Intel Core i3-12100 vs Intel Core i5-12500

Compare Intel 12th Generation Core i3 4 core CPU vs Intel 12th Generation Core i5 6 core processor, specs and benchmark score. Which is the better CPU for gaming?

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Price

The cheapest price from our partner retailers

$ 191.01
$ 210.99 significantly less expensive
$ 402.00

Benchmark Score

Overall Score

A combined score of all workloads

52 %
71 %
36% slightly better overall score

Gaming Score

The raw gaming performance with a fast GPU

85 %
99 %
16% slightly better gaming score

Multitasking Score

Performance in workloads using up to 8 cores

42 %
63 %
49% significantly better multitasking score

Heavy Workload Score

Performance in workloads using up to 16 cores

41 %
61 %
48% significantly better heavy workload score

Free CPU Benchmark

Want to compare your processor against the Core i3-12100 and the Core i5-12500? Download our free and quick PC Performance Test.

Other Benchmarks

3DMark Physics score

3DMark Physics score

Physics simulation benchmark

6496
9495
46% significantly higher 3DMark Physics score
Blender score

Blender score

Cycles Render (Samples per minute)

123.66
185.30
49% significantly higher Blender score
Geekbench 5 (multi) score

Geekbench 5 (multi) score

Multi threaded benchmark

6822
9112
33% slightly higher Geekbench 5 (multi) score
Geekbench 5 (single) score

Geekbench 5 (single) score

Single threaded benchmark

2105
2182
3% slightly higher Geekbench 5 (single) score
Geekbench 6 (multi) score

Geekbench 6 (multi) score

Multi threaded benchmark

6889
8945
29% slightly higher Geekbench 6 (multi) score
Geekbench 6 (single) score

Geekbench 6 (single) score

Single threaded benchmark

2117
2209
4% slightly higher Geekbench 6 (single) score

Specifications

Cores

Number of physical processing units

4
6
49% significantly more cores

Threads

Number of logical processing units

8
12
49% significantly more threads

Turbo Speed

Higher frequency used for heavy workloads

4.3 GHz
4.6 GHz
6% slightly higher turbo speed

TDP

Thermal Design Power: Measure of heat generated by the CPU

60 W
8% slightly lower TDP
65 W

PCIe Lanes

Number of physical connections between the CPU and expansion slots

20
Identical
20

Memory Channels

Lanes for simultaneous memory access

2
Identical
2

Supported Memory

Maximum amount of RAM supported by this CPU

128 GiB
Identical
128 GiB

L1 Cache

Smallest embedded memory, but the fastest

320 KiB
480 KiB
49% significantly more L1 cache

L3 Cache

General memory pool for all cores

12 MiB
18 MiB
49% significantly more L3 cache

Other details

Rank

Ranking in the hardwareDB database

133rd of 627
51st of 627

Family

The product line

12th Generation Core i3
12th Generation Core i5

Release date

The official date of release of this chip

February 2022
February 2022

Memory Type

The type of memory used by this chip

DDR5-4800
DDR5-4800

Is Unlocked

Can this CPU can be overclocked

No
No

Supports ECC memory

Does this CPU support error correcting memory

-
Yes

Core i3-12100 vs Core i5-12500 specs and performance

Our benchmark analysis concludes that the Core i5-12500 performs better than the Core i3-12100. Furthermore, our gaming benchmark shows that it also outperforms the Core i3-12100 in all gaming tests too.

In terms of the number of cores of each of these CPUs, the Core i5-12500 has significantly more cores than the Core i3-12100. Indeed, the Core i5-12500 has 6 cores compared to 4 cores found in the Core i3-12100. It also has more threads than the Core i3-12100. A Core i3-12100 CPU outputs less heat than a Core i5-12500 CPU because of its slightly lower TDP. This measures the amount of heat they output and can be used to estimate power consumption.

Most CPUs have more threads than cores. This technology, colloquially called hyperthreading, improves performance by splitting a core into multiple virtual ones. This provides more efficient utilisation of a core. Indeed, the Core i3-12100 has more threads than cores. Each physical core is split into multiple threads.

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