Intel
Intel Core i5-12400F
The graphics-less i5-12400, and for two years the default answer to "what CPU for a cheap gaming PC". Six P-cores at 4.4 GHz on a 65 W budget deliver gaming performance that only falls behind flagships once you pair it with a genuinely high-end GPU at low resolution.
Pros
- Six Golden Cove cores / 12 threads at up to 4.4 GHz for well under $170 at launch
- Gaming performance close to an i7-12700K at 1440p, where the GPU is the limit
- 65 W base power — no cooling investment needed beyond the included Laminar RM1
- 18 MB L3 keeps 1% lows solid compared to 4-core budget chips
- Cheap H610/B660 DDR4 boards make the total platform cost very low
Cons
- No iGPU whatsoever — a discrete card is mandatory just to see a display
- No E-cores, so it is clearly slower than a 13400F in rendering and compilation
- Locked multiplier; nothing to gain from a Z690/Z790 board except memory speed
- 2.5 GHz base gives it a low sustained all-core floor under long workloads
Below average
Computed from specs & benchmarks via our public methodology.
Full specifications
Everything we track for the Intel Core i5-12400F
General
- Announced
- 2022
- Socket
- LGA1700
- Process
- 10 nm
- Base TDP
- 65 W
- Max turbo power
- 117 W
- Unlocked multiplier
- No
- Cooler included
- Yes
Cores & Clocks
- Cores
- 6
- Performance cores
- 6
- Efficiency cores
- 0
- Threads
- 12
- Base clock
- 2.5 GHz
- Boost clock
- 4.4 GHz
- L2 cache
- 8 MB
- L3 cache
- 18 MB
Memory
- Memory support
- DDR5-4800 / DDR4-3200
- Max memory
- 128 GB
- Memory channels
- 2
Platform
- PCIe version
- 5
- CPU PCIe lanes
- 20
Benchmarks
- Geekbench 6 (single)
- 2,100
- Geekbench 6 (multi)
- 9,400
- Cinebench R23 (single)
- 1,690
- Cinebench R23 (multi)
- 11,900
- PassMark
- 19,700
Quick answers
Is the Intel Core i5-12400F good in 2026?
The Intel Core i5-12400F earns an Inno Score of 47.3/100 (“Below average”) based on its specs and benchmark results. The graphics-less i5-12400, and for two years the default answer to "what CPU for a cheap gaming PC". Six P-cores at 4.4 GHz on a 65 W budget deliver gaming performance that only falls behind flagships once you pair it with a genuinely high-end GPU at low resolution.
What are the key specs of the Intel Core i5-12400F?
Cores: 6 · Threads: 12 · Boost clock: 4.4 GHz · Socket: LGA1700
What are the closest alternatives to the Intel Core i5-12400F?
Its closest rivals on InnoReviews are Intel Core i5-12400, Intel Core i7-11700K, Intel Core i9-10850K — open the comparison pages for a spec-by-spec breakdown.