Home > CPU Comparison > Core i7 7700K or Core i5 12400F: what's better?

Intel Core i7 7700K vs i5 12400F

33 out of 100
Intel Core i7 7700K
VS
49 out of 100
Intel Core i5 12400F
Intel Core i7 7700K
Intel Core i5 12400F

We compared two desktop CPUs: the 4.2 GHz Intel Core i7 7700K with 4-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.
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
31.5
(Mediocre)
Value Index
66.9
(Good)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 12400F and 7700K
Advantages of Intel Core i7 7700K
  • Unlocked multiplier
  • Includes an integrated GPU Intel HD Graphics 630
  • 2% higher Turbo Boost frequency (4.5 GHz vs 4.4 GHz)
Advantages of Intel Core i5 12400F
  • Has 10 MB larger L3 cache size, helping fully utilize a high-end GPU in gaming
  • Newer - released 5 years and 1 month later
  • Around 41.04 GB/s (115%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • Supports up to 128 GB DDR5-4800 RAM
  • Newer PCI Express version โ€“ 5.0
  • Has 2 more physical cores
  • 52% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 2300 vs 1516 points
  • More modern manufacturing process โ€“ 10 versus 14 nanometers

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core i7 7700K
vs
Core i5 12400F

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
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 7700K
1516
Core i5 12400F +52%
2300
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Core i7 7700K
5290
Core i5 12400F +79%
9477
File compression 456.6 MB/sec 789 MB/sec
Clang compilation 37.9 Klines/sec 69.9 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 115.7 pages/sec 221 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 162.6 Mpixels/sec 263.7 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 152.5 pages/sec 230 pages/sec
Background blur 28.7 images/sec 49.5 images/sec
Photo processing 53.4 images/sec 77.9 images/sec
Ray tracing 7.57 Mpixels/sec 16.2 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] โ€“ 841 & 1128 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Core i7 7700K
2703
Core i5 12400F +29%
3486
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Core i7 7700K
9637
Core i5 12400F +103%
19551
Integer math 30.7 GOps/sec 60.1 GOps/sec
Floating point math 18.8 GOps/sec 46.9 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 31M Primes/sec 74M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 17.2M Strings/sec 23.2M Strings/sec
Data encryption 3.3 GBytes/sec 11.7 GBytes/sec
Data compression 136.7 MBytes/sec 233.1 MBytes/sec
Physics 655 Frames/sec 1257 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 9B Matrices/sec 15.9B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] โ€“ 14773 & 17200 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Core i7 7700K
85.49
Core i5 12400F +89%
161.36

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 3.5 PPW 9.8 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 58.1 PPW 145.8 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 105.9 PPW 300.8 PPW
Blender / Watt 0.94 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 7700K
DateBenchmarkResult
๐Ÿ“˜ 2024-11-17 (Pavol K)Cinebench 202467 / 322
Add View all (1)
Intel Core i5 12400F
DateBenchmarkResult
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-01-24 (Ecstatify)Geekbench 6 CPU2918 / 13277
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-08-17 (Olini)Cinebench 2024101 / 664
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-07-21 (Rolling Manatee)Cinebench 202495 / 640
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-05-12 (inoklike)Cinebench 202493 / 646
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-03-04 (RD)Cinebench 202488 / 620
Add View all (5)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i7 7700K and i5 12400F

General

Vendor Intel Intel
Released January 3, 2017 January 4, 2022
Type Desktop Desktop
Instruction Set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Kaby Lake Alder Lake
Model number i7-7700K i5-12400F
Integrated GPU HD Graphics 630 No
Successor - Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus - Intel Core Ultra 5 225F
Intel CPU rating (#163rd place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 4 6
P-Threads 8 12
Base Frequency (P) 4.2 GHz 2.5 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 4.5 GHz 4.4 GHz
Total
Total Cores 4 6
Total Threads 8 12
Bus Frequency 42 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 100x 25x
Bus Bandwidth 8 GT/s -
L1 Cache 64K (per core) 80K (per core)
L2 Cache 256K (per core) 1280K (per core)
L3 Cache 8MB (shared) 18MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier Yes No

Package

Fabrication Process 14 nm 10 nm
TDP (PL1) 91 W 65 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) - 117 W
Socket LGA-1151 LGA-1700
Peak Temperature 100ยฐC 100ยฐC
Desktop CPU ranking (170th and 108th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel HD Graphics 630 -
GPU Base Clock 350 MHz -
GPU Boost Clock 1150 MHz -
Shading Units 192 -
TMUs 24 -
ROPs 3 -
Execution Units 24 -
TGP 15 W -
iGPU FLOPS
Core i7 7700K
0.4 TFLOPS
Core i5 12400F
n/a
See: Intel UHD Graphics 630 benchmarks

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR4-2400
- DDR3L-1600		 - DDR5-4800
- DDR4-3200
Max. Memory Size 64 GB 128 GB
Memory Channels 2 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 35.76 GB/s 76.8 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

Official Site Intel Core i7 7700K official page Intel Core i5 12400F official page
PCI Express Version 3.0 5.0
PCI Express Lanes 16 20

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
13 (16.3%)
67 (83.8%)
Total votes: 80

Competitors

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3. Intel Core i5 12400F vs Intel Core i3 14100F
4. Intel Core i5 12400F vs AMD Ryzen 7 5700X
5. Intel Core i5 12400F vs AMD Ryzen 5 5600X (13)
6. Intel Core i5 12400F vs Intel Core i3 12100F (1)
7. Intel Core i5 12400F vs Intel Core i5 14400F
8. Intel Core i7 7700K vs Intel Core i7 6700K
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Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Intel Core i5 12400F or i7 7700K?
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