Is the i7-12700 Overkill for Gaming in 2024?

After extensive testing and research from the perspective of an avid gamer and content creator, I don‘t believe the i7-12700 is overkill for a high-end gaming PC in 2024. While it‘s more CPU than necessary for 60 FPS 1080p gaming, it truly sings when paired with an equally capable GPU that can take advantage of its performance.

An Ideal CPU for both Gaming and Streaming

The i7-12700 strikes an excellent balance between price and performance with its 12 cores and 20 threads. It‘s the sweet spot for smooth high FPS gaming while having leftover horsepower for streaming, recording gameplay, or running Discord and other apps simultaneously.

Here‘s a comparison of some relevant CPU specs:

As you can see, the 12700 sits right between the i5 and i9 in terms of core count and boost speeds while costing just $40 more than the mainstream i5 gaming chip. Those extra two Performance cores and higher boost clocks translate to ~10% better frame rates, lower stream latency, and snappier creative app performance over the i5.

Meanwhile, the i9 is complete overkill for gaming with its eight additional Efficiency cores that provide little extra FPS. The 12700 delivers around 90-95% of its gaming prowess for nearly half the price.

Based on my testing and research of CPU/GPU combos, the i7-12700 is the best match for top-tier graphics cards like the RTX 3080, 3080 Ti, and RX 6800 XT without becoming a bottleneck at higher resolutions.

Ideal for High Refresh Rate 1440p & Entry Level 4K

The i7-12700 truly flexes its muscle for gaming PCs targeting high frame rates at 1440p or entry-level 4K resolutions paired with an RTX 3070 Ti/3080-level GPU or better.

When coupled with a premium Nvidia or AMD graphics card, this CPU can easily deliver 144+ FPS on graphically demanding titles at 1440p max settings to take advantage of high refresh rate monitors. It also provides smooth 60 FPS 4K gaming in many AAA single-player games.

Here are some real-world gaming benchmarks from TechSpot demonstrating its 1440p and 4K prowess:

At 1440p, the i7-12700 averages 172 FPS across a suite of modern games. Perfect for high refresh rate gaming.

The 12700 still pushes over 60 FPS at 4K in most titles, enabling smooth gaming at higher resolutions.

As you can see, this CPU cuts through 1440p gaming with ease while still delivering very playable 4K frame rates. Based on these results, I‘d only consider it overkill if exclusively gaming at 1080p.

When Paired with a Mid-Range GPU, Some Bottlenecking May Occur

If your budget dictates a more mainstream GPU like an RTX 3060 or RX 6600 XT, you may face some slight CPU bottlenecking at 1080p resolutions as the graphics card struggles to keep up with the i7-12700‘s performance. This would mainly be an issue if you have an extremely high refresh rate 1080p monitor (240Hz+).

However, at 1440p the performance difference largely disappears as the game becomes more dependent on GPU resources at higher resolutions. You‘d still enjoy outstanding frame rates that can fully leverage monitors up to 144Hz.

So in summary, pairing this CPU with a mid-range GPU is far from overkill but does open up the possibility of a minor bottleneck at 1080p. This can be easily solved by upgrading your graphics card in the future instead of needing a whole new processor.

Great for Content Creation & Multitasking

Even if you primarily game on your PC, it‘s exceedingly likely you‘ll want to run other apps alongside it. This could include chat programs, Discord, web browsers for guides/maps, and recording or streaming software.

The i7-12700‘s combination of high clocks and plentiful cores can handle gaming + streaming better than an i5 while costing $100‘s less than the prosumer-grade i9. Content creation with apps like Premiere, Photoshop, and After Effects is also much snappier compared to mainstream parts.

For a gamer who also wants to create YouTube videos, Twitch streams, or even just run music bots like Groovy in the background, the i7-12700‘s excellent multi-tasking abilities check all the boxes without breaking the bank for negligible i9 performance gains.

Conclusion – Versatile, High Value CPU for Demanding Gamers

Thanks to its competitive pricing and lavish core counts that nearly match pricier prosumer processors, the i7-12700 offers tremendous value. It delivers exhilarating AAA gaming performance today while giving you overhead for content creation plus future-proofing.

Rather than a pure gaming chip, I think of the 12700 as a Swiss Army knife. It enables silky smooth visuals when gaming yet also obliterates through video editing, streaming, compiling, multi-tasking, and other demanding workstation tasks most mere mortals will never fully utilize.

For gamers with high-end rigs who even occasionally create content or would appreciate some future headroom, the i7-12700 hits a sweet spot between performance and sanity. While not cheap, it eliminates the need to upgrade your CPU for years down the road.

So if building a no-compromises gaming PC that won‘t break the bank, rest assured that the i7-12700 is anything but overkill. Its versatile 12 cores bat well above their weight class to provide pleasing price-to-performance ratio rather than just mindless excess.