The Intel Core i5 12400F is without any doubt, currently the best budget gaming processor that can easily max out games even on resolutions higher than 1080p. This chip officially costs $180 and brings the best specs compared to its predecessors as well as to the competitors from the Red team considering the Ryzen 5000 series.
Getting higher performance than the sub $300 processors at less than $200 tells you that you should switch to the Alder Lake platform right now if you are going for a completely new build. For this chip, I suggest going with those graphics cards that can play games smoothly from 1080p up to 1440p resolutions, and thankfully, there are a couple of good video cards out there from both the major GPU companies that can do this job.
Based on the pricing, availability, features, and other related factors, I recommend the following 5 graphics cards to use with the i5 12400F and when the Intel ARC will come out, this list shall be updated if it needs to be.
- Real Boost Clock: 1845 MHz; Memory Detail: 8192 MB...
- Real-Time RAY TRACING in games for cutting-edge,...
- Dual Fans Cooling offer higher performance cooling...
- All-Metal Backplate, Preinstalled
Finally, RTX 3050 is coming back to its MSRP. Although it is comparatively an expensive card than the GTX 1660 Super, the latter is currently at the same or higher price. This makes the RTX 3050 a better choice as it comes with the latest Ampere architecture that allows it to perform Ray Tracing in games.
RTX 3050 features 8GB GDDR6 memory and 2560 Cuda Cores. This helps it perform faster graphical operations and max out most graphical settings at 1080p. Perhaps, this is the best 1080p gaming card right now if you can get it for the MSRP. The i5 12400F-RTX 3050 combo will help you achieve 60+ fps in almost every title. Of course, some games are exceptions where you might need to compromise on some settings.
6 Best Motherboards For Intel Core i5 12400F
Intel Core i5 12400F is the best addition to the Alder Lake lineup where not only you are getting 6 cores and 12 threads for awesome gaming and productivity performance, but you are also getting the most out of your money spent. After successfully beating the Ryzen 5600X by giving higher value per dollar spent, …
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB GDDR6 dedicated...
- 1710 MHz GPU clock speed and 1807 MHz memory clock...
- DisplayPort x 3 (v1.4a) and HDMI 2.1 x 1 output...
- 7680 x 4320 maximum display resolution
Despite being very low in volume in the current market, the RTX 3060 is superior to its predecessor RTX 2060 in every way. The RTX 3060 comes with almost 84% more Cuda Cores and hence, faster processing. It also comes with double the VRAM i.e., 12GB that can max out every graphics setting in your game.
With the Ampere architecture, now it is easier to play games with RTX ON. However, I still do not recommend going heavily with the Ray Tracing as the RTX 3060 isn’t the best choice for that. But if you switch on DLSS along with medium Ray Tracing, you can get decent fps at 1080p resolution.
Without the Ray Tracing, you can expect it to play all the games on ultra settings at 1440p resolution which is sufficient for most gamers’ needs. This is surely among my top 3 choices to go with the i5 12400F.
- Memory Speed:16 GBPS
- Chipset: AMD RX 6600 XT
- Memory: 8GB GDDR6 AMD RDNA 2 architecture elevates...
- Boost Clock: Up To 2589MHz
Considering all the options on the Red Team, the Radeon RX 6600 XT seems an ideal option for the 12400F. It is a little faster than the RTX 3060 and in some games, it really takes those fps numbers significantly higher. Not only that but it actually costs way less than the RTX 3060 right now.
This card is based on the RDNA 2 architecture and features 2048 Stream Processors. The memory size, however, is much lower than the RTX 3060 i.e., only 8GB but you will be still good to go at 1440p resolution. Also, it is capable of doing Ray Tracing stuff in games but it is no match for RTX 3060 in that. So, choose your options correctly.
- Powered by AMD RDNA 2 Radeon RX 6700 XT
- Integrated with 12GB GDDR6 192-bit memory...
- WINDFORCE 3X Cooling System with alternate...
- Screen cooling
Radeon RX 6700 XT is hands down the best $500 GPU right now. With significant price declines over the past few months, at $500, there is no other GPU that can beat it for this price. Of course, Nvidia was meant to beat it with its RTX 3070/3070 Ti GPU but those cards are at least $200 more expensive. They have their own advantages which I will talk about later but if you are satisfied with settling down on a few slower features, then RX 6700 XT is the best choice for the i5 12400F.
Here the only significant slower feature is Ray Tracing. Good thing is that not every game features this technology. Although it is capable of doing Real-Time Ray Tracing, it is not as fast as the competitors from Green Team. However, it definitely competes with them in most games at 1440p resolution and can provide way over 60 fps on ultra settings. I think this is a decent card that will last easily a couple of years at 1440p resolution and even more if you use it for 1080p gaming in the future.
It is powered by RDNA 2 architecture and features 2560 Stream processors. Memory size is very decent with 12GB GDDR6 VRAM and clock frequency easily goes beyond 2.5GHz. The card can take good advantage of technologies like FSR or RSR in many games and this way you can further max out settings without compromising on fps.
- Memory Speed:19 Gbps.Digital Max...
- NVIDIA Ampere architecture, 2nd Gen Ray Tracing...
- 8GB 256-bit GDDR6X, 19 Gbps, PCIE 4.0; Boost Clock...
- SPECTRA 2.0 RGB Lighting, IceStorm 2.0 Advanced...
The RTX 3070 Ti is insanely fast and it owns a lot of games even at 4K resolution. You can use it to kill any game at 1440p resolution and make your gaming build future-proof for at least 3-4 years. This thing is actually the best fit for Ray Tracing and will provide you with the best visuals combined with high performance.
It comes with a whopping 6144 Cuda Cores and 8GB of GDDR6X memory. Yeah, the low VRAM on this card is definitely a thing of concern for 4K resolution but for 1440p, it is completely fine. And as I said, because this card is very powerful, it is also very power-hungry as it features a TDP of 290W that will require you to get a decent PSU with at least 650W capacity if you want to have some more room for little upgrades.
For the i5 12400F, this is the max I recommend and alternatively, you can also go with the RX 6700 XT which will cost you less but Ray Tracing on that is very inferior which I believe should be good if you are spending hundreds of dollars if not more than a thousand bucks.
Wrapping up
The best CPU-GPU combo is the one where you not only avoid any kind of bottlenecking on the GPU or CPU but also where you can save the most money possible without compromising much on the performance. The above GPUs according to me are the ones that are suited for this job the most and if you want to go with some other GPU, let me know in the comments below.
