In reviewing the Core i5-12400, there'southward nix on paper that tells yous this could be an amazing CPU. Later all, it'south generally a heavily cut down 12600K, which nosotros've already looked at. And yet, in my stance, this is i of the well-nigh exciting CPUs to exist released in the concluding few years.

Compared to the Cadre i5-12600K, the four Due east-cores are gone, the L3 cache is reduced from xx MB to xviii MB, the turbo clock speed has been wound down past x%, and the base of operations power has been slashed from 125 watts to just 65 watts. That doesn't sound then appealing... but what makes the i5-12400 and then exciting is the price.

While y'all tin expect to pay around $300 to the 12600K, which is the aforementioned price of AMD's Ryzen 5 5600X, the i5-12400 is just $210, with the F-SKU coming in at simply $180. That'southward 40% less than the 5600X, and 25% less than the rather unappealing 5600G.

In virtually instances, particularly gaming, the 12400 shouldn't exist a swell deal slower than the 12600K, and if that is the case information technology's going to be an extremely sought-after item by budget gamers.

What you're getting for around $200 is a 6 P-core, 12-thread Alder Lake CPU that operates up to 4.4 GHz with an 18 MB L3 cache and UHD 730 graphics. And so it should exist even faster than final generation's Core i5-11600K, which came in at $270 a year agone.

Now, before we bound into the benchmarks, lets go over the test system specs. We haven't done any DDR5 testing for this ane equally information technology seems like a waste of fourth dimension right now, and also we know all we need to in terms of DDR4 vs DDR5 functioning (our large featured covered 41 games) or refer to our Cadre i9-12900K review which tested both types of memory and respective motherboards.

Intel Core i9 12900K Intel Core i7 12700K Intel Core i5 12600K Intel Core i5 12600 Intel Core i5 12400
MSRP $ $650 $450 $320 $223 $192
Release Engagement November 2021 January 2022
Cores / Threads 16 / 24 12 / 20 10 / 16 6 / 12
Base Frequency two.4 / 3.4 GHz 2.vii / 3.vi GHz 2.8 / 3.seven GHz 3.3 GHz 2.five GHz
Max Turbo three.ix / five.two GHz iii.viii / 5.0 GHz iii.vi / 4.9 GHz 4.8 GHz 4.iv GHz
L3 Cache xxx MB 25 MB 20 MB 18 MB
Memory DDR5-4800 / DDR4-3200
Socket LGA 1700

For testing the Core i5-12400, we're using the MSI B660M Mortar Wi-Fi DDR4 with 32GB of dual-rank, dual-channel DDR4-3200 CL14 retentivity -- the same stuff nosotros use for all our DDR4 testing -- and it's typically faster than unmarried-rank DDR4-3800 CL18 retention in terms of performance.

The K-SKU Alder Lake CPUs have been tested on the MSI Z690 Tomahawk Wi-Fi DDR4 using the same memory and all boards were updated to the latest BIOS revision. Nosotros've as well updated the Ryzen data, using the MSI X570S Tomahawk Wi-Fi motherboard.

All gaming data has been updated for the AM4 and LGA 1700 CPUs with Resizable BAR enabled. The plan was to do the same with the Intel tenth and 11th-gen Core processors, only performance went backwards in all instances with ReBAR enabled, so for at present we've left this PCI Express characteristic disabled on those platforms.

Finally, all application and gaming data has been nerveless using the Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics card and the operating system of choice was Windows eleven. That covers information technology, let'southward dive into the results...

Benchmarks

Starting with the Cinebench R23 multi-core results, we find that the 12400 is good for just over 12,000 points, and when post-obit the 65-watt spec, it was just iii% slower. That beingness the case, it's incredible to see the base-spec 12400 beating the 11600K by an 8% margin and the 10600K by a massive 32%.

Perhaps most impressive of all is the nine% margin it defeated the 5600X past, which doesn't bode particularly well for AMD. Finally when compared to the 12600K, the 12400 was 30% slower and this is partly due to the ten% reduction in frequency along with the removal of the 4 E-cores and a x% reduction in L3 cache capacity.

The unmarried core performance was also very mighty, and this of course explains how the 12400 crush the 5600X. Hither we're looking at a 12% comeback in performance.

Moving on to 7-Zip, the 12400 is less impressive though it manages to slightly edge out the 11600K. That in itself is a skillful upshot. When compared to the 5600X information technology was 12% slower and 13% slower than the 12600K, though given the difference in toll, that remains a good result for the locked Core i5 part.

Unfortunately, it doesn't fare nearly as well for the decompression exam as the 12400 was only able to edge out the 10600K making it slower than the 11600K by a 12% margin and almost xxx% slower than the 5600X.

The Corona benchmark sees the 12400 delivering exceptional levels of operation, beating the 11600K and 5600X. Taking 117 seconds to complete the workload meant it was nine% faster than the 5600X, despite being 26% slower than the 12600K.

