Question Choosing a CPU for new build. Is i7 12700 the final answer for me?

[clearance]

Hi everyone,
I'm about to finalize my plans for new build and actually start making it happen. I'm not yet certain about the CPU choice though.

I started with considering i5 12400F as it was quite cheap and was supposed to be a good value for money. Then it slowly evolved > i ditched the idea of "F's" (i read IGPU might come in handy) > went to 12600 as it was supposed to be even better value > realized i5 12600K is much better with core configuration than i5 12600 (not just overclocking which i don't care for at all) > now considering i7 12700.
Now i read also some threads here regarding i5 12600K vs i7 12700. What i know is i7 12700 has more cores, threads and cache (also power consumption is supposed to be lower), but surprisingly when going through some benchmarks charts i can see, that 12600K might be on par with i7 12700 in quite a few cases or even slightly better.
Would it make more sense to go with i5 12600K other than price-wise? I can't remember benchmark types that show 12600K being faster, they might've been single core synthetics, which i imagine might not matter that much. But it's just a guess, i might be wrong.

new build dedication: mostly work, graphic design, Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Wacom tablet painting, probably will get into After Effects soon. Also a nice all-around machine, future-proof, capable of smooth workflow for at least few years. I like gaming but it's not a priority, besides it seems like there's no big difference in gaming between those CPU's, if any.
will be paired with: B660 motherboard either Asus PRIME B660-PLUS D4 or MSI PRO B660-A DDR4 + 32 GB of DD4 3200 MHz RAM

 

[dark_globe]

how much does i5 13500 and b760 motherboards cost in your location ?
if they have similar prices compared to 12th gen i5/i7 and b660 you should get a newer processor and motherboard .

 

[geofelt]

Between the various i3,i5,i7 and i9 versions and the K/non K suffix, there is a continuous increase in performance.

Certainly, I7-12700 is a viable choice.
But, in general, the 13th gen products have an improvement in performance per clock.
For example, the I7-12700 with 8P +4E cores(20 threads) sells for $323:
https://www.newegg.com/intel-core-i7-12700-core-i7-12th-gen/p/N82E16819118368?Item=9SIBCD9JJ75895

By comparison, the I5-13600K with 6P +8E cores(20 threads) sells for $315:
https://www.newegg.com/intel-core-i5-13600k-core-i5-13th-gen/p/N82E16819118416?Item=9SIBCD9JJ42753

The difference is that the 13600K performs better.
Total passmark rating for the I5-13600K is 38442 vs. 31418 for the i7-12700.
The single thread performance which you would see most is also better.
4187 for the 13600K vs. 3852 for the 12700.


B660 based motherboards are fine.

 

[clearance]

how much does i5 13500 and b760 motherboards cost in your location ?
if they have similar prices compared to 12th gen i5/i7 and b660 you should get a newer processor and motherboard .

I've done some quick research.
The prices in my country are roughly:
$290 - i5 13500
$380 - i7 12700
$320 - i5 12600K
Surprisingly i5 13500 is the cheapest.
It's hard to find a b760 board though, but i think Gigabyte B760 GAMING X DDR4 looks alright. It's similarly priced as the b660's ones i was considering.

So would you recommend 13th gen? I read they might have some thermal issues and stuff (?) Overall a better choice?

 

[dark_globe]

I've done some quick research.
The prices in my country are roughly:
$290 - i5 13500
$380 - i7 12700
$320 - i5 12600K
Surprisingly i5 13500 is the cheapest.
It's hard to find a b760 board though, but i think Gigabyte B760 GAMING X DDR4 looks alright. It's similarly priced as the b660's ones i was considering.

So would you recommend 13th gen? I read they might have some thermal issues and stuff (?) Overall a better choice?

yes if those prices are like this i5 13500 is definitely the way to go .
12600k is outlassed by 13th gen i5 and i7 is not worth 100 bucks extra over 13500 (they perform virtually the same) .

for i7 13700K(F) and i9 13900K(F) you need some serious cooling , but i5 with locked multiplier is not as power hungry
so you will be good with a decent air cooler (silentium fortis 5 , arctic duo esports etc.) and mid range motherboard :
that being said if you want to upgrade to i7/i9 down the road it is worth to consider getting Z790 motherboard -
much better equiped in terms of VRM to handle high end processors and to avoid thermal throttling .

