Best Value CPU Battle: Core i5-12400 vs. Ryzen 5 5600X

[Irata]

OK, I'm one of the few playing CP2077 right now but I waited for it to go to $30 on GOG because I'm cheap. I do play it on a dGPU but am also using an iGPU to play a number of games as well. I started PC gaming on an iGPU and while owning gaming rigs now, do iGPU gaming pretty frequently as my gaming PC fails to follow me around to various sites.

My kiddo was playing Fortnite and to my surprise, it ran pretty well on my Matebook‘s iGPU with a 2500U. Had not expected that tbh.

 

[Dimitriid]

OK, I'm one of the few playing CP2077 right now but I waited for it to go to $30 on GOG because I'm cheap. I do play it on a dGPU but am also using an iGPU to play a number of games as well. I started PC gaming on an iGPU and while owning gaming rigs now, do iGPU gaming pretty frequently as my gaming PC fails to follow me around to various sites.

I am cautiously optimistic about the upcoming Steam Deck helping popularize APUs as a gaming platform more people embrace. My caution however is because I have to see the actual devices in the hands of actual people beyond the preorders before I can consider it viable and I don't give em good odds that it will happen during 2022 or the better half of 2023 but we'll see.

 

[Lew Zealand]

My kiddo was playing Fortnite and to my surprise, it ran pretty well on my Matebook‘s iGPU with a 2500U. Had not expected that tbh.

Fortnite in the Performance Beta mode works well even on an 8 year old Intel HD 4600 and is decent to use on an Iris 5200 from the same era. Slagging on FN is a fun pastime for many but their Performance mode is a nice inclusive option for battle royale games that PUBG and others should consider. Best thing about CS:GO is that it's so old it is by default Performance mode already!

 

[MarcusNumb]

12400 is a better value por a totally new build, but since AM4 platform skyrocketed during the pandemic, obviously 5600x is still a more reasonable option for those AM4 users who want to upgrade. Therefore, I don't think AMD will lower their prices for the 5000 series.

In my opinion, the real price war will start when AM5 officially appear cause AMD will need to attract new customers for their new platform.

 

[Mr Majestyk]

Not interested in Zen 3 or AL, but will update when Zen 4 and RL come out. Either 13700(K) or 7800X, I don't just game, so not interested in less than 8 (P) cores.

 

[konondrum]

AMD is in a sweet spot right now. They will take advantage of it and keep the price a little higher.

From my experience people tend to be slow to understand which is the best cpu of the moment. They normally distrust the "latest - brandNew" cpu, instead they trust the cpu which they know was the right choose just the period ahead. Just a minority of the buyers tend to follow reviews like this one in techspot.

This is why in my humble opinion Amd will kept the prices higher than we expected and probably will do that for another while... till people start to realize that the "trend" is changing ( Amd will notice their and intel sales are slightly changing and by then reduce the price)

The problem is AMD isn't just getting squeezed from the bottom, but also at the top.
While the 12400 will give similar gaming performance for less, the $330 12700f will crush the 5800x in both production and gaming scenarios.
It remains to be seen if the 3d cache 5800x will change things.

 

[Lounds]

Intel are basically dominating AMD when it comes to value for money at this point. You are stupid if you pick a 5600X over a 12400.

If AMD had not massively ramped up their pricing with the 5000 series they would still be competitive. The 3600 sold for $150-$200. Or roughly the same as this 12400 part. But AMD got greedy and practically doubled the price for the 5600X.

So this depends on whether or not you already have an AM4 motherboard, if you have one and it supports Ryzen 5000 series it's definitely the cheapest option for someone to get a worthwhile upgrade to extend the systems life. There's a reason AMD has been the gamers choice for the past few years and that's the longevity of the AM4 socket compatibility and the cost per core (which intel has only just beaten AMD on after 4.5 years of being behind in cost per core).

 

[amghwk]

I'm humbled by Intel this round. I got a 5900X which got trashed by Intel's 12th gen CPUs. Both in performance and price. I also think AMD should take a bow and reduce the prices across the board. Ryzen's future does not look good if AMD keeps up with it's arrogant pricing.

 

[Sausagemeat]

So this depends on whether or not you already have an AM4 motherboard, if you have one and it supports Ryzen 5000 series it's definitely the cheapest option for someone to get a worthwhile upgrade to extend the systems life. There's a reason AMD has been the gamers choice for the past few years and that's the longevity of the AM4 socket compatibility and the cost per core (which intel has only just beaten AMD on after 4.5 years of being behind in cost per core).