The Core i5-12400 was skilful for a score of 667 pts when running without power limits in the Adobe Premiere Pro benchmark and that meant it was able to match the eight-core/xvi-thread 10700K, while beating the 5600X by eight%.

Then when ability limited to the 65w spec, it matched the 5600X making it eight% slower than the unleashed configuration.

Adobe Photoshop isn't a core-heavy application, so both i5-12400 configurations delivered virtually the aforementioned result. That means no matter which way you slice it, the locked Cadre i5 is as powerful as the Ryzen v 5600X. The 12600K, on the other paw, is clocked 11% college and consequently was 11% faster in this exam.

In Afterward Furnishings, the 12400 was just 2% faster with the power limits removed. That made it 7% faster than the 5600X and 6% faster than the previous generation 11600K.

One time again we're including Factorio in the awarding benchmarks not to measure fps, but rather updates per 2d. This automated criterion calculates the fourth dimension it takes to run 1,000 updates. This is a single-thread examination which manifestly relies heavily on cache functioning.

Considering this game only uses a single core heavily, the power configuration doesn't affair, allowing the 12400 to produce a score of 202 pts even when adhering to the 65-watt spec. That's the same score you'll receive from a Zen 3 processor and but two.five% less than the 12600K.

When it comes to lawmaking compilation performance, the 12400 is a animate being, completing our test in 6070 seconds, making information technology 24% faster than the 5600X and thirteen% faster than the 11600K. In fact, information technology was only 8% slower than the 5800X, though information technology was 21% slower than the 12600K.

The last awarding we're going to look at is Blender, where the 12400 was simply able to edge out the 5600X while matching the 11600K. That's equally good equally 6-core/12-thread performance gets in this application.

Gaming Benchmarks

At present it's fourth dimension for some gaming benchmarks and nosotros'll first with F1 2021, using the second highest quality preset at 1080p and the Radeon 6900 XT.

The Core i5-12400 matched the 11600K and 10700K here, making information technology nine% slower than the 12900K and 15% slower than the 5600X. That might announced a little disappointing at commencement, merely remember the 12400 costs ~30% less than the 5600X, then this remains a not bad result in terms of value.

Next we take Rainbow Six Siege, and here the 12400 was slightly faster than the 11700K, 10700K, and 3700X, making information technology just 8% slower than the 12600K. That does brand information technology quite a bit slower than the 5600X, to the melody of 17%, or 19% slower if we compare the ane% low figures. Even so overall we're seeing strong performance from the 12400 and an excellent upshot in terms of cost per frame.

The Watch Dogs Legion data is more competitive in relation to the more expensive 5600X. The i5-12400 was less than three% slower, which is basically the aforementioned level of performance and the same is also true when comparing with the 12600K and 11700K. So a stiff upshot for the locked Core i5 processor in this game.

For the first time the i5-12400 is able to overtake the 5600X in gaming. Seen in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and while the average frame rate is very similar, the Core i5 was 9% faster when comparison the 1% low data.

Information technology was also but four% slower than the 12600K and a massive 26% faster than the previous generation 11600K. Information technology's also worth noting that running at the 65-watt spec had little influence on functioning.

Intel has a serious functioning advantage in The Riftbreaker. The i5-12400 easily beats the 5600X offer up to 26% greater functioning, seen when looking at the 1% lows. It was likewise only a few frames slower than the 12600K and xiii% faster than the 11600K.

Interestingly, the 12400 was a lot slower than the 12600K in our Hitman 3 benchmark, trailing past an 18% margin.

The locked Core i5 role is clocked 10% lower and packs 10% less L3 cache, so it is possible nether certain conditions to exist around 18% slower. Not a great result hither, relative to parts like the 12600K and 5600X, despite operation overall existence solid.

Age of Empires IV is another game where the 12400 trails the 12600K past a adequately significant margin, 12% for the boilerplate frame rate and 22% for the one% lows. That besides meant it was upward to sixteen% slower than the 5600X.

When compared to past generations, information technology did roughly match the 11700K and was quite a bit faster than the 11600K, in that sense functioning was very good.

The i5-12400 performs much better in Far Weep 6, at least when compared to the 5600X as it was up to 10% faster, beating even the 5800X and 11700K.

It was up to 15% slower than the 12600K when looking at the 1% lows. Overall a good event here for Intel'south new base model Core i5 processor.

The Horizon Nothing Dawn results aren't that favorable for the 12400. That said information technology's worth mentioning that if we were to utilise the ultimate quality setting the game is entirely GPU limited and this normalizes CPU performance, seeing the 5600X and 12400 matched, even with the 6900 XT at 1080p. But with the dialed down 'favor quality' visual preset the game becomes more CPU express in our test conditions and this saw the 5600X up to 21% faster with the 12600K up to 17% faster.

