BenchPair

Core i5-12500 bottleneck & gaming FPS

Ranked 119 of 201 desktop processors for gaming in our database (41th percentile). It can sustain roughly 116 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 clock4,600 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 9070 GRE
Cyberpunk 2077 111 fps 78 fps
Fortnite 149 fps 147 fps
Counter-Strike 2 176 fps 173 fps
Baldur's Gate 3 101 fps 99 fps
Red Dead Redemption 2 132 fps 87 fps
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 66 fps 65 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 9070 GRE 113 1.2%
GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB 112 2.3%
Radeon RX 7800 XT 110 3.6%
Radeon RX 6800 XT 109 4.8%
GeForce RTX 3080 108 5.1%
GeForce RTX 4070 GDDR6 108 5.3%

What a Core i5-12500 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 119 of 201 desktop processors for gaming. Nearest faster: Core i7-11700, Core i7-11700F. Just below: Core i9-10850K, Core i9-10900. Full method on the methodology page.