AMD has been the gamers choice for the past 12 months. Before that Intel have been faster at gaming the entire time. And sure, if you have a B450 board and you are on an older Ryzen CPU you can gain about 20-40% gaming performance by upgrading to a 5600X. But I would suggest you made the wrong choice initially, I personally don’t expect to upgrade a CPU just three years in. Its a very niche scenario that is literally the only reason you might buy a 5600X over a 12400 at current pricing.

Had AMD not got greedy and massively increased the 5000 series prices they would remain the better choice in terms of value. If the 5600X was selling for the same price as the 3600X did one year into its life ($150-$200) then it would have been a better value.

 

[Austinturner]

My once mighty 9900K, is being matched by a $180 budget upstart.

The Unreal Tournament taunt, 'HUMILIATION' is ringing in my ears

Out of interest did you buy it for something other than gaming? I’m wondering why the 900 series is popular.

I could have bought a 12900k, but because of the price and low resale I’d feel like keeping it for a long time, instead I chose to save some money and get the 12600k and an entry z690 which is plenty fast enough for the next 2 years and them I won’t feel bad moving it along (even just recycling it) for a newer generation when I want something faster.

 

[dad0ts]

During your testing were you able to somehow find out - what die/silicon revision your 12400 had inside? I mean was it the new small H0 die with only 6 P-core physically present(163 mm²) or the big C0 silicon (8+8 core, 215 mm²) where 2P and 8E cores & their L3 cache are fused off? Interesting if it is possible to know at all without opening the CPU: by measuring core-core or L3 latencies, etc?

 

[theruck]

I's sad when most of the tech media, YT channels and press keep shilling for intel and we only have HUB and GN to rely on accurate and honest reviews.

The amount of reviews (with cherry picked tests and games) showing the 12400 beating the 5600X is disgusting at this point. Yes, the 12400 beats it at price/performance and yes, it's a very good CPU for that price (I can admit that even thou I prefer AMD, I'm not a blind fanboi), but from that to make it as a no contest winner... that's some next level shilling there.

Thanks Steve for showing how it really is, on average the 5600X is 6% faster in games vs 12400, but without PBO, that's important. So by enabling PBO the gap will widen to at least +10% (more like 15%) in favor of the 5600X.

That's all we need to know. And yes, AMD should lower prices for Zen3 across the board. Just because I like AMD does not mean I like higher prices. There's a reason why I bought my 5600X for $240 at a BF deal, I would not pay $300 for it in normal circumstances.

tell me how that $60 saved changed your life. you bought a better gpu for that? or some useless AIO cooler?

 

[Kosmoz]

tell me how that $60 saved changed your life. you bought a better gpu for that? or some useless AIO cooler?

You're actually spot on, but the opposite, you failed in your attempt of whatever negative thing you were trying to prove.

It's called the Scythe Fuma 2 + 1 extra fan (so 3 fans total) and I got it for exactly $65 and it's a game changer. Best price/perf cooler I ever had. I have it set at max 90% speed and it's very very quet and cools as good as a $100+ cooler, if not better (being more silent too).

Guess who won GN's Best Overall Cooler for 2021? And I bought it before it was awarded the title (based on initial reviews) and after I bought the 5600X, so exactly that money saved was used...

 

[theruck]

You're actually spot on, but the opposite, you failed in your attempt of whatever negative thing you were trying to prove.

It's called the Scythe Fuma 2 + 1 extra fan (so 3 fans total) and I got it for exactly $65 and it's a game changer. Best price/perf cooler I ever had. I have it set at max 90% speed and it's very very quet and cools as good as a $100+ cooler, if not better (being more silent too).

Guess who won GN's Best Overall Cooler for 2021? And I bought it before it was awarded the title (based on initial reviews) and after I bought the 5600X, so exactly that money saved was used...

the point was that the price diff of $60 does not matter. especially if you are willing to dump your $60 for a cooler which you already have from your CPU vendor. so you are wasting money on a cooler you do not need in either case.

 

[Kosmoz]

the point was that the price diff of $60 does not matter. especially if you are willing to dump your $60 for a cooler which you already have from your CPU vendor. so you are wasting money on a cooler you do not need in either case.

Are you for real? $60 difference does not matter? Did you not heart all the Alder Lake fanbois yelling how much cheaper those CPUs are vs Zen3? It does not matter?

Then the entire capitalist world must be wrong and price of goods and price competition is a wrong notion and concept maybe? So then should we get everything for free or everything should cost 1mil USD, by your logic...

Not only do you fail at logic and anything economically related, but also at the fact that I'm "wasting money on a cooler you do not need". Maybe you don't, but I do. I just said how amazing this cooler is in my post above, but I guess ignorance is a symptom too.

