The Intel Core i3-4160 is a dual-core four threaded 4th generation (Haswell) processor. It was released in Q3 2014 and scores a respectable 91 for effective speed. With its base frequency of 3.6 GHz, the 4160 is fast enough to run the vast majority of applications smoothly and it’s very reasonably priced for its performance which make it a sensible choice even when considering building a gaming PC. Although the integrated Intel HD Graphics 4400 are absolutely fine for general desktop use such as web browsing and word processing they may bottleneck a gaming machine. A 20% price premium would buy the slightly older i3-4350 which has a 33% larger (4MB) cache but its only about 1% faster (full comparison here). Overall the i3-4160 represents the best value for money I have seen outside Intel's Pentium and Celeron range of CPUs. [Nov '14CPUPro]
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.