Home > CPU Comparison > Core i7 8700K or Core i5 12400F: what's better?

Intel Core i7 8700K vs i5 12400F

38 out of 100
Intel Core i7 8700K
VS
49 out of 100
Intel Core i5 12400F
Intel Core i7 8700K
Intel Core i5 12400F

We compared two 6-core desktop CPUs: the 3.7 GHz Intel Core i7 8700K against the 2.5 GHz i5 12400F. 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
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
47.3
(Average)
Value Index
66.9
(Good)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 12400F and 8700K
Advantages of Intel Core i7 8700K
  • Unlocked multiplier
  • Includes an integrated GPU Intel UHD Graphics 630
  • 7% higher Turbo Boost frequency (4.7 GHz vs 4.4 GHz)
Advantages of Intel Core i5 12400F
  • Newer - released 4 years and 4 months later
  • Around 35.2 GB/s (85%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • Newer PCI Express version – 5.0
  • Has 6 MB larger L3 cache size, helping fully utilize a high-end GPU in gaming
  • More modern manufacturing process – 10 versus 14 nanometers
  • 32% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 2300 vs 1741 points

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core i7 8700K
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 8700K
1741
Core i5 12400F +32%
2300
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Core i7 8700K
6928
Core i5 12400F +37%
9477
File compression 509.8 MB/sec 789 MB/sec
Clang compilation 52.2 Klines/sec 69.9 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 149.8 pages/sec 221 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 210.4 Mpixels/sec 263.7 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 165.3 pages/sec 230 pages/sec
Background blur 38 images/sec 49.5 images/sec
Photo processing 61.1 images/sec 77.9 images/sec
Ray tracing 10.8 Mpixels/sec 16.2 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 550 & 1128 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Core i7 8700K
2715
Core i5 12400F +28%
3486
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Core i7 8700K
13569
Core i5 12400F +44%
19551
Integer math 45.9 GOps/sec 60.1 GOps/sec
Floating point math 28.5 GOps/sec 46.9 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 39M Primes/sec 74M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 25.2M Strings/sec 23.2M Strings/sec
Data encryption 4.8 GBytes/sec 11.7 GBytes/sec
Data compression 198.7 MBytes/sec 233.1 MBytes/sec
Physics 811 Frames/sec 1257 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 13.5B Matrices/sec 15.9B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 18753 & 17200 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Core i7 8700K
126.94
Core i5 12400F +27%
161.36

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 5.3 PPW 9.8 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 72.9 PPW 145.8 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 142.8 PPW 300.8 PPW
Blender / Watt 1.34 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 8700K
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2025-03-12 (SPUUD)Cinebench 202469 / 486
πŸ“˜ 2025-03-09 (angry beaver)Cinebench 202470 / 504
πŸ“˜ 2025-02-14 (Mike)Cinebench 202474 / 520
πŸ“˜ 2024-12-01 (AzureWizzard)Cinebench 202472 / 499
πŸ“˜ 2024-04-21 (Ian Geraldi Cordeiro)Cinebench 202464 / 398
Add View all (5)
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
Add View all (5)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i7 8700K and i5 12400F

General

Vendor Intel Intel
Released October 5, 2017 January 4, 2022
Type Desktop Desktop
Instruction Set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Coffee Lake Alder Lake
Model number i7-8700K i5-12400F
Integrated GPU UHD Graphics 630 No
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen 7 2700X -
Successor - Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus - Intel Core Ultra 5 225F
Intel CPU rating (#162nd place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 6 6
P-Threads 12 12
Base Frequency (P) 3.7 GHz 2.5 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 4.7 GHz 4.4 GHz
Total
Total Cores 6 6
Total Threads 12 12
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 37x 25x
Bus Bandwidth 8 GT/s -
L1 Cache 64K (per core) 80K (per core)
L2 Cache 256K (per core) 1280K (per core)
L3 Cache 12MB (shared) 18MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier Yes No

Package

Fabrication Process 14 nm 10 nm
TDP (PL1) 95 W 65 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) - 117 W
Socket LGA-1151 LGA-1700
Peak Temperature 100Β°C 100Β°C
Desktop CPU ranking (155th and 108th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 630 -
GPU Base Clock 350 MHz -
GPU Boost Clock 1200 MHz -
Shading Units 192 -
TMUs 24 -
ROPs 3 -
Execution Units 24 -
TGP 15 W -
iGPU FLOPS
Core i7 8700K
0.5 TFLOPS
Core i5 12400F
n/a
See: Intel UHD Graphics 630 benchmarks

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR4-2666 - DDR5-4800
- DDR4-3200
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 128 GB
Memory Channels 2 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 41.6 GB/s 76.8 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

Official Site Intel Core i7 8700K 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
23 (14.5%)
136 (85.5%)
Total votes: 159

Competitors

1. Intel Core i5 12400F vs AMD Ryzen 5 7500F
2. Intel Core i5 12400F vs Intel Core i5 13400F (3)
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 8700K vs Intel Core i5 12600K
9. Intel Core i7 8700K vs Intel Core i3 12100
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Intel Core i5 12400F or i7 8700K?
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Avatar
Raziel December 12, 2022 at 07:08 PM
Hello everyone, I was on the "Can u run it "website and they said that I can't run Elden ring on recommended specs cause of my CPU " I have i5 12400f" and they recommended an i7 8700k I WAS SHOCKED LIKE WTF I'm searching now and I found that my CPU is much better so idc what they say, they outdated web site ...and ty for the info.
+22 Reply
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