Intel Core i7 12700K vs i5 12400F

We compared two desktop CPUs: the 3.6 GHz Intel Core i7 12700K with 12-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.

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
75.8
(Good)
Value Index
66.9
(Good)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 12400F and 12700K
Advantages of Intel Core i7 12700K
  • Has 6 more physical cores
  • Unlocked multiplier
  • Has 7 MB larger L3 cache size, helping fully utilize a high-end GPU in gaming
  • Includes an integrated GPU Intel UHD Graphics 770
  • 11% higher Turbo Boost frequency (4.9 GHz vs 4.4 GHz)
  • 14% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 2627 vs 2300 points

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 2026 (Single) 597 -
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) 4728 -
Cinebench Scores (#110th 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)
14714
File compression 1230 MB/sec 789 MB/sec
Clang compilation 122.3 Klines/sec 69.9 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 382.6 pages/sec 221 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 374.5 Mpixels/sec 263.7 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 267.6 pages/sec 230 pages/sec
Background blur 55.9 images/sec 49.5 images/sec
Photo processing 98.2 images/sec 77.9 images/sec
Ray tracing 29.6 Mpixels/sec 16.2 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 731 & 1128 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
34256
Integer math 114.3 GOps/sec 60.1 GOps/sec
Floating point math 87.9 GOps/sec 46.9 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 112M Primes/sec 74M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 45.8M Strings/sec 23.2M Strings/sec
Data encryption 23.4 GBytes/sec 11.7 GBytes/sec
Data compression 445.1 MBytes/sec 233.1 MBytes/sec
Physics 1773 Frames/sec 1257 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 28.8B Matrices/sec 15.9B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 11963 & 17200 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
309.16

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 9.6 PPW 9.8 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 117.7 PPW 145.8 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 274 PPW 300.8 PPW
Blender / Watt 2.47 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 i7 12700K
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-08-14 (Melvin Tejada)Cinebench 2026597 / 4728
πŸ“˜ 2026-07-08 (Myla)Cinebench 2026555 / 3917
πŸ“˜ 2026-05-04 (sisham)Cinebench 2024100 / 635
πŸ“˜ 2025-08-22 (Ray)Cinebench 2024115 / 1305
πŸ“˜ 2024-12-19 (Zach Jones)Cinebench 2024114 / 1231
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

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i7 12700K 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 i7-12700K i5-12400F
Integrated GPU UHD Graphics 770 No
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen 7 5800X -
Successor - Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus - Intel Core Ultra 5 225F
Intel CPU rating (69th and 163rd place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 8 6
P-Threads 16 12
Base Frequency (P) 3.6 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) 2.7 GHz -
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) 3.8 GHz -
Total
Total Cores 12 6
Total Threads 20 12
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 36x 25x
L1 Cache 80K (per core) 80K (per core)
L2 Cache 12MB (shared) 1280K (per core)
L3 Cache 25MB (shared) 18MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier Yes No

Package

Fabrication Process 10 nm 10 nm
TDP (PL1) 125 W 65 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 190 W 117 W
Socket LGA-1700 LGA-1700
Peak Temperature 100Β°C 100Β°C
Desktop CPU ranking (69th and 108th place)

iGPU

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

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 Yes No

Misc

Official Site Intel Core i7 12700K 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
56 (54.9%)
46 (45.1%)
Total votes: 102

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Intel Core i5 12400F or i7 12700K?
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