 

[letmepicyou]

I wouldn't worry about not having an integrated GPU on die. If you have a discrete graphics card, it's wholly unnecessary.
Personally, I'm a big fan of the 12700kf. I picked mine up for like $260 and change.

I tend to buy previous-gen cpus because of the awesome price cuts they enjoy. The sales on GEN13 don't hold a candle to GEN12 deals.

 

[geofelt]

The extra $20 or so you spend to get integrated graphics is a good insurance policy in case you have gpu issues.
Also, a relatively unknown benefit is the Quick sync capability that integrated gives you.
https://www.intel.com/content/www/u...uick-sync-video/quick-sync-video-general.html

 

[letmepicyou]

The extra $20 or so you spend to get integrated graphics is a good insurance policy in case you have gpu issues.
Also, a relatively unknown benefit is the Quick sync capability that integrated gives you.
https://www.intel.com/content/www/u...uick-sync-video/quick-sync-video-general.html

Well yeah, but...wouldn't the processing power of a discrete graphics card (which most video editing software nowadays can utilize) going to pretty much blow this out of the water? I mean, who's offloading the load from their 3080 to run on their Intel Quick Sync instead?

And then you have the performance benefit (and greater over-clockability, if that's your thing) of being minus the built-in GPU.

 

[geofelt]

It is a myth that somehow the cpu performs better without integrated graaphics.
Integrated graphics has no performance impact when comparing a F version with the same non F version.

 

[letmepicyou]

It is a myth that somehow the cpu performs better without integrated graaphics.
Integrated graphics has no performance impact when comparing a F version with the same non F version.

And the benchmark numbers support that. The problem is, something doesn't make any sense about it. Because the TDP power ratings for both cpus are the same. So how do 2 otherwise identical CPUS have the exact same power rating, while 1 has an integrated gpu and one does not? How can it be that the integrated gpu consumes ZERO power? I mean, what does it run on, Intellium?

 

[letmepicyou]

So let me be pragmatic about things.
In the debate between, "Should I get a chip WITH an integrated gpu, or save the money?", I think it comes down to this:
Having an integrated gpu is useful if you might need to troubleshoot a possible malfunctioning video card.

So, someone that wants an integrated gpu is someone without ANY other video cards lying around that work.
If you have other video cards that you know work? So that if you need to troubleshoot a video card problem, you can just swap it out, then you're best off saving the money.

If you're someone that has ONLY the computer hardware in your system? And if something fails, you have no other parts to swap with? Then by all means, you should splurge the extra $20 because that might be useful for you.

It comes down to, do YOU need a "troubleshooting gpu", or do YOU have video cards lying about.

I'll take the gpu-free cpu and save $20 every time. I have plenty of video cards to swap out. But that is, in my opinion, the determining factor.

 

[geofelt]

And the benchmark numbers support that. The problem is, something doesn't make any sense about it. Because the TDP power ratings for both cpus are the same. So how do 2 otherwise identical CPUS have the exact same power rating, while 1 has an integrated gpu and one does not? How can it be that the integrated gpu consumes ZERO power? I mean, what does it run on, Intellium?

If a cpu component is not used, as in a benchmark, it will consume no power.
A F model still has the gpu circuitry in the chip, but it is disabled.

A while ago, I encountered a situation where my failure was not the gpu, but the psu. I had a spare psu, but it was not strong enough to run the graphics card. I used the integrated graphics to keep going.
And FWIW, performance was very good.

I have found integrated to be useful on a new build. I can keep running on the previous system graphics card while testing on the new build.

$20 is a small part of a new build, and I do recognize that some will have budget issues.

 

[clearance]

I already watched quite a few videos convincing me, the iGPU makes sense in AfterEffects for instance, because the new versions of software can utilize it's computing power and combine it with the dedicated GPU.
So i'm not really thinking about F's anymore.

 

[letmepicyou]

I already watched quite a few videos convincing me, the iGPU makes sense in AfterEffects for instance, because the new versions of software can utilize it's computing power and combine it with the dedicated GPU.
So i'm not really thinking about F's anymore.

Well, whichever you choose, the 12700 is a pretty rockin chip, you'll be happy with it.

 

[clearance]

Another variant just came up. I guess i'm also considering i513600K now. It's slightly cheaper or same price as the i7 12700 but seems the most powerful out of all my potential choices.