These APUs are still good candidates for budget eSport gaming and most AAA titles with the sole exception of CP2077.
However, they come with a catch, as you will need to use very high clock speed RAM (DDR3 2133 or 2400 on XMP) to get decent results with the onboard graphics (Which can trade blows with a GT 730 easily), if you want decent single core performance, you will need to overclock them over 4.0GHz base, preferably at 4.5GHz, however, getting past 4.5GHz base will yield you only two overclocked cores and two at idle clockspeed (1.7GHz).
If high speed DDR3 is cheap on your location, get one of these APUs, they are certainly worth it if they are cheap. [Feb '21derwolf019]
Intel's i5 12500 is a weird processor. It is around $40 more expensive than the i5 12400(F) for slightly higher clocks and a better iGPU that most gamers will not care about - which is the thing Alder Lake focuses most on from what we've seen. It is not good value. This does not mean it is a bad CPU, it is still very capable of gaming and could be more capable in workstation and desktop use thanks to the improved iGPU. I do not believe it deserves a $40 tax for those situations though. [Apr '22Waaaaaal]
We calculate effective speed which measures real world performance for typical users. Effective speed is adjusted by current prices to yield a value for money rating. Our calculated values are checked against thousands of individual user ratings. The customizable table below combines these factors to bring you the definitive list of top CPUs. [CPUPro]
Welcome to our PC speed test tool. UserBenchmark will test your PC and compare the results to other users with the same components. You can quickly size up your PC, identify hardware problems and explore the best value for money upgrades.