Intel Core i5-12400F vs Intel Core i3-N300

Intel Core i5-12400F

The Intel Core i5-12400F is a fast six-core processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, which was introduced in January 2022. The processor has a base clock speed of 2.5 GHz and reaches a maximum clock speed of up to 4.4 GHz under load. As with its predecessor, the Intel Core i5-11400F, Alder-Lake also supports hyperthreading, which means that up to 12 threads can be processed simultaneously. The Intel Core i5-12400F is manufactured using the 10 nm process. There are many changes to the new architecture, which is essentially based on a hybrid architecture. However, the Intel Core i5-12400F does not fully benefit from this, as only P-cores are used under the heatspreader. Only with the faster Intel Core i5-12600K can you enjoy the performance of the combination of P and E cores. The Intel Core i5-12400F is a non-K CPU, which in turn means that there is no freely selectable multiplier, which means that the CPU is not suitable for overclocking.

Performance

Compared to the Intel Core i5-11400F , the IPC of the Intel Core i5-12400F has been significantly increased again. The performance difference between the two processors is between 10 and 20 percent in most cases. Due to the good single-thread performance, the Intel Core i5-12400F is definitely a sensible CPU to use as the basis in a gaming PC.

Graphics unit

The processors marked with an "F" in the nomenclature do not offer an integrated graphics unit. All other non-F processors can rely on the Intel Iris Xe.

Power consumption

The TDP is relatively low at 65 watts. This is the PL1 value. For Turbo, the Intel Core i5-12400F with PL2 offers a higher TDP of up to 117 watts. If all restrictions are deactivated in the BIOS, there is no time limit for the PL2 value. With the maximum 117 watts, a large cooling unit is not required.

Intel Core i3-N300

The Intel Core i3-N305 is an entry-level mobile CPU for thin and light laptops from the Alder Lake-N series. It was announced in early 2023 and offers no performance cores and 8 efficient cores (E-cores, Gracemont architecture). The chip does not support HyperThreading and clocks with up to 3.8 GHz (single core, 3 GHz all core Turbo). The performance of the E-cores should be similar to old Skylake cores (compare to the Core i7-6700HQ). All cores can use up to 6 MB L3-cache. 

Performance

The performance depends on the cooling and TDP settings and should be somewhere similar to the old  Alder Lake Pentium 8500 (1 performance core, 4 efficiency cores, max. 4.4 GHz and 8 MB L3-cache). The multi-threaded performance should be quite good with the 8 cores but will suffer due to the low TDP. Single thread performance will suffer due to the missing P-cores and relatively low boost clock speeds.

Features

The Alder Lake-N chips only support single channel memory with up to DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200 or LPDDR5-4800. The chip also supports Quick Sync and AV1 decoding (most likely same engine as in Alder Lake). Furthermore, Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 are partly integrated (but no Thunderbolt). External chips can be connected via PCIe Gen3 x9 (via the PCH).

The integrated graphics adapter is based on the Xe-architecture and offersall 32 EUs (Execution Units) operating at up to 1.25 GHz. In addition to the single channel memory, the gaming performance is very limited of the iGPU.

Power consumption

The i3 has a base power consumption of 7 W and is therefore even suited for fanless cooling. The CPU is built with a further improved 10nm SuperFin process at Intel (called Intel 7).