Intel Core i5-12600K Review

Rating: 9.0.

While Intel's flagship i9-12900K may be stealing the headlines today, the mid-range i5-12600K is arguably more impressive. Comprised of six Performance cores and four Efficient cores, for a total of 16 threads, this processor comes with a more palatable £290 asking price. That puts it head to head with the popular Ryzen 5 5600X, but is it a battle Intel can win?

Timestamps:

00:00 Start
00:15 Introduction
00:58 Test Bench (see i9-12900K review for more details)
01:30 BIOS overview
02:47 How the processor behaves
03:33 Intel Extreme Tuning Utility V7.5.3.3 and Overclocking
05:15 Performance test results
07:00 Gaming test results
08:15 Memory bandwidth and latency results
08:46 Performance per £
08:59 Performance per watt
09:10 Power Consumption
09:33 Temperatures
09:50 Leo is blown away … his thoughts

Intel Slides and Specs

Features

• Intel 7 Process Technology
• New Processor core architectures
• Performance hybrid architecture, Performance-Core and Efficient-Core (P-core and E-core) architectures integrated into one processor affording intelligent workload prioritization and management distribution with Intel Thread Director
• 6 P-Core + 4 E-Core processor with 24 threads
• Increased L2 Cache and L3 Shared Intel Smart Cache
• DDR5 Memory support up to 6400MHz, DDR4 up to 4000MHz

These screen shots from CPU-Z show details of the novel combination of cores used by Intel 12th Gen, along with the high clock speed and slow latency of DDR5 memory.

Testing and Performance

Test System:

• Processor: Intel Core i5-12600K (6P+4E cores/16 threads)
• CPU Cooler: Corsair H150i Elite LCD
• Motherboard: MSI Z690 Unify BIOS 1.0F
• Memory: 32GB Corsair Vengeance DDR5-5200
• Graphics card: Palit RTX 3080 Gaming Pro 10GB
• Power supply: Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
• SSD: 500GB Sabrent Rocket 4.0 M.2 NVMe
• OS: Windows 11

Testing and Performance – Cinebench R23

In Cinebench R23 Multi Core the Core i5-12600K beats previous versions of the Core i5 by a huge margin. It also thrashes AMD Ryzen 7 5800X along with 10th and 11th Gen Core i9, which makes it clear the combination of 6P+4E cores delivers plenty of performance.

The single core performance of the new Core i5 in Cinebench R23 is very impressive and we can see the top of our chart is dominated by Intel 12th Gen.

CPU Performance – CrossMark, Blender and 7-Zip

BAPCo CrossMark is a new benchmark for us so we aren't drawing too many conclusions except to say Intel 12th Gen clearly beats 11th and 10th Gens with Core i5-12600K doing a decent job.

In Blender we effectively have a tie between Ryzen 7 5800X and Core i5-12600K and we can see those four Efficient cores are performing a reasonable amount of the workload.

In 7-Zip the combination of the new Hybrid Architecture and DDR5 memory allows Core i5-12600K to trounce the previous versions of Core i5.

Memory Performance

At the top of the chart we see the 12th Gen CPUs that run on DDR5. They are followed by Ryzen 9 and the Intel CPUs running on DDR4. At the bottom we have the single chiplet Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7. Once you understand those big divisions it is clear that Core i5-12600K sits up in the DDR5 group but comes in below the new Core i7 and Core i9.

On the one hand the new DDR5 has huge bandwidth while on the other hand the latency is slow. This uncomfortable fact pushes the Core i5-12600K towards the bottom of this particular chart.

Gaming Performance – Deus Ex and Watch Dogs: Legion

In Deus Ex: Mankind Divided we see impressive frame rates from the new Core i5, both at 1080p and also at 1440p.

Moving on to Watch Dogs: Legion the performance in 1080p is significantly higher than previous versions of Core i5 and only a tiny step away from the top of the chart. Increasing the resolution to 1440p flattens the graph so most of the CPUs deliver performance that is very similar to the rest of the field. Even so, the Core i5-12600K does very well.

Gaming Performance – Far Cry 6 and 3DMark

In the new Far Cry 6 we see Core i5-12600K pushing much higher up the charts than we expect from a budget CPU.

In the CPU test within 3D Mark Time Spy the Core i5-12600K does very well and establishes itself as a new and superior type of budget CPU.

Power Consumption and Temperature

If you run the Core i5-12600K on Auto it draws the same power as the older Core i5-11600K while performing considerably more work. This is a testament to the new architecture how it has to be pointed out the Core i5-12600K also has the same power draw as AMD Ryzen 9 5950X. The sooner Intel can proceed to a fabrication process that is similar to TSMC 7nm, the better.  Overclocking the Core i5-12600K increases power draw significantly, in this instance by 90W.

When you use Auto settings the new Core i5-12600K barely runs any hotter than the previous versions of Core i5. Overclocking is a different proposition as you can easily drive this CPU to 5GHz which means you are dealing with the best part of 200 Watts, however that is obviously a matter of choice. Avoid going crazy and you will find it is easy to keep the Core i5-12600K nice and cool.

In recent times Core i5 has been Intel's budget CPU of choice, delivering six cores with Hyper Threading for a price around £300. This specification puts Core i5 head-to-head with AMD Ryzen 5 and leaves the customer to decide on relatively fine points such as their preferred platform.

The new Core i5-12600K gives that premise a good shake as you now get six Performance cores and four Efficient cores which is a total of 16 threads so we're looking at a new Core i5 that is more akin to a conventional eight core, while the price remains at the previous level.

Our testing demonstrates that Core i5-12600K is impressive out of the box with Auto settings and is competitive against both Core i9-10900KF and Core i9-11900K while using considerably less power. If you choose to overclock the Core i5-12600K you get a fistful of extra performance and it is still easy to keep the CPU nice and cool.

We can confidently state the Core i5-12600K leaves Ryzen 5 5600X trailing in its wake but that isn't much of a shock when you consider Intel is working with a new architecture, new process and also has DDR5 memory.

We really did not expect to see that Core i5-12600K would also beat down the Ryzen 7 5800X to such an extent you can find heavy discounts on the AMD part in the USA and we have to hope we will see similar changes of pricing here in the UK.

The Intel Core i5-12600K is available from Overclockers UK for £289.99 HERE.

See our i9-12900K review HERE.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

Pros:

• Top gaming performance at a sensible price.
• Six P cores plus four E cores beats Ryzen 5 hollow.
• Excellent value for money.
• Runs nice and cool under load.
• We found 500MHz overclocking was quick and simple.

Cons:

• You need a new 600-series motherboard and right now that means Z690.
• Core i5 uses about 40W more than Ryzen 5 under load.

KitGuru says: Intel Core i5-12600K sets a new standard for budget gaming CPUs and beats both Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 by a wide margin.

Become a Patron!