Core i7-12700H vs Core i5-11600K

Gaming speed, cores and clocks

The Core i7-12700H and the Core i5-11600K are within a few percent of each other for gaming. In a game, you will not see the difference.

The Core i7-12700H has 14 cores and 20 threads, and the Core i5-11600K has 6 cores and 12 threads. The extra cores of the Core i7-12700H help with video editing, streaming while you play and heavy multitasking more than with the game itself. Boost clocks are 4.7 GHz and 4.9 GHz.

Platform, power and price

The Core i7-12700H uses the BGA socket and the Core i5-11600K uses LGA1200, so they need different motherboards, and often different memory. When you compare prices, count the board as well as the chip.

Rated power is 45 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 i7-12700H can feed a card up to the Radeon RX 7800 XT before it holds the card back by more than 10 percent. The Core i5-11600K reaches the Radeon RX 7800 XT. Both chips are in the same range for graphics card pairing.

Choose the Core i7-12700H if you want the faster gaming chip and the same or more cores. Choose the Core i5-11600K if you would rather spend the difference on a graphics card, which does more for frame rates in most games.