Home > CPU Comparison > Core i5 12500 or Ryzen 5 5500: what's better?

Intel Core i5 12500 vs AMD Ryzen 5 5500

53 out of 100
Intel Core i5 12500
VS
44 out of 100
AMD Ryzen 5 5500
Intel Core i5 12500
AMD Ryzen 5 5500

We compared two 6-core desktop CPUs: the 3 GHz Intel Core i5 12500 against the 3.6 GHz AMD Ryzen 5 5500. 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
59.1
(Average)
Value Index
123.4
(Excellent)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 5500 and 12500
Advantages of Intel Core i5 12500
  • Newer PCI Express version – 5.0
  • Around 29.12 GB/s (61%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • 26% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 2469 vs 1961 points
  • Includes an integrated GPU Intel UHD Graphics 770
  • More than 10° C higher critical temperature
  • 10% higher Turbo Boost frequency (4.6 GHz vs 4.2 GHz)
Advantages of AMD Ryzen 5 5500
  • Unlocked multiplier
  • More modern manufacturing process – 7 versus 10 nanometers

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core i5 12500
vs
Ryzen 5 5500

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Cinebench 2026 (Single) - 424
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) - 2421
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 12500 +26%
2469
Ryzen 5 5500
1961
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Core i5 12500 +24%
10163
Ryzen 5 5500
8220
File compression 795 MB/sec 819.4 MB/sec
Clang compilation 71.5 Klines/sec 61.3 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 237.9 pages/sec 147.3 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 263.4 Mpixels/sec 233.2 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 242.7 pages/sec 191.9 pages/sec
Background blur 52.4 images/sec 40.4 images/sec
Photo processing 91.2 images/sec 61.4 images/sec
Ray tracing 16.5 Mpixels/sec 15.4 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 566 & 907 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Core i5 12500 +19%
3649
Ryzen 5 5500
3061
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Core i5 12500 +2%
19715
Ryzen 5 5500
19247
Integer math 61.6 GOps/sec 64.6 GOps/sec
Floating point math 48 GOps/sec 36.8 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 72M Primes/sec 55M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 23.5M Strings/sec 24.7M Strings/sec
Data encryption 12 GBytes/sec 14.8 GBytes/sec
Data compression 237.3 MBytes/sec 245.4 MBytes/sec
Physics 1197 Frames/sec 881 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 16B Matrices/sec 17.3B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 1847 & 15772 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Core i5 12500 +20%
172.6
Ryzen 5 5500
143.63

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 10.3 PPW 9 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 156.4 PPW 126.5 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 303.3 PPW 296.1 PPW
Blender / Watt 2.66 PPW 2.21 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 12500
No benchmark results yet
Add
AMD Ryzen 5 5500
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-06-10 (leosangester)Cinebench 2024429 / 2105
📘 2026-06-04 (Aideau)Cinebench 2026424 / 2421
📘 2026-02-21 -> sububurbiabomb22Geekbench 6 CPU2028 / 8385
📘 2026-02-21 -> sububurbiabomb22Cinebench 202488 / 627
📘 2026-02-21 -> sububurbiabomb22Geekbench 6 CPU1972 / 8289
Add View all (15)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i5 12500 and AMD Ryzen 5 5500

General

Vendor Intel Amd
Released January 4, 2022 March 15, 2022
Type Desktop Desktop
Instruction Set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Alder Lake Zen 3 (Cezanne)
Model number i5-12500 -
Integrated GPU UHD Graphics 770 No
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen 5 5500 - Intel Core i5 11400
Successor - Intel Core i5 14500 - AMD Ryzen 5 9500F
Intel CPU rating (#134th place)
AMD Ryzen CPU ranking (#143rd place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 6 6
P-Threads 12 12
Base Frequency (P) 3 GHz 3.6 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 4.6 GHz 4.2 GHz
Total
Total Cores 6 6
Total Threads 12 12
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 30x 36x
L1 Cache 80K (per core) 64K (per core)
L2 Cache 1280K (per core) 512K (per core)
L3 Cache 18MB (shared) 16MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No Yes

Package

Fabrication Process 10 nm 7 nm
TDP (PL1) 65 W 65 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 117 W -
Socket LGA-1700 AM4
Peak Temperature 100°C 90°C
Desktop CPU ranking (97th and 131st place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 770 -
GPU Base Clock 300 MHz -
GPU Boost Clock 1450 MHz -
Shading Units 256 -
TMUs 16 -
ROPs 8 -
Execution Units 32 -
TGP 15 W -
iGPU FLOPS
Core i5 12500
0.7 TFLOPS
Ryzen 5 5500
n/a
See: Intel UHD Graphics 770 benchmarks

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR5-4800
- DDR4-3200		 - DDR4-3200
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 128 GB
Memory Channels 2 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 76.8 GB/s 47.68 GB/s
ECC Support Yes No

Misc

Official Site Intel Core i5 12500 official page AMD Ryzen 5 5500 official page
PCI Express Version 5.0 3.0
PCI Express Lanes 20 24

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
4 (57.1%)
3 (42.9%)
Total votes: 7

Competitors

1. Intel Core i5 12500 vs Intel Core i5 12400 (1)
2. Intel Core i5 12500 vs Intel Core i5 13500
3. Intel Core i5 12500 vs Intel Core i7 12700
4. AMD Ryzen 5 5500 vs Intel Core i5 12400F (1)
5. AMD Ryzen 5 5500 vs Intel Core i3 12100F
6. AMD Ryzen 5 5500 vs AMD Ryzen 5 5600 (5)
7. AMD Ryzen 5 5500 vs AMD Ryzen 5 3600 (5)
8. AMD Ryzen 5 5500 vs AMD Ryzen 5 5600G (1)
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: AMD Ryzen 5 5500 or Intel Core i5 12500?
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