Intel Core i7 12700 vs i5 12500

We compared two desktop CPUs: the 2.1 GHz Intel Core i7 12700 with 12-cores against the 3 GHz i5 12500 with 6-cores. 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.
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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
44.2
(Average)
Value Index
59.1
(Average)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 12500 and 12700
Advantages of Intel Core i7 12700
  • Has 6 more physical cores
  • Has 7 MB larger L3 cache size, helping fully utilize a high-end GPU in gaming
  • 4% higher Turbo Boost frequency (4.8 GHz vs 4.6 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 (#139th 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)
12868
File compression 892.7 MB/sec 795 MB/sec
Clang compilation 105.8 Klines/sec 71.5 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 284.6 pages/sec 237.9 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 385.9 Mpixels/sec 263.4 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 249.7 pages/sec 242.7 pages/sec
Background blur 60.4 images/sec 52.4 images/sec
Photo processing 103.1 images/sec 91.2 images/sec
Ray tracing 27.3 Mpixels/sec 16.5 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 835 & 566 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
29795
Integer math 106.1 GOps/sec 61.6 GOps/sec
Floating point math 80.6 GOps/sec 48 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 98M Primes/sec 72M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 38.4M Strings/sec 23.5M Strings/sec
Data encryption 19.8 GBytes/sec 12 GBytes/sec
Data compression 369.8 MBytes/sec 237.3 MBytes/sec
Physics 1517 Frames/sec 1197 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 23.7B Matrices/sec 16B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 6771 & 1847 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
269.72

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 16.4 PPW 10.3 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 198 PPW 156.4 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 458.4 PPW 303.3 PPW
Blender / Watt 4.15 PPW 2.66 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 12700
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2025-08-18 (Admiral97)Geekbench 6 CPU2494 / 14455
📘 2025-01-23 (Scotter_1001)Cinebench 2024100 / 845
📘 2024-11-18 (@Onlineee705j)Cinebench 2024102 / 1069
📘 2024-08-15 (Styx)Cinebench 2024114 / 1212
📘 2024-05-28 (asita)Cinebench 2024106 / 840
Intel Core i5 12500
No benchmark results yet

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i7 12700 and i5 12500

General

Vendor Intel Intel
Released January 1, 2022 January 4, 2022
Type Desktop Desktop
Instruction Set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Alder Lake Alder Lake
Model number i7-12700 i5-12500
Integrated GPU UHD Graphics 770 UHD Graphics 770
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen 7 5800 - AMD Ryzen 5 5500
Successor - Intel Core Ultra 7 265 - Intel Core i5 14500
Intel CPU rating (92nd and 134th place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 8 6
P-Threads 16 12
Base Frequency (P) 2.1 GHz 3 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 4.8 GHz 4.6 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 4 -
E-Threads 4 -
Base Frequency (E) 1.6 GHz -
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) 3.6 GHz -
Total
Total Cores 12 6
Total Threads 20 12
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 21x 30x
L1 Cache 80K (per core) 80K (per core)
L2 Cache 12MB (shared) 1280K (per core)
L3 Cache 25MB (shared) 18MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Fabrication Process 10 nm 10 nm
TDP (PL1) 65 W 65 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 180 W 117 W
Socket LGA-1700 LGA-1700
Peak Temperature 100°C 100°C
Desktop CPU ranking (81st and 97th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 770 Intel UHD Graphics 770
GPU Base Clock 300 MHz 300 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1500 MHz 1450 MHz
Shading Units 256 256
TMUs 16 16
ROPs 8 8
Execution Units 32 32
TGP 15 W 15 W
iGPU FLOPS
0.8 TFLOPS
0.7 TFLOPS

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR4-3200
- DDR5-4800
- 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 Yes Yes

Misc

Official Site Intel Core i7 12700 official page Intel Core i5 12500 official page
PCI Express Version 5.0 5.0
PCI Express Lanes 20 20

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
43 (53.1%)
38 (46.9%)
Total votes: 81

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Intel Core i5 12500 or i7 12700?
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