Home > CPU Comparison > Core i5 12600KF or Core i5 12400F: what's better?

Intel Core i5 12600KF vs i5 12400F

59 out of 100
Intel Core i5 12600KF
VS
49 out of 100
Intel Core i5 12400F
Intel Core i5 12600KF
Intel Core i5 12400F

We compared two desktop CPUs: the 3.7 GHz Intel Core i5 12600KF with 10-cores against the 2.5 GHz i5 12400F with 6-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.
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
96.9
(Very good)
Value Index
66.9
(Good)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 12400F and 12600KF
Advantages of Intel Core i5 12600KF
  • Unlocked multiplier
  • Has 4 more physical cores
  • 11% higher Turbo Boost frequency (4.9 GHz vs 4.4 GHz)
  • 13% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 2598 vs 2300 points

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core i5 12600KF
vs
Core i5 12400F

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Cinebench Scores (#166th place)
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 1020 MB/sec 789 MB/sec
Clang compilation 97.5 Klines/sec 69.9 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 304.3 pages/sec 221 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 396.9 Mpixels/sec 263.7 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 263.3 pages/sec 230 pages/sec
Background blur 57.3 images/sec 49.5 images/sec
Photo processing 118.2 images/sec 77.9 images/sec
Ray tracing 22.3 Mpixels/sec 16.2 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 809 & 1128 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Core i5 12600KF +41%
27514
Core i5 12400F
19551
Integer math 87.8 GOps/sec 60.1 GOps/sec
Floating point math 67 GOps/sec 46.9 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 90M Primes/sec 74M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 35.6M Strings/sec 23.2M Strings/sec
Data encryption 18.4 GBytes/sec 11.7 GBytes/sec
Data compression 342.1 MBytes/sec 233.1 MBytes/sec
Physics 1544 Frames/sec 1257 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 22B Matrices/sec 15.9B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 4042 & 17200 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Core i5 12600KF +39%
225.04
Core i5 12400F
161.36

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 7.6 PPW 9.8 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 103.5 PPW 145.8 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 220.1 PPW 300.8 PPW
Blender / Watt 1.8 PPW 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 12600KF
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2025-11-06 (Bughunter47)Cinebench 2024109 / 833
πŸ“˜ 2025-11-01 (desbiensl)Cinebench 2024108 / 951
πŸ“˜ 2025-03-04 (Sylph)Cinebench 202498 / 674
πŸ“˜ 2025-01-15 (Fei Mian)Cinebench 2024112 / 994
πŸ“˜ 2025-01-12 (Isdato)Cinebench 2024107 / 933
Add View all (7)
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)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i5 12600KF and i5 12400F

General

Vendor Intel Intel
Released October 27, 2021 January 4, 2022
Type Desktop Desktop
Instruction Set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Alder Lake Alder Lake
Model number i5-12600KF i5-12400F
Integrated GPU No No
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen 5 5600X -
Successor - Intel Core Ultra 5 250KF Plus - Intel Core Ultra 5 225F
Intel CPU rating (93rd and 163rd place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 6 6
P-Threads 12 12
Base Frequency (P) 3.7 GHz 2.5 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 4.9 GHz 4.4 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 4 -
E-Threads 4 -
Base Frequency (E) 2.8 GHz -
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) 3.6 GHz -
Total
Total Cores 10 6
Total Threads 16 12
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 37x 25x
L1 Cache 80K (per core) 80K (per core)
L2 Cache 9728K (shared) 1280K (per core)
L3 Cache 20MB (shared) 18MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier Yes No

Package

Fabrication Process 10 nm 10 nm
TDP (PL1) 125 W 65 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 150 W 117 W
Socket LGA-1700 LGA-1700
Peak Temperature 100Β°C 100Β°C
Desktop CPU ranking (82nd and 108th place)

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR5-4800
- DDR4-3200		 - DDR5-4800
- DDR4-3200
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 128 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 12600KF official page Intel Core i5 12400F official page
PCI Express Version 5.0 5.0
PCI Express Lanes 20 20

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
327 (74.3%)
113 (25.7%)
Total votes: 440

Competitors

1. Intel Core i5 12400F vs AMD Ryzen 7 5700X
2. Intel Core i5 12400F vs Intel Core i5 14400F
3. Intel Core i5 12400F vs Intel Core i3 14100F
4. Intel Core i5 12400F vs AMD Ryzen 5 5600X (13)
5. Intel Core i5 12400F vs Intel Core i5 13400F (3)
6. Intel Core i5 12400F vs Intel Core i3 12100F (1)
7. Intel Core i5 12400F vs AMD Ryzen 5 7500F
8. Intel Core i5 12600KF vs AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
9. Intel Core i5 12600KF vs Intel Core i5 13600KF
10. Intel Core i5 12600KF vs Intel Core i5 13400F
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Intel Core i5 12400F or i5 12600KF?
🌐 Register your profile and become part of NanoReview community!
EnglishРусский