BenchPair

Core i5-12400F bottleneck & gaming FPS

Ranked 125 of 201 desktop processors for gaming in our database (38th percentile). It can sustain roughly 111 fps in a typical AAA title regardless of resolution — that ceiling is what decides whether a graphics card is worth pairing with it.

SpecificationsAlder Lake · 2021
ArchitectureAlder Lake
Cores6
Threads12
Boost clock4,400 MHz
L3 cache18 MB
TDP65 W
Released2021
Processor ceiling by game1080p, high

The frame rate this chip could sustain with an infinitely fast graphics card. It is almost the same at every resolution, because rendering more pixels gives the processor no extra work.

GameCPU ceilingWith Radeon RX 6800 XT
Cyberpunk 2077 106 fps 75 fps
Fortnite 142 fps 140 fps
Counter-Strike 2 168 fps 166 fps
Baldur's Gate 3 97 fps 95 fps
Red Dead Redemption 2 126 fps 84 fps
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 63 fps 63 fps
Best matched graphics cards1080p, high

Ranked by how little performance the pairing wastes. Anything much faster than the top entry will sit partly idle at this resolution — though it may still be worth it if you plan to move to 1440p or 4K.

Graphics cardEst. FPSUnused
Radeon RX 6800 XT 109 0.5%
Radeon RX 7800 XT 109 0.7%
GeForce RTX 3080 108 0.8%
GeForce RTX 4070 GDDR6 108 0.9%
GeForce RTX 4070 108 0.9%
GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB 109 2.1%

What a Core i5-12400F is good for

This chip is capable at 1080p with a mid-range card, but it will become the limit if you pair it with something substantially faster. If you are considering a large graphics upgrade, check the pairing first — you may find most of the new card sitting idle.

Moving to a higher resolution is the cheapest way to get more out of it, because it shifts work onto the card and away from the chip.

Where it sits

Ranked 125 of 201 desktop processors for gaming. Nearest faster: Ryzen 9 3900, Core i5-12400. Just below: Core i9-10910, Core i7-10700K. Full method on the methodology page.