Core i5-13600 vs Core i5-12600K

Gaming speed, cores and clocks

The Core i5-13600 and the Core i5-12600K are within a few percent of each other for gaming. In a game, you will not see the difference.

The Core i5-13600 has 6 cores and 12 threads, and the Core i5-12600K has 10 cores and 16 threads. The extra cores of the Core i5-12600K help with video editing, streaming while you play and heavy multitasking more than with the game itself. Boost clocks are 4.8 GHz and 4.9 GHz.

Platform, power and price

Both chips use the LGA1700 socket, so they fit the same motherboards. You can swap one for the other without changing the board.

Rated power is 65 W for the first and 125 W for the second. That difference changes the cooler you need, and it shows up in heat and noise.

We do not have launch prices for both chips, so we cannot compare value.

Which graphics cards each one can feed, and which to buy

At 1080p the Core i5-13600 can feed a card up to the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti before it holds the card back by more than 10 percent. The Core i5-12600K reaches the Radeon RX 9070. Both chips are in the same range for graphics card pairing.

Choose the Core i5-13600 if you want the faster gaming chip. Choose the Core i5-12600K if you would rather spend the difference on a graphics card, which does more for frame rates in most games.