Intel Core i5-10400F vs Intel Core i3-12100

Compare Intel 10th Generation Core i5 6 core CPU vs Intel 12th Generation Core i3 4 core processor, specs and benchmark score. Which is the better CPU for gaming?

CPU Comparison

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Price

The cheapest price from our partner retailers

$ 169.95
$ 128.59
$ 41.36 significantly less expensive

Benchmark Score

Overall Score

A combined score of all workloads

4847 points
5115 points
5% slightly better overall score

Gaming Score

The raw gaming performance with a fast GPU

6648 points
8339 points
25% slightly better gaming score

Multitasking Score

Performance in workloads using up to 8 cores

4269 points
2% slightly better multitasking score
4166 points

Heavy Workload Score

Performance in workloads using up to 16 cores

4133 points
3% slightly better heavy workload score
4001 points

Free CPU Benchmark

Want to compare your processor against the Core i5-10400F and the Core i3-12100? Download our free and quick PC Performance Test.

Other Benchmarks

3DMark Physics score

3DMark Physics score

Physics simulation benchmark

4768 points
18% slightly higher 3DMark Physics score
4034 points
Blender score

Blender score

Cycles Render (Samples per minute)

111.48 points
111.80 points
0.28% slightly higher Blender score
Geekbench 5 (multi) score

Geekbench 5 (multi) score

Multi threaded benchmark

5783 points
6822 points
17% slightly higher Geekbench 5 (multi) score
Geekbench 5 (single) score

Geekbench 5 (single) score

Single threaded benchmark

1414 points
2105 points
48% significantly higher Geekbench 5 (single) score
Geekbench 6 (multi) score

Geekbench 6 (multi) score

Multi threaded benchmark

5782 points
6766 points
17% slightly higher Geekbench 6 (multi) score
Geekbench 6 (single) score

Geekbench 6 (single) score

Single threaded benchmark

1454 points
2147 points
47% significantly higher Geekbench 6 (single) score

Specifications

Cores

Number of physical processing units

6
49% significantly more cores
4

Threads

Number of logical processing units

12
49% significantly more threads
8

Clock Speed

Base frequency at which the chip operates

2.9 GHz
3.3 GHz
13% slightly higher clock speed

Turbo Speed

Higher frequency used for heavy workloads

4.3 GHz
Identical
4.3 GHz

TDP

Thermal Design Power: Measure of heat generated by the CPU

65 W
60 W
8% slightly lower TDP

PCIe Lanes

Number of physical connections between the CPU and expansion slots

16
20
25% slightly more pcie lanes

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

384 KiB
20% slightly more L1 cache
320 KiB

L3 Cache

General memory pool for all cores

12 MiB
Identical
12 MiB

Other details

Rank

Ranking in the hardwareDB database

359th of 1,089
337th of 1,089

Family

The product line

10th Generation Core i5
12th Generation Core i3

Release date

The official date of release of this chip

2020 May
2022 February

Memory Type

The type of memory used by this chip

DDR4-2666
DDR5-4800

Is Unlocked

Can this CPU can be overclocked

No
No

Supports ECC memory

Does this CPU support error correcting memory

No
-

Core i5-10400F vs Core i3-12100 benchmarks

Our benchmark analysis concludes that the Core i3-12100 performs better than the Core i5-10400F. Furthermore, our gaming benchmark shows that it also outperforms the Core i5-10400F in all gaming tests too.

In terms of the number of cores of each of these CPUs, the Core i5-10400F has significantly more cores than the Core i3-12100. Indeed, the Core i5-10400F has 6 cores compared to 4 cores found in the Core i3-12100. It also has more threads than the Core i3-12100. With our hardware info, we find that the Core i3-12100 has a slightly higher clock speed than the Core i5-10400F. In addition, both chips have the same turbo speed. The Core i3-12100 outputs less heat than Core i5-10400F thanks to a 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 i5-10400F has more threads than cores. Each physical core is split into multiple threads.

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