Intel has published its latest blog post, announcing the Intel Arc Balanced Builds, an initiative that pairs up Intel Arc GPUs with Intel Core CPUs, creating balanced configurations that match Intel Arc graphics cards to the "best-fitting" Intel Core CPU. Starting at $423 for the GPU and CPU and $899 for the full system, Intel claims these combinations come from thousands of test runs and hundreds of hours in the lab, leading up to 15,000 datapoints and 22 GB of data.

According to Intel's own testing, which includes a wide variety of Intel Core processors in different configurations and games, there is a perfect CPU range for both its entry level Intel Arc A380 graphics card, as well as the Intel Arc A750 and Arc A770 graphics cards. Of course, for those with a big or unlimited budget, there is always the best configuration that money can buy, but making a balanced build is what makes sense for many others.

A few days ago, we reported a strange Intel Core i5-12490F processor that appeared in the Chinese marketplace. The processor uses the C0 silicon that Intel sits on a pile of and repurposes it to make these odd chips for Asian markets. As we found out, this C0 silicon is a heavily cut-down version, with only six high-performance P-cores present. Compared to the regular Core i5-12400F, it has a bigger L3 cache arriving at 20 MB and slightly higher clock speeds where the base stands at 3.0 G and a boost frequency that manages to ramp up to 4.6 GHz. As a reference, the regular Core i5-12400F has 18 MB of L3 cache, a base frequency of 2.5 GHz, and a boost speed of 4.4 GHz.

Thanks to the early benchmarks, we have the performance numbers in two cases where Intel's Core i5-12490F model is compared to the regular Core i5-12400F. According to the GeekBench data, the first case proves that higher clock speeds of the strange processor, coupled with higher L3 cache, prove to be of help as the single-threaded performance grows by 10%. In comparison, the multi-threaded results show an even more considerable improvement at 15%. The second test shows smaller margins compared to the Core i5-12500, where the Core i5-12490F processor now only leads by 2.5% and 5% in single-threaded and multi-threaded workloads, respectively. This indicates that we have to wait for more benchmarks to see how this design stands in the Alder Lake family and see just how big of an improvement comes from higher frequencies and bigger L3 cache.

Ahead of its early-January announcement, sales of "locked" Intel 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake" processors have started in Peru, with the Core i5-12400F reportedly selling for the equivalent of USD $222. Assuming it has a similar pricing to its predecessor, the i5-11400F, the i5-12400F should have a pre-tax price of around $180, about $15 less than the i5-12400. The retail package is a simple paperboard fare. Inside, you'll get one of Intel's new Laminar RM1 stock coolers.

The i5-12400F is expected to be a 6-core/12-thread processor that only features six "Golden Cove" P-cores, and no "Gracemont" E-core clusters. The CPU cores tick at a boost frequency of 4.40 GHz. These cores are paired with 18 MB of shared L3 cache, and the same I/O as the i5-12600K. As an "F" SKU, this chip lacks integrated graphics. The processor base power of these chips is rated at 65 W, with 117 W maximum turbo power. Intel is expected to launch these alongside the value-ended B660 and H610 chipsets in January.

Intel has recently released their first 12th Gen Core desktop processors with the 125 W TDP K-Series and they appear to be preparing to launch the mid-range 65 W TDP chips in the coming months. The i5-12400F is set to feature 6 cores and threads consisting entirely of high-performance cores without any efficiency cores as found in the existing lineup. The processor features a peak single-core clock speed of 4.4 GHz, while multi-core speeds are 4.0 GHz and 3.4 GHz at PL2 and PL1 power limits respectively. The chip features a 65 W TDP/PL1 power rating and an apparent Maximum Turbo Power PL2 value of 117 W.

This processor has reportedly been tested by French publication Comptoir Hardware where it consistently matched or surpassed the Ryzen 5 5600X in synthetic and gaming benchmarks. These benchmarks were run on Windows 11 with DDR5 memory running at an unspecified speed and an AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT GPU. We have recently seen a listing for the processor at a Canadian retailer which lists the i5-12400F for 249 CAD (200 USD) which if true would be a sizable jump from the 157 USD price of its predecessor but still significantly under the 280 USD Ryzen 5 5600X. The Intel Core i5-12400F is expected to be officially announced sometime in January 2022 possibly at CES 2022.