So let me repeat again for ignorants with zero logic: not only it is miles better than the stock cooler, but it's very silent (something very important for me) while being much cooler, which means my CPU works at higher boost clocks all core (about +300Mhz) and I can also OC-it at higher values than with the stock one, while being cooler and more silent. Not to mention this cooler will be able to handle any AM4 CPU I throw at it if I want to upgrade to 5900X/5950X or 5800X3D.

And the cherry on top is that AM5 will be compatible with AM4 coolers - so this cooler, which means I can use it with Zen4. Unlike Alder Lake that needs special coolers or adaptations to work.

Are these not enough reasons to buy a better than stock cooler?

 

[theruck]

Are you for real? $60 difference does not matter? Did you not heart all the Alder Lake fanbois yelling how much cheaper those CPUs are vs Zen3? It does not matter?

Then the entire capitalist world must be wrong and price of goods and price competition is a wrong notion and concept maybe? So then should we get everything for free or everything should cost 1mil USD, by your logic...

Not only do you fail at logic and anything economically related, but also at the fact that I'm "wasting money on a cooler you do not need". Maybe you don't, but I do. I just said how amazing this cooler is in my post above, but I guess ignorance is a symptom too.

So let me repeat again for ignorants with zero logic: not only it is miles better than the stock cooler, but it's very silent (something very important for me) while being much cooler, which means my CPU works at higher boost clocks all core (about +300Mhz) and I can also OC-it at higher values than with the stock one, while being cooler and more silent. Not to mention this cooler will be able to handle any AM4 CPU I throw at it if I want to upgrade to 5900X/5950X or 5800X3D.

And the cherry on top is that AM5 will be compatible with AM4 coolers - so this cooler, which means I can use it with Zen4. Unlike Alder Lake that needs special coolers or adaptations to work.

Are these not enough reasons to buy a better than stock cooler?

and yet you missed the point again.
how much is your PC worth? how much is the $60 out of it? 3-5%? so do not pretend that the $60 you got in the promo is the deal breaker. and regarding the cooler the point is that you buy AMD boxed CPU and buy a new cooler = one cooler goes to trash - the one from AMD in your case so if you are so price sensitive that a $60 can make you buy/not buy a CPU you want, spare some money - do not buy 2 coolers. so where is your logic whining about price then paying for something you do not want while saying that you would not pay more for a cpu you want... is your vendor/cpu manufacturer scamming you selling you shitty cooler so you need a new one? and you buy third one with Zen4! congrats to your logic

 

[Sausagemeat]

Are you for real? $60 difference does not matter? Did you not heart all the Alder Lake fanbois yelling how much cheaper those CPUs are vs Zen3? It does not matter?

Then the entire capitalist world must be wrong and price of goods and price competition is a wrong notion and concept maybe? So then should we get everything for free or everything should cost 1mil USD, by your logic...

Not only do you fail at logic and anything economically related, but also at the fact that I'm "wasting money on a cooler you do not need". Maybe you don't, but I do. I just said how amazing this cooler is in my post above, but I guess ignorance is a symptom too.

So let me repeat again for ignorants with zero logic: not only it is miles better than the stock cooler, but it's very silent (something very important for me) while being much cooler, which means my CPU works at higher boost clocks all core (about +300Mhz) and I can also OC-it at higher values than with the stock one, while being cooler and more silent. Not to mention this cooler will be able to handle any AM4 CPU I throw at it if I want to upgrade to 5900X/5950X or 5800X3D.

And the cherry on top is that AM5 will be compatible with AM4 coolers - so this cooler, which means I can use it with Zen4. Unlike Alder Lake that needs special coolers or adaptations to work.

Are these not enough reasons to buy a better than stock cooler?

What have you been smoking? The AMD stock coolers are garbage, especially the tiny little thing that comes with the 5600X. You can buy a far far better and quieter cooler for $20 on Amazon next day delivery

They don’t make the difference. Buying Ryzen 5000 for more money over Alder lake at this point in time is dumb.

 

[HofyPC]

Big deal, so the 12400 is a sub $200 CPU, too bad the ITX mobo is going to cost $400, if you can find one in stock.

 

[Kosmoz]

and yet you missed the point again.
how much is your PC worth? how much is the $60 out of it? 3-5%? so do not pretend that the $60 you got in the promo is the deal breaker. and regarding the cooler the point is that you buy AMD boxed CPU and buy a new cooler = one cooler goes to trash - the one from AMD in your case so if you are so price sensitive that a $60 can make you buy/not buy a CPU you want, spare some money - do not buy 2 coolers. so where is your logic whining about price then paying for something you do not want while saying that you would not pay more for a cpu you want... is your vendor/cpu manufacturer scamming you selling you shitty cooler so you need a new one? and you buy third one with Zen4! congrats to your logic

Ok, I think I had enough of you ignorance.

