Core i5-12400F vs Xeon Gold 6242R

CPU

GPU

Core i5-12400F

6 Cores12 Thrd65 WWMax: 4.4 GHz2022

Xeon Gold 6242R

20 Cores40 Thrd205 WWMax: 4.1 GHz2020

Performance Spectrum - CPU

Core i5-12400F

6 / 12

19,532

0.0%

36,011

+84.4%

About PassMark

PassMark CPU Mark evaluates processor speed through complex mathematical computations. It provides a reliable metric to compare multi-core performance, where higher scores indicate faster processing for multitasking, gaming, and heavy workloads.

Value Upgrade Path

This is the official ChipVERSUS Value Rating, comparing raw performance (PassMark) per dollar. Components placed above yours deliver better value for money.

MSRP is the manufacturer's suggested retail price.•
Avg price is the current average price collected from markets across the web.

Performance Per Dollar Core i5-12400F

#15

Core i3-8300T

MSRP: $138|Avg: $25

121%

#16

Core Ultra 5 225F

MSRP: $231|Avg: $150

118%

#17

Core Ultra 7 265K

MSRP: $309|Avg: $285

116%

#18

Ryzen 9 3900

MSRP: $499|Avg: $150

115%

#19

Ryzen 5 3600X

MSRP: $249|Avg: $90

113%

#20

Core i7-14700KF

MSRP: $384|Avg: $260

113%

#21

Core i7-14700K

MSRP: $409|Avg: $270

109%

#22

Ryzen 5 4500

MSRP: $129|Avg: $85

106%

#23

Ryzen 5 5600

MSRP: $199|Avg: $115

106%

#24

Celeron G5925

MSRP: $62|Avg: $15

105%

#25

Ryzen 5 7500F

MSRP: $179|Avg: $145

104%

#26

Core Ultra 5 245

MSRP: $319|Avg: $220

103%

#27

Ryzen 7 2700

MSRP: $299|Avg: $86

102%

#28

Core Ultra 7 265KF

MSRP: $379|Avg: $323

102%

#29

Core Ultra 7 265F

MSRP: $369|Avg: $276

100%

#30

Core i5-12400F

MSRP: $174|Avg: $110

100%

#31

Ryzen 3 PRO 5355G

MSRP: $130|Avg: $80

99%

#32

Ryzen 7 2700X

MSRP: $329|Avg: $100

98%

#33

Core i3-10100F

MSRP: $88|Avg: $50

98%

#34

Ryzen 5 7400F

MSRP: $150|Avg: $147

98%

#35

Ryzen 5 9600X

MSRP: $279|Avg: $178

95%

#36

Ryzen 7 3800X

MSRP: $399|Avg: $140

93%

#37

Ryzen 3 5300G

MSRP: $130|Avg: $80

92%

#38

Ryzen 9 7900X

MSRP: $549|Avg: $316

91%

#39

Ryzen 5 5600X

MSRP: $299|Avg: $135

91%

#40

Core i5-14600KF

MSRP: $304|Avg: $239

91%

#41

Ryzen 7 5800

MSRP: $349|Avg: $160

91%

#42

Core i3-14100F

MSRP: $109|Avg: $96

90%

#43

Ryzen 7 3700X

MSRP: $329|Avg: $140

90%

#44

Ryzen 5 7600X

MSRP: $299|Avg: $178

90%

#45

Ryzen 3 3100

MSRP: $99|Avg: $75

90%

Based on actual market prices and performance synthetic scores.

