If you’re on the search for a well-performing budget CPU to give your PC a Spring freshen-up, you’ll find that Amazon’s Big Spring Sale is the place to start looking. While the Intel Core i5 12400 might not strike you as one of the best CPUs for gaming, this processor is somewhat of an underrated gem, even coming out on top compared to more powerful rivals such as the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D. What’s more, it’s now got 36% off, coming in as even better value for money.
Intel Core i5-12400
At the time of writing, the Intel Core i5-12400 is up on Amazon for $153, which is an impressive $84.50 less than its previous pricing of $237.50. This CPU might be on the older side, having come out about two years ago, but it’s still got a reputation for being a nifty CPU for multitasking and gaming. As time goes on, and its price gets lower, this processor is going on to represent even better value for money.
Why this Intel Core i5-12400 deal is worth it
| Technical details | Specifications |
|---|---|
| Performance cores | 6 |
| Total threads | 12 |
| Max turbo frequency | 4.40 GHz |
| Total L2 cache | 7.5 MB |
| Maximum Turbo Power | 117 W |
| Memory size | 128 GB |
| Memory bandwidth | 76.8 GB/s |
If you’re after a sub-$200 processor to beat the heart of your budget PC build, the Intel Core i5-12400 is a component worth your attention. Its humble price and humble specs get you Alder Lake goodness that’s more than capable for gaming, and even overclocking.
In terms of its specs on paper, the Intel Core i5-12400 comes set with 6 performance cores, which are more than enough for a dedicated budget gaming chip, despite its lack of efficiency cores. Alongside this, you’re getting a max turbo frequency of 4.40 GHz, and a memory bandwidth of 76.8 GB/s. Basically, this chip will breeze through your everyday computing and mid to heavy gaming, and for cost-efficient building, it makes a lot of sense. There is one unfortunate caveat though, and that’s the hefty power draw and thermal performance: but, in our opinion, it’s nothing that can’t be fixed with one of the best CPU coolers.
Is the Intel Core i5-12400 deal good value?
Now that you’ve had the rundown of the specs, it’s time to get into whether this deal is actually good value. We’ve done some background research by checking the price history of the Intel Core i5-12400 on the reputable website Camelcamelcamel, which should show you all you need to know before making your investment.
As you can see from the graph, this CPU has been out for a while, so it’s no surprise that there has been a steady decrease in price over its lifespan. Since entering 2024, the i5-2400 has started reaching even lower prices, and this month settled at $153 – this is the second lowest it’s been priced since coming onto Amazon. In short, now is a really good time to swipe up this processor before its price starts to jump up again.
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