Intel Core i7-12700KF
It's over a year old right now, but the Intel Core i7-12700KF is still an excellent CPU. It can even match the general performance of the 12900K CPU. If you're looking to upgrade your build, you can save $53 on this chip now.
Although Intel's 13th-generation CPUs are a good bargain, they're nothing compared to 12th-generation chips now that they're on sale. While the Core i5-12600K is enjoying a pretty good Prime Day discount at $180, along with many other good CPU deals, an even better deal might be for the Core i7-12700KF, the 12600K's bigger brother. It comes with two extra P-cores, and with a $60 discount, it's now a surprisingly cheap CPU for both gaming and productivity.
Why the 12700KF is a great CPU at this price
Of all the 12th-generation CPUs, the 12700KF (and the 12700K, which is identical but has integrated graphics) has had a hard time standing out since it's right between the flagship 12900K, formerly the world's fastest mainstream CPU, and the 12600K, which smashed everything AMD had to offer when it came out. The 12700KF never got much attention, but at $219, it's hard to ignore now.
The competing CPUs for the 12700KF are the Ryzen 5 7600X and the newer Core i5-13400, and the 12700KF matches up pretty well against them. The 13400 is just a rebranded 12600K without any overclocking, so obviously, the 12700KF is better, but it's a little more complicated with the 7600X, as the 12700KF is well ahead in multicore workloads but is a little slower in games.
However, opting for the 12700KF can save you money, and it's not just about the CPU. 600 series LGA 1700 motherboards and DDR4 memory can bring the cost of building a 12700KF PC quite a bit, while the 7600X requires a relatively expensive AM5 motherboard and DDR5 RAM. You can put the money you save with the 12700KF towards a faster GPU. Sure, you can hit a higher framerate on the 7600X, but not by a big margin.
The 12700KF is a great option if you're both gaming and working on a budget, but if you can afford to spend closer to $500, then the Ryzen 9 7900X3D might be more up your alley. It's both one of the fastest gaming CPUs and one of the fastest productivity CPUs, and although it hasn't been very popular since its launch, its discount for Prime Day makes it a surprisingly good value.