Performance Per Dollar Xeon Gold 6242R

#445

Xeon Gold 6338N

MSRP: $3200|Avg: $3200

109%

#446

Xeon Gold 5117

MSRP: $1286|Avg: $300

109%

#447

EPYC 73F3

MSRP: $3521|Avg: $2100

108%

#448

EPYC 9384X

MSRP: $5529|Avg: $4157

108%

#449

EPYC 8534P

MSRP: $5529|Avg: $5529

107%

#450

EPYC 7663

MSRP: $6366|Avg: $6366

107%

#450

EPYC 9565

MSRP: $10486|Avg: $8233

107%

#452

EPYC 9755

MSRP: $12984|Avg: $10931

106%

#454

Xeon Platinum 8368

MSRP: $7214|Avg: $429

105%

#456

EPYC 9575F

MSRP: $11791|Avg: $9238

104%

#457

EPYC 7642

MSRP: $4775|Avg: $850

103%

#458

EPYC 7573X

MSRP: $5590|Avg: $3580

103%

#459

Xeon Platinum 8568Y+

MSRP: $6497|Avg: $6497

101%

#460

Xeon E5-2686 V3

MSRP: $1500|Avg: $160

100%

#460

Xeon Gold 6242R

MSRP: $2977|Avg: $779

100%

#462

Xeon W-2175

MSRP: $1947|Avg: $180

100%

#463

EPYC 75F3

MSRP: $5383|Avg: $2799

99%

#464

Xeon W-3375

MSRP: $4951|Avg: $6000

99%

#466

Xeon Platinum 8358

MSRP: $4607|Avg: $3145

98%

#467

EPYC 7662

MSRP: $6150|Avg: $1266

97%

#467

EPYC 7713

MSRP: $7060|Avg: $1299

97%

#469

EPYC 9554

MSRP: $9087|Avg: $2795

95%

#470

Xeon Gold 6338T

MSRP: $3139|Avg: $1795

94%

#471

Xeon E5-2650 v4

MSRP: $1166|Avg: $45

94%

#472

EPYC 9845

MSRP: $13564|Avg: $8670

93%

#473

EPYC 7F32

MSRP: $2100|Avg: $179

91%

#474

EPYC 9654P

MSRP: $10625|Avg: $5345

90%

#475

EPYC 9965

MSRP: $14813|Avg: $10000

90%

Based on actual market prices and performance synthetic scores.

Performance Comparison

About PassMark

🏆 Chipversus Verdict

🚀 Performance Leadership

Use Case Distinction: This is a comparison between a Professional Workstation processor ($779) and a Consumer Desktop CPU. The Xeon Gold 6242R is engineered for massive parallel workloads (rendering, scientific simulations), offering significantly higher core counts.

Insight	Core i5-12400F	Xeon Gold 6242R
Gaming	✅ Superior gaming performance	❌ Lower gaming performance
Workstation	❌ Weaker in multi-core tasks	✅ Better multi-core power
Price	✅ More affordable ($110)	⚠️ Higher cost ($779)
Longevity	✨ Modern (Alder Lake-S (2022) / Intel 7 nm)	✨ Modern (Cascade Lake (2019−2020) / 14 nm)

💎 Value Proposition

The Core i5-12400F ($110), however, is optimized for mixed workloads and gaming. For most users, it offers superior single-thread performance and responsiveness at a fraction of the cost ($669 less, 86% cheaper), making it the better choice for daily use and gaming.

Insight	Core i5-12400F	Xeon Gold 6242R
Cost Efficiency	✅ Better overall value (+284%)	❌ Lower cost efficiency
Upfront Cost	✅ More affordable ($110)	⚠️ Higher cost ($779)

Performance Check

Paired with RTX 4090

To accurately isolate CPU performance, all benchmarks below use an NVIDIA RTX 4090 as the reference GPU. This eliminates GPU-side bottlenecks and highlights pure processing throughput differences between the CPUs.

Note: Real-world results may vary based on your actual GPU. CPU performance impact is more visible in processing-intensive titles and high-refresh-rate gaming scenarios.

Core i5-12400F Benchmark Check

Xeon Gold 6242R Benchmark Check

Technical Specifications

Side-by-side comparison of Core i5-12400F and Xeon Gold 6242R

Core i5-12400F

The Core i5-12400F is manufactured by Intel. It was released in 4 January 2022 (3 years ago). It is based on the Alder Lake-S (2022) architecture. It features 6 cores and 12 threads. Base frequency is 2.5 GHz, with boost up to 4.4 GHz. L3 cache: 18 MB (total). L2 cache: 1.25 MB (per core). Built on Intel 7 nm process technology. Socket: LGA1700. Thermal design power (TDP): 65 Watt. Memory support: DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200. Passmark benchmark score: 19,532 points. Launch price was $180.

Xeon Gold 6242R

The Xeon Gold 6242R is manufactured by Intel. It was released in 24 February 2020 (5 years ago). It is based on the Cascade Lake (2019−2020) architecture. It features 20 cores and 40 threads. Base frequency is 3.1 GHz, with boost up to 4.1 GHz. L3 cache: 35.75 MB. L2 cache: 20 MB. Built on 14 nm process technology. Socket: LGA3647. Thermal design power (TDP): 205 Watt. Memory support: DDR4-2933. Passmark benchmark score: 36,011 points. Launch price was $2,529.

