It's an incredible value at around $130, packing in six cores and 12 threads, a base clock of 2.9GHz, and a boost clock of 4.3GHz. What we thought of the Intel Core i5-10400F:ĭespite not sporting the Core i3 tag, the 10400F is one of Intel's cheaper processors. Who it's for: PC builders on a tight budget that only need a few cores. Why you should buy this: It's still a decent performer in 2022, and it's a great budget option. Seeing as its price is close to its successor when not discounted, you'd get better value for the money by buying the Core i5-12600K instead. That said, the 12600K is a better option overall, so only go with the 11600K if you can find it at a steep discount. It comes with enough juice for gaming while offering decent power for productivity tasks, and that combination is tough to find for under $300. Single-core performance is up, too, without a big trade-off in multi-core performance.

The 11600K blows past Intel's last-gen offerings and offers more credible competition to AMD's mid-range chips in productivity tasks, leveraging application-specific accelerators to great effect. The gen-on-gen improvements are clearer in non-gaming tasks. Although not quite the generational improvement Intel fans hoped for, the 11600K proves that you don't need a high-end processor for gaming. In some games, such as Death Stranding, the 11600K actually beats the 10700K and can match the 10900K in others. It depends on the game, but the 11600K maintains a small but measurable lead over the 10600K in most titles. It's worse than the Core i5-12600K by a long shot, but you might be able to snag a chip for cheap - which will open up a little more budget for one of the best graphics cards. Intel's 11th-gen Rocket Lake platform isn't perfect, but the Core i5-11600K is still a decent option. What we thought of the Intel Core i5-11600K: Why you should buy this: It's still a solid midrange CPU, and you can usually find it on sale. The 10 cores provide plenty of bandwidth for gaming and streaming, which is something we rarely see on a $300 processor. That's not the case with the Core i5-12600K. For gaming and streaming, we usually recommend bumping up a step. This class of CPU is most commonly best for pure gaming. It also benefits from the hybrid 12th-gen architecture. Overall, it manages to top the gaming charts, only playing second fiddle to the more expensive processors from Intel's 12th-gen lineup as well as some high-end AMD options like the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, which is, again, pricier than the Core i5-12600K.

In games, it can outpace even the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X in some cases - and that processor is nearly three times as expensive. The single-core improvements with Intel's 12th-gen processors shine with the Core i5-12600K. The performance cores shred through games, while the extra efficient cores provide some extra bandwidth for more demanding workloads. It comes packed with 10 cores for around $300, with six performance cores and four efficiency cores. It's not just the best Intel processor or the best gaming processor, but the best processor overall. The Core i5-12600K is the best CPU you can buy right now. What we thought of the Intel Core i5-12600k: Who it's for: Gamers who need a little extra bandwidth. Why you should buy this: It's the best Intel processor on the market right now.

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