Intel Core i5-12600 vs Intel Core i5-12600K

Compare Intel 12th Generation Core i5 6 core CPU vs Intel 12th Generation Core i5 10 core processor, specs and benchmark score. Which is the better CPU for gaming?

CPU Comparison

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Price

The cheapest price from our partner retailers

$ 328.78
$ 184.46
$ 144.32 significantly less expensive

Benchmark Score

Overall Score

A combined score of all workloads

7189 points
9422 points
31% slightly better overall score

Gaming Score

The raw gaming performance with a fast GPU

10529 points
12057 points
14% slightly better gaming score

Multitasking Score

Performance in workloads using up to 8 cores

6169 points
8581 points
39% slightly better multitasking score

Heavy Workload Score

Performance in workloads using up to 16 cores

5948 points
8381 points
40% slightly better heavy workload score

Free CPU Benchmark

Want to compare your processor against the Core i5-12600 and the Core i5-12600K? Download our free and quick PC Performance Test.

Other Benchmarks

3DMark Physics score

3DMark Physics score

Physics simulation benchmark

9947 points
24% slightly higher 3DMark Physics score
8019 points
Blender score

Blender score

Cycles Render (Samples per minute)

178.59 points
233.94 points
30% slightly higher Blender score
Geekbench 5 (multi) score

Geekbench 5 (multi) score

Multi threaded benchmark

9785 points
11486 points
17% slightly higher Geekbench 5 (multi) score
Geekbench 5 (single) score

Geekbench 5 (single) score

Single threaded benchmark

2350 points
2357 points
0.30% slightly higher Geekbench 5 (single) score
Geekbench 6 (multi) score

Geekbench 6 (multi) score

Multi threaded benchmark

9645 points
11863 points
22% slightly higher Geekbench 6 (multi) score
Geekbench 6 (single) score

Geekbench 6 (single) score

Single threaded benchmark

2382 points
2478 points
4% slightly higher Geekbench 6 (single) score

Specifications

Cores

Number of physical processing units

6
10
66% significantly more cores

Threads

Number of logical processing units

12
16
33% slightly more threads

Clock Speed

Base frequency at which the chip operates

3.3 GHz
3.7 GHz
12% slightly higher clock speed

Turbo Speed

Higher frequency used for heavy workloads

4.8 GHz
4.9 GHz
2% slightly higher turbo speed

TDP

Thermal Design Power: Measure of heat generated by the CPU

65 W
130% significantly lower TDP
150 W

PCIe Lanes

Number of physical connections between the CPU and expansion slots

20
Identical
20

Memory Channels

Lanes for simultaneous memory access

2
Identical
2

Supported Memory

Maximum amount of RAM supported by this CPU

128 GiB
Identical
128 GiB

L1 Cache

Smallest embedded memory, but the fastest

480 KiB
800 KiB
66% significantly more L1 cache

L3 Cache

General memory pool for all cores

18 MiB
20 MiB
11% slightly more L3 cache

Other details

Rank

Ranking in the hardwareDB database

178th of 1,089
102nd of 1,089

Family

The product line

12th Generation Core i5
12th Generation Core i5

Release date

The official date of release of this chip

2022 February
2021 November

Memory Type

The type of memory used by this chip

DDR5-4800
DDR5-4800

Is Unlocked

Can this CPU can be overclocked

No
Yes

Supports ECC memory

Does this CPU support error correcting memory

Yes
Yes

Core i5-12600 vs Core i5-12600K benchmarks

Our benchmark analysis concludes that the Core i5-12600K performs better than the Core i5-12600. Furthermore, our gaming benchmark shows that it also outperforms the Core i5-12600 in all gaming tests too.

In terms of the number of cores of each of these CPUs, the Core i5-12600K has significantly more cores than the Core i5-12600. Indeed, the Core i5-12600K has 10 cores compared to 6 cores found in the Core i5-12600. It also has more threads than the Core i5-12600. With our hardware info, we find that the Core i5-12600K has a slightly higher clock speed than the Core i5-12600. Also, the Core i5-12600K has a slightly higher turbo speed. A Core i5-12600 CPU outputs less heat than a Core i5-12600K CPU because of its significantly lower TDP. This measures the amount of heat they output and can be used to estimate power consumption.

Modern CPUs generally have more logical cores than physical cores, this means that each core is split into multiple virtual cores, improving efficiency for parallel workloads. Indeed, the Core i5-12600 has more threads than cores. Each physical core is split into multiple threads.

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