Last up nosotros take Cyberpunk 2077 and this game is mostly GPU bound, even with the slightly dialed downwardly quality settings that we're using here. The 12400 was able to nudge a few frames ahead of the 5600X while abaft the 12600K past just 4%.

Power Consumption

The large improvement when compared to 11th-gen though is the power consumption. For the same level of performance, the Core i5-12400 reduced total arrangement consumption by 28%... and that's total system power consumption, not just CPU power.

The savings are truly massive and it places Alder Lake roughly on par with Zen 3 for this comparison.

The 12400 is very economic indeed, using ~20 watts less than the 5600X for the same level of performance in Cyberpunk. It also reduced total arrangement usage while gaming past 8% when compared to the previous generation Core i5-11600K.

x Game Average

In our look at the ten-game boilerplate, you tin run into the Cadre i5-12400 without power limits and an all-in-one liquid cooler isn't much faster than the 65-watt spec using the box cooler. Nosotros're talking nearly less than a two% difference on average.

When compared to the 5600X, the i5-12400 was on boilerplate ~half-dozen% slower and 8% slower than the 12600K. Given the cost savings on offer, that makes the 12400 an uncommonly good deal for gamers.

Intel Box Libation: Laminar RM1

At present here's how the included RM1 box cooler handles the Core i5-12400 when running at the 65 watt spec. For a brief period, the CPU will run in the PL2 mode which sees package power hit 75 watts and hither CPU temps peaked at 80C, but for the bulk of this exam the package power was limited to 65 watts, where the RM1 cooler was able to go along the CPU at just 75C, so this picayune cooler works well enough at the 65 watt spec.

During the Cinebench R23 stress test, the all-cadre frequency when in the PL1 model hovered between 3.vii and 3.eight GHz.

If we remove the power limits with the RM1 box cooler, the 12400 maintains an all-core frequency of iv GHz -- a 5-8% frequency boost there -- and its temperature peaked at 82C, only the RM1 was noticeably loud now, which is not an ideal solution, though it does work.

Replacing the RM1 with the Corsair iCUE H100i Elite Capellix dropped the all-cadre four GHz operating temperature to just 54C for the peak, though temps were regularly below 50C. This is an overkill solution for such a CPU. A basic $20 tower way air-cooler will piece of work fine, just since we already had the H100i installed in the test organization, we just went with that.

What We Learned

That's how the Cadre i5-12400 performs and ideally we'd have liked to include a few extra CPUs such as the Cadre i5-10400, 11400 and Ryzen five 5600G, but time constraints with testing more hardware for upcoming reviews didn't let to update all that information. Later on wrapping this up with all the graphs, we were able to run some actress tests, so here'south a quick last minute look at that data: The 12400 is 17% faster than the 5600G on average, and 14% faster than the 11400F.

It's interesting to note that while the 11600K was merely 4% faster than the 11400 on average, the 12600K is 9% faster than the 12400. Even though the 11400 and 11600K feature the same clock frequency departure every bit 12th-gen parts, both of those chips have a 12 MB L3 cache, and we know many games are sensitive to cache capacity, which would explain the margin difference across generations.

Then when comparing the AMD and Intel CPUs in the gaming benchmarks, it's really going to come down to the games used, and how those games are tested. In our relatively minor sample of games, the 5600X enjoyed large wins in Horizon Cypher Dawn, Hitman 3, Rainbow Half dozen Siege, Historic period of Empires four, and a solid win in F1 2021, while the i5-12400 was stronger in Far Weep 6 and The Riftbreaker.

It also depends on how you test these games. Horizon Nothing Dawn, for case, using the ultimate quality settings sees the game become entirely GPU limited and this equalizes CPU performance, seeing the 5600X and 12400 matched, even with the 6900 XT at 1080p.

In this market segment, I personally favor value and that's considering if you're more operation-oriented you'd become with a more expensive CPU such as the Core i7-12700K or Ryzen 5 5800X.

When it comes to value though, Intel easily has AMD beat correct now. The 12400F is already on sale for $180, and although B660 motherboard options are limited for now, nosotros're expecting some pretty bully boards to go available at around $160.

Good quality AMD B550 boards start at around $140, which is a small cost saving, but notwithstanding the 5600X on a adept budget B550 lath volition set you lot dorsum around $430, while the 12400F on a decent B660 is expected to cost around $340. That's a massive saving for what will amount to a like gaming experience.

If you desire to go AMD ultra-budget while sticking with 6 cores, you tin snag the MSI B550M-A Pro for $95 and pair it with the 5600G for $240, totalling $335 which is basically what you'll pay for the much faster and amend quality i5-12400 philharmonic. Of grade, in that location volition exist cheap and nasty B660 boards as well, so it's possible to cut costs further with Alder Lake, meaning Intel wins the budget build battle no matter which way you slice it.

The Cadre i5-12400F is my new go-to budget CPU and we hope to see some squeamish budget B660 boards available presently!

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