Home > CPU Comparison > Core i7 10700K or Core i5 12400: what's better?

Intel Core i7 10700K vs i5 12400

43 out of 100
Intel Core i7 10700K
VS
49 out of 100
Intel Core i5 12400
Intel Core i7 10700K
Intel Core i5 12400

We compared two desktop CPUs: the 3.8 GHz Intel Core i7 10700K with 8-cores against the 2.5 GHz i5 12400 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 (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
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.
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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
16.3
(Bad)
Value Index
42.6
(Average)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 12400 and 10700K
Advantages of Intel Core i7 10700K
  • Unlocked multiplier
  • Has 2 more physical cores
  • 16% higher Turbo Boost frequency (5.1 GHz vs 4.4 GHz)
Advantages of Intel Core i5 12400
  • Around 31 GB/s (68%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • Newer PCI Express version – 5.0
  • More modern manufacturing process – 10 versus 14 nanometers
  • Newer - released 1 year and 8 months later
  • 31% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 2245 vs 1711 points
  • More powerful Intel UHD Graphics 730 integrated graphics: 0.6 vs 0.5 TFLOPS

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core i7 10700K
vs
Core i5 12400

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Cinebench 2026 (Single) - 295
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) - 1710
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 i7 10700K
1711
Core i5 12400 +31%
2245
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Core i7 10700K
8482
Core i5 12400 +15%
9788
File compression 647.3 MB/sec 879.2 MB/sec
Clang compilation 76.4 Klines/sec 65.6 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 169.6 pages/sec 223.7 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 296.9 Mpixels/sec 275.6 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 173 pages/sec 225.9 pages/sec
Background blur 38.9 images/sec 49.5 images/sec
Photo processing 63.4 images/sec 81.2 images/sec
Ray tracing 16.5 Mpixels/sec 15.1 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 737 & 1015 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Core i7 10700K
3037
Core i5 12400 +14%
3464
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Core i7 10700K
18522
Core i5 12400 +2%
18816
Integer math 66.6 GOps/sec 58.9 GOps/sec
Floating point math 41.3 GOps/sec 45.9 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 54M Primes/sec 67M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 36.6M Strings/sec 22.6M Strings/sec
Data encryption 6.4 GBytes/sec 11.5 GBytes/sec
Data compression 294.7 MBytes/sec 228 MBytes/sec
Physics 930 Frames/sec 1090 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 19.4B Matrices/sec 15.5B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 7682 & 6661 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Core i7 10700K +7%
178.9
Core i5 12400
166.74

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 5.7 PPW 9.2 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 67.9 PPW 150.6 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 148.2 PPW 289.5 PPW
Blender / Watt 1.43 PPW 2.57 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 i7 10700K
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2024-07-10 (Guest #0)Cinebench 202477 / 716
📘 2024-05-04 (Tris)Cinebench 202462 / 415
Add View all (2)
Intel Core i5 12400
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-05-24 (MortalMech)Cinebench 2026295 / 1710
📘 2024-06-27 (Renni)Cinebench 202499 / 598
Add View all (2)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i7 10700K and i5 12400

General

Vendor Intel Intel
Released May 1, 2020 January 4, 2022
Type Desktop Desktop
Instruction Set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Comet Lake Alder Lake
Model number i7-10700K i5-12400
Integrated GPU UHD Graphics 630 UHD Graphics 730
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen 5 5600X -
Successor - Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus - Intel Core Ultra 5 225
Intel CPU rating (#164th place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 8 6
P-Threads 16 12
Base Frequency (P) 3.8 GHz 2.5 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 5.1 GHz 4.4 GHz
Total
Total Cores 8 6
Total Threads 16 12
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 38x 25x
Bus Bandwidth 8 GT/s -
L1 Cache 64K (per core) 80K (per core)
L2 Cache 256K (per core) 1280K (per core)
L3 Cache 16MB (shared) 18MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier Yes No

Package

Fabrication Process 14 nm 10 nm
TDP (PL1) 125 W 65 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) - 117 W
Socket LGA-1200 LGA-1700
Peak Temperature 100°C 100°C
Desktop CPU ranking (138th and 109th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 630 Intel UHD Graphics 730
GPU Base Clock 350 MHz 300 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1200 MHz 1450 MHz
Shading Units 192 192
TMUs 24 48
ROPs 3 24
Execution Units 24 24
TGP 15 W 15 W
iGPU FLOPS
Core i7 10700K
0.5 TFLOPS
Core i5 12400 +20%
0.6 TFLOPS
More info: UHD Graphics 730 compared to Graphics 630

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR4-2933 - DDR5-4800
- DDR4-3200
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 128 GB
Memory Channels 2 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 45.8 GB/s 76.8 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

Official Site Intel Core i7 10700K official page Intel Core i5 12400 official page
PCI Express Version 3.0 5.0
PCI Express Lanes 16 20

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
18 (15.8%)
96 (84.2%)
Total votes: 114

Competitors

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2. Intel Core i5 12400 vs Intel Core i3 13100
3. Intel Core i5 12400 vs AMD Ryzen 7 5700G (5)
4. Intel Core i5 12400 vs Intel Core i5 13400
5. Intel Core i5 12400 vs AMD Ryzen 5 5600G (6)
6. Intel Core i5 12400 vs Intel Core i5 14400
7. Intel Core i5 12400 vs Intel Core i3 14100
8. Intel Core i7 10700K vs Intel Core i7 12700K
9. Intel Core i7 10700K vs AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
10. Intel Core i7 10700K vs Intel Core i5 13600K
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Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Intel Core i5 12400 or i7 10700K?
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I5 12400 vs i7 10700k February 8, 2022 at 12:26 AM
Overall both cpus are very good. But now the i7 10700k is $350 and the 12400 is only $210. Both have almost the same performance but the 12400 has a better TDP. The extra threads are nice too. Have but if you’re editing photos or videos, gaming, or doing work. The i5 12400 is better.
+19 Reply
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