Intel Core i5 13400 vs i5 12600K

We compared two 10-core desktop CPUs: the 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5 13400 against the 3.7 GHz i5 12600K. On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.

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
Integrated Graphics
iGPU capabilities for gaming and 3D-intensive tasks
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.
๐Ÿ”Œ Usage Scenario:

Value for money (Beta)

Global average CPU prices are used by default! For better accuracy, enter your current prices and click โ€œCalculate".
Currency
VS
38.4
(Mediocre)
Value Index
84.4
(Good)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 12600K and 13400
Advantages of Intel Core i5 13400
  • Supports up to 192 GB DDR5-4800 RAM
  • Newer - released 1 year and 3 months later
Advantages of Intel Core i5 12600K
  • Unlocked multiplier
  • More powerful Intel UHD Graphics 770 integrated graphics: 0.7 vs 0.6 TFLOPS
  • 9% higher Turbo Boost frequency (4.9 GHz vs 4.5 GHz)

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Cinebench Scores (#167th place)

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)
12200
File compression 755.8 MB/sec 822.6 MB/sec
Clang compilation 89.9 Klines/sec 98.7 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 231.6 pages/sec 261.1 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 310 Mpixels/sec 347.9 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 244 pages/sec 258.5 pages/sec
Background blur 52.4 images/sec 58.9 images/sec
Photo processing 77.8 images/sec 103.5 images/sec
Ray tracing 20.4 Mpixels/sec 22.8 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] โ€“ 583 & 768 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
27512
Integer math 79 GOps/sec 87.8 GOps/sec
Floating point math 59.6 GOps/sec 67.1 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 73M Primes/sec 90M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 31.2M Strings/sec 35.7M Strings/sec
Data encryption 16.1 GBytes/sec 18.4 GBytes/sec
Data compression 304.9 MBytes/sec 342.8 MBytes/sec
Physics 1229 Frames/sec 1515 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 19.4B Matrices/sec 22B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] โ€“ 2026 & 7007 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
200.73
234.96

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 11.3 PPW 7.6 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 167 PPW 97.6 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 367.6 PPW 220.1 PPW
Blender / Watt 3.09 PPW 1.88 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 13400
DateBenchmarkResult
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-04-30 (Vincent Liu)Cinebench 202482 / 777
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-11-02 (Elyes Boudhina)Cinebench 2024101 / 737
Intel Core i5 12600K
DateBenchmarkResult
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-12-28 (Jin)Cinebench 2024108 / 910
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-12-28 (Jin)Cinebench 2024108 / 906
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-12-20 (Kierannosaurus)Geekbench 6 CPU2668 / 12254
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-12-20 (Kierannosaurus)Cinebench 2024118 / 1041
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-12-05 (Kierannosaurus)Cinebench 2024115 / 1017

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i5 13400 and i5 12600K

General

Vendor Intel Intel
Released January 3, 2023 October 27, 2021
Type Desktop Desktop
Instruction Set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Raptor Lake Alder Lake
Model number i5-13400 i5-12600K
Integrated GPU UHD Graphics 730 UHD Graphics 770
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen 5 7500F - AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
Successor - Intel Core Ultra 5 225 - Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus
Intel CPU rating (134th and 96th place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 6 6
P-Threads 12 12
Base Frequency (P) 2.5 GHz 3.7 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 4.5 GHz 4.9 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 4 4
E-Threads 4 4
Base Frequency (E) 1.8 GHz 2.8 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) 3.4 GHz 3.6 GHz
Total
Total Cores 10 10
Total Threads 16 16
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 25x 37x
L1 Cache 80K (per core) 80K (per core)
L2 Cache 1280K (per core) 9728K (shared)
L3 Cache 20MB (shared) 20MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No Yes

Package

Fabrication Process 10 nm 10 nm
TDP (PL1) 65 W 125 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 154 W 150 W
Socket LGA-1700 LGA-1700
Peak Temperature 100ยฐC 100ยฐC
Desktop CPU ranking (96th and 86th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 730 Intel UHD Graphics 770
GPU Base Clock 300 MHz 300 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1550 MHz 1450 MHz
Shading Units 192 256
TMUs 48 16
ROPs 24 8
Execution Units 24 32
TGP 15 W 15 W
iGPU FLOPS
0.6 TFLOPS
0.7 TFLOPS

Memory Support

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

Misc

Official Site Intel Core i5 13400 official page Intel Core i5 12600K official page
PCI Express Version 5.0 5.0
PCI Express Lanes 20 20

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
121 (35.1%)
224 (64.9%)
Total votes: 345

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Intel Core i5 12600K or i5 13400?
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