It does not matter how much my PC is worth, as a price conscious gamer I am trying to save money on components where I can, so I can afford to spend more on those more expensive that I think are worth it... capiche?

I rather pay $60 less on the CPU and use that money on a different component. If money was no object for me I would not be talking about 5600x, but about 5950X or something ridiculous like that. At this tier, the 5600x tier, price is important. It's a matter of common sense, apparently another think lacking these days...

The fact that it comes with a basic cooler in the box is not an argument for me not wanting or needing to buy a better cooler, that's such a horrible logic... Again are you for real?

I had Ryzen 2600, 3600 and now 5600X, all had boxed coolers, I didn't use any of them and no, I did not throw them in the trash either. I sold them as new with the CPUs every time I upgraded and I got more for my CPUs because of that.

Anyway this discussion is getting redundant and ridiculous at this point so it's over. You are now on my IGNORE list. I'm not wasting my time anymore with your kind. You know what you are. Bye.

 

[LuxZg]

Intel are basically dominating AMD when it comes to value for money at this point. You are stupid if you pick a 5600X over a 12400.

If AMD had not massively ramped up their pricing with the 5000 series they would still be competitive. The 3600 sold for $150-$200. Or roughly the same as this 12400 part. But AMD got greedy and practically doubled the price for the 5600X.

I'm not so sure yet. Sure, Ryzen is about 90$ more, yet boards can go as cheap as 60$. While for Intel both CPU and MBO is about 190$ in retail. So you still save some with AMD if you're prepared to go with lower end MBO (but still ATX and 4 DIMM slots). And it is overall still bit better performance. And if you have the AM4 motherboard already, even better. On the other hand, if you game on the cheap, like, real cheap, you have APUs that have actually usable graphics for low end gaming (eSports and older games, or even stuff like this year's Valheim). And you're missing all the best Alder Lake stuff by going cheap anyway, like PCIe 5.0, DDR5, E-cores, and such. I'm not saying we need that stuff, but Intel themselves push it as biggest generational upgrades, yet entey level MBO+12400(F) will make you skip on it all. So for a lot of existing AMD users, low end gamers, and those wanting a real bump on specs, 12400 still isn't all that amazing purchase. Just saying...

 

[ChrisH1]

Do people really care about saving $90 or so on a cut-down I5 CPU when they're spending a grand on a graphics card?

 

[Fimbulvetr]

The other obvious missing part of this review: the 5600g at under $250 offers a much more competitive picture! the performance hit is also much ;lower than the 8-core 65w part (plus twice the igp performance!)

You really get the impression that this is another early "paid-preview" from Intel

I paid $175 for my 5600G and around $75 for my B550 MB ... a 12400F + MB combo at $340 (according to the article) is still almost $100 more than what I spent. So for me, 5600G was by far the better deal!

 

[paul1122]

Don't look at the numbers, or even the prices. Intel smashes anything AMD has ever made. the spottech has spoken.

 

[Kosmoz]

Do people really care about saving $90 or so on a cut-down I5 CPU when they're spending a grand on a graphics card?

How many are that "naive" (not to upset the snowflakes) and actually spend $1000 on a GPU?

I would say less than 5% of gamers are spending that much on a GPU.

Which means the majority will care about any decent saving they can get.

Just because the prices are this insane, does not mean a lot of us actually paying them. I did not and certainly I will not in this generation for what perf you get paying $1000.

For me to pay $1000 on a GPU it would need to be more than 2x better (at raster and RT) than a 3090, at that price. So if I pay that ridiculous amount I will not upgrade again sooner than 5 years time, preferably more.

No, $1000 and more GPU prices are NOT OK. F those prices!

 

[theruck]

How many are that "naive" (not to upset the snowflakes) and actually spend $1000 on a GPU?

I would say less than 5% of gamers are spending that much on a GPU.

Which means the majority will care about any decent saving they can get.

Just because the prices are this insane, does not mean a lot of us actually paying them. I did not and certainly I will not in this generation for what perf you get paying $1000.

For me to pay $1000 on a GPU it would need to be more than 2x better (at raster and RT) than a 3090, at that price. So if I pay that ridiculous amount I will not upgrade again sooner than 5 years time, preferably more.

No, $1000 and more GPU prices are NOT OK. F those prices!

Just because the prices are this insane, does not mean a lot of us actually paying them - it exactly means that ALL the GPUs are sold out for the high prices hence even the higher prices. that is how market works. so do not lie to yourself that the $1000 gpus are just sitting there without any buyer