrices/sec 12.5B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 17200 & 9127 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Core i5 12400F +44%
161.36
Core i5 10400F
112

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 9.8 PPW 6.7 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 145.8 PPW 96.4 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 300.8 PPW 186.1 PPW
Blender / Watt 2.48 PPW 1.72 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
πŸ“˜ 2026-01-24 (Ecstatify)Geekbench 6 CPU2918 / 13277
πŸ“˜ 2025-08-17 (Olini)Cinebench 2024101 / 664
πŸ“˜ 2025-07-21 (Rolling Manatee)Cinebench 202495 / 640
πŸ“˜ 2025-05-12 (inoklike)Cinebench 202493 / 646
πŸ“˜ 2025-03-04 (RD)Cinebench 202488 / 620
Add View all (5)
Intel Core i5 10400F
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-07-30 (Semant)Cinebench 2026353 / 1994
πŸ“˜ 2026-04-05 (Manav Sehgal)Cinebench 2026351 / 1884
πŸ“˜ 2025-09-11 (KingdomGaming)Cinebench 202464 / 438
Add View all (3)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i5 12400F and i5 10400F

General

Vendor Intel Intel
Released January 4, 2022 May 1, 2020
Type Desktop Desktop
Instruction Set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Alder Lake Comet Lake
Model number i5-12400F i5-10400F
Integrated GPU No No
Rival Equivalent - - AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Successor - Intel Core Ultra 5 225F - Intel Core Ultra 5 225F
Intel CPU rating (#163rd place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 6 6
P-Threads 12 12
Base Frequency (P) 2.5 GHz 2.9 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 4.4 GHz 4.3 GHz
Total
Total Cores 6 6
Total Threads 12 12
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 25x 29x
Bus Bandwidth - 8 GT/s
L1 Cache 80K (per core) 64K (per core)
L2 Cache 1280K (per core) 256K (per core)
L3 Cache 18MB (shared) 12MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Fabrication Process 10 nm 14 nm
TDP (PL1) 65 W 65 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 117 W -
Socket LGA-1700 LGA-1200
Peak Temperature 100Β°C 100Β°C
Desktop CPU ranking (108th and 162nd place)

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR5-4800
- DDR4-3200		 - DDR4-2666
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 128 GB
Memory Channels 2 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 76.8 GB/s 41.6 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

Official Site Intel Core i5 12400F official page Intel Core i5 10400F official page
PCI Express Version 5.0 3.0
PCI Express Lanes 20 16

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
440 (80%)
110 (20%)
Total votes: 550

Competitors

1. Intel Core i5 10400F vs Intel Core i3 12100F
2. Intel Core i5 10400F vs AMD Ryzen 5 5500
3. Intel Core i5 12400F vs Intel Core i3 14100F
4. Intel Core i5 12400F vs AMD Ryzen 5 7500F
5. Intel Core i5 12400F vs Intel Core i3 12100F (1)
6. Intel Core i5 12400F vs AMD Ryzen 5 5600X (13)
7. Intel Core i5 12400F vs AMD Ryzen 7 5700X
8. Intel Core i5 12400F vs Intel Core i5 13400F (3)
9. Intel Core i5 12400F vs Intel Core i5 14400F
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Intel Core i5 10400F or i5 12400F?
🌐 Register your profile and become part of NanoReview community!
EnglishРусский