Core i5 12400 processor review

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Final Words & Conclusion

Final Words 

The Core i5 12400 might be the most bewitching processor for many of you. I mean they, you can purchase six performance cores with an IPC that equals the flagship product, then you'll have an impressive processor at hand. For regular desktop usage, but not mega threaded applications, this processor is very capable as well. For me personally, the E cores overall are not a massive selling point. It however can be beneficial in demanding workloads where your application uses the P cores, and the E cores still do your background work properly. It remains trivial though. So that leaves open the discussion of how important the missing energy-friendly cores are to you as a desktop user. In the end with the Core i5 12400, you'll have Core i9 9900 performance levels at a 200 USD marker.  Next to that, you'll have gained additional connectivity, PCIe Express 4.0 or 5.0 when paired with the right motherboard, and the option for DDR5 memory. 

Performance

If we only look at the performance cores, Intel did an excellent job at developing them. They provide efficient single-threaded performance available on the market. Of course, multithreaded performance is not an issue either, but with six cores, don't expect miracles. At the pretty sum of 210 USD/35 USD per core for this proc series is golden. But we need to factor in the platform cost of ownership though. Making a move to Z690 presumably, you'll want DDR5, easily destroying that price benefit. It would not be a match for this processor. If you can find a compatible and affordable DDR4 B660 motherboard, I would steer you to that platform value for money-wise. A 3600 MHz CL16 kit would be a terrific choice in weaponry. Gaming wise Intel now has faster processors. And even the 12400 easily takes the number 3 spot in ranking, making this a terrific gaming processor. As always, we test with the fastest GPU available (GeForce RTX 3090), and only up to 2560x1440 you'll notice gains. But even then the differences in performance can be argued. With a slower GPU, the graphics card is the bottleneck in graphics intense games, ergo the benefit of a faster CPU vanishes rapidly.

DDR5 Memory

Memory compatibility should not and likely will not be an issue as long as you stick to QVL supported DIMMs. The current sweet spot looks to be 5200 MHz DDR5 CL38 or CL40. Check out Corsair's, Kingston, and G.Skills offering to start with, as they'll have impressive stuff to offer. We have had many DDR5 kits at hand, they all are plug and play. E.g. insert them in the DIMM slots, apply the proper SPD/XMP profile and you're ready to roll. In our testing, anything 5200 MHz with CL40 or CL38 kit is sweet. We need to see how things pan out with DDR4 compatible B660 boards, but my preference would hint you into that direction with more affordable DDR4 memory.

Z690 or B660?

The B660 is the chipset that the vast majority of budget-conscious do-it-yourselfers will consider. It lacks the ability to overclock the CPU, but keeps the ability to overclock the memory, in comparison to the Z690. Due to the DMI link's 4x speed advantage over the Z690 or H670, board makers are unlikely to install more than two or three M.2 slots. The USB count is somewhat lower than in H670 but still abundant. B660 appears to have a specification set that will satisfy the lion's share of the market. You can utilize a high-performance CPU such as the Core i5 12600K and any GPU your liking, together with a fast NVMe SSD or two or more hard disk drives for storage. We predict that high-end B660 boards could be more expensive than their entry-level Z690 counterparts, especially those equipped with a powerful VRM, sufficient heatsinks, and Wi-Fi 6E. Keep that in mind at all times. Next to that the motherboards support features such as 2.5 GigE connectors, WIFI6E (AX) network solutions, you're ready for something really fast and you'll be future-proof with such a platform. The platform overall felt stable and refined, we can't say anything else here as that is the honest truth. 

Energy efficiency

You can tell that the Core i5 12400 is a completely different chip as opposed to its flagship brother, the die size is smaller and it's much more energy-friendly. Ther 12400 is rated at 65W, which is its PL1 state, PL2 is rated at 117W for a timeframe defined by the motherboard manufacturer. Under full load we see the full platform draw 147W, that's the entire PC, and it is a very respectable value. An added benefit is that the processor is much easier to cool as well. 


Overclocking

The Core i5 12400 cannot be overclocked in its traditional sense. But of course, you can always tweak a thing or two. All cores to its max multiplier of 44 will help you get there. Also, you should not forget the long-duration power consumption that you can enable for the processor. If that PL2 state of 117W can be extended from say 57 towards 400 seconds, that's where you'll see an increase in performance for threaded  / long-duration application runs. 


Guru3d-recommended

The conclusion

We cannot complain about the Core i5 12400 the slightest bit. It's powerful enough for any PC application thanks to its high-performance scores boosting to 4400 MHz. Doing so with the gain in IPC the accumulation of the entire infrastructure of B660, fast memory, fast PCIe and a fast processor makes this platform an excellent gaming and overall desktop PC. Games do like fast cores, you are better off with six high perf cores as opposed to 16 slow cores, and that's the honest truth. While we are advancing towards 8-core as the new equilibrium, the reality is that for the majority of games six cores and 12 threads are more than enough. So for just over 200 bucks, you'll purchase an excellent processor. Of course, platform cost comes into play, DDR5 makes little sense for this proc, ergo if you can find a cheapo B660 DDR4 compatible motherboard, my advice would be to pursue that as a more valuable option. Alder Lake processors are not bandwidth limited, latency is where the answer is to be found. That means 3600 CL16 DDR4 can haul ass here. All lights for the Core i5 12400 are green, low energy consumption, and as a side effect of that, it's easy to keep cool as well. So if you have avid needs for your PC and are not a content creator demanding many threaded applications, then the proc will serve you extremely well as a desktop processor. For gaming, this CPU is downright excellent even with the fastest graphics cards, period. An affordable CPU does need an affordable infrastructure though, see keep in mind what I stated about B660 and DDR4 okay? But yeah man, the Core i5 12400 is absolutely a processor we can highly recommend. 

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