⚡

Processing Power

The Core i5-12400F packs 6 cores / 12 threads, while the Xeon Gold 6242R offers 20 cores / 40 threads — the Xeon Gold 6242R has 14 more cores. Boost clocks reach 4.4 GHz on the Core i5-12400F versus 4.1 GHz on the Xeon Gold 6242R — a 7.1% clock advantage for the Core i5-12400F (base: 2.5 GHz vs 3.1 GHz). The Core i5-12400F uses the Alder Lake-S (2022) architecture (Intel 7 nm), while the Xeon Gold 6242R uses Cascade Lake (2019−2020) (14 nm). In PassMark, the Core i5-12400F scores 19,532 against the Xeon Gold 6242R's 36,011 — a 59.3% lead for the Xeon Gold 6242R. L3 cache: 18 MB (total) on the Core i5-12400F vs 35.75 MB on the Xeon Gold 6242R.

Feature	Core i5-12400F	Xeon Gold 6242R
Cores / Threads	6 / 12	20 / 40+233%
Boost Clock	4.4 GHz+7%	4.1 GHz
Base Clock	2.5 GHz	3.1 GHz+24%
L3 Cache	18 MB (total)	35.75 MB+99%
L2 Cache	1.25 MB (per core)	20 MB+1500%
Process	Intel 7 nm-50%	14 nm
Architecture	Alder Lake-S (2022)	Cascade Lake (2019−2020)
PassMark	19,532	36,011+84%
Cinebench R23 Multi	12,380	—
Geekbench 6 Single	1,700	—
Geekbench 6 Multi	657	—

🧠

Memory & Platform

The Core i5-12400F uses the LGA1700 socket (PCIe 3.0), while the Xeon Gold 6242R uses LGA3647 (PCIe 3.0) — making them incompatible on the same motherboard. Maximum memory speed reaches DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200 on the Core i5-12400F versus 2933 on the Xeon Gold 6242R — the Xeon Gold 6242R supports 199.3% faster memory, which can translate to measurable gains in memory-sensitive workloads. The Xeon Gold 6242R supports up to 1024 of RAM compared to 128 GB — 155.6% more capacity for professional workloads. Memory channels: 2 (Core i5-12400F) vs 6 (Xeon Gold 6242R). PCIe lanes: 20 (Core i5-12400F) vs 48 (Xeon Gold 6242R) — the Xeon Gold 6242R offers 28 more lanes for additional GPUs or NVMe drives. Chipset compatibility: H610,B660,H670,Z690,B760,H770,Z790 (Core i5-12400F) and C621 (Xeon Gold 6242R).

Feature	Core i5-12400F	Xeon Gold 6242R
Socket	LGA1700	LGA3647
PCIe Generation	PCIe 3.0	PCIe 3.0
Max RAM Speed	DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200	2933+58560%
Max RAM Capacity	128 GB+13107100%	1024
RAM Channels	2	6+200%
ECC Support	❌	✅
PCIe Lanes	20	48+140%

🔧

Advanced Features

Virtualization support: VT-x, VT-d, EPT (Core i5-12400F) vs VT-x, VT-d (Xeon Gold 6242R). Primary use case: Core i5-12400F targets Gaming Performance/Value. Direct competitor: Core i5-12400F rivals Ryzen 5 5600; Xeon Gold 6242R rivals EPYC 7302.

Feature	Core i5-12400F	Xeon Gold 6242R
Integrated GPU	No	No
IGPU Model	—	None
Unlocked	—	No
AVX-512	—	Yes
Virtualization	VT-x, VT-d, EPT	VT-x, VT-d
Target Use	Gaming Performance/Value	—

💰

Value Analysis

The Core i5-12400F launched at $174 MSRP, while the Xeon Gold 6242R debuted at $2977. At current prices ($110 vs $779), the Core i5-12400F is $669 cheaper. In terms of value (PassMark points per dollar), the Core i5-12400F delivers 177.6 pts/$ vs 46.2 pts/$ for the Xeon Gold 6242R — making the Core i5-12400F the 117.4% better value option.