Home > CPU Comparison > Core i5 12600K or Ryzen 7 5800X: what's better?

Intel Core i5 12600K vs AMD Ryzen 7 5800X

58 out of 100
Intel Core i5 12600K
VS
53 out of 100
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
Intel Core i5 12600K
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X

We compared two desktop CPUs: the 3.7 GHz Intel Core i5 12600K with 10-cores against the 3.8 GHz AMD Ryzen 7 5800X with 8-cores. On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.

  1. Review
  2. Differences
  3. Performance
  4. Specs
  5. Comments (9)

Review

General overview and comparison of the processors
Single-Core Performance
Performance in single-threaded apps and benchmarks
Multi-Core Performance
Measure performance when all cores are involved
Power Efficiency
The efficiency score of power consumption
The "iGPU" and "Power Efficiency" have a minor impact on the NanoReview Score for desktop CPU.
NanoReview Final Score
Choose your main usage scenario to recalculate the Final Score and see which CPU suits your needs.
πŸ”Œ Usage Scenario:

Value for money (Beta)

Global average CPU prices are used by default! For better accuracy, enter your current prices and click β€œCalculate".
Currency
VS
84.4
(Good)
Value Index
70.9
(Good)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 5800X and 12600K
Advantages of Intel Core i5 12600K
  • Around 25.6 GB/s (50%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • Has 2 more physical cores
  • Newer PCI Express version – 5.0
  • Newer - released 1 year and 1 month later
  • Includes an integrated GPU Intel UHD Graphics 770
  • More than 10Β° C higher critical temperature
  • 14% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 2547 vs 2232 points
  • 4% higher Turbo Boost frequency (4.9 GHz vs 4.7 GHz)
Advantages of AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
  • Has 12 MB larger L3 cache size, helping fully utilize a high-end GPU in gaming
  • More modern manufacturing process – 7 versus 10 nanometers

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core i5 12600K
vs
Ryzen 7 5800X

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Cinebench 2026 (Single) - 483
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) - 3448
Cinebench Scores (167th and 188th place)
Submit your benchmark results

GeekBench v6

The new version of this benchmark emulates common operations often used in real-world apps
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Core i5 12600K +14%
2547
Ryzen 7 5800X
2232
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Core i5 12600K +19%
12200
Ryzen 7 5800X
10270
File compression 822.6 MB/sec 851.2 MB/sec
Clang compilation 98.7 Klines/sec 97.9 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 261.1 pages/sec 181 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 347.9 Mpixels/sec 319.6 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 258.5 pages/sec 236.3 pages/sec
Background blur 58.9 images/sec 50.5 images/sec
Photo processing 103.5 images/sec 66.8 images/sec
Ray tracing 22.8 Mpixels/sec 25.4 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 768 & 936 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Core i5 12600K +14%
3917
Ryzen 7 5800X
3448
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Core i5 12600K
27512
Ryzen 7 5800X +1%
27661
Integer math 87.8 GOps/sec 94.3 GOps/sec
Floating point math 67.1 GOps/sec 52.7 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 90M Primes/sec 122M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 35.7M Strings/sec 35.4M Strings/sec
Data encryption 18.4 GBytes/sec 21.2 GBytes/sec
Data compression 342.8 MBytes/sec 345.4 MBytes/sec
Physics 1515 Frames/sec 1354 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 22B Matrices/sec 23.6B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 7007 & 25373 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Core i5 12600K +9%
234.96
Ryzen 7 5800X
216.41

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 7.6 PPW 8.3 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 97.6 PPW 97.8 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 220.1 PPW 263.4 PPW
Blender / Watt 1.88 PPW 2.06 PPW
These are rough calculations, as most CPUs surpass PL1 TDP wattage even in multicore workloads.

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Intel Core i5 12600K
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2025-12-28 (Jin)Cinebench 2024108 / 910
πŸ“˜ 2025-12-28 (Jin)Cinebench 2024108 / 906
πŸ“˜ 2025-12-20 (Kierannosaurus)GeekBench2668 / 12254
πŸ“˜ 2025-12-20 (Kierannosaurus)Cinebench 2024118 / 1041
πŸ“˜ 2025-12-05 (Kierannosaurus)Cinebench 2024115 / 1017
Add View all (10)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-06-18 (dxd_shxdow)Cinebench 2026483 / 3448
πŸ“˜ 2026-04-15 (NyNy)Cinebench 202481 / 747
πŸ“˜ 2026-02-16 (nothampter)Cinebench 202482 / 1064
πŸ“˜ 2026-02-06 (Hexg)Cinebench 202495 / 849
πŸ“˜ 2025-12-27 (ivy:3)Cinebench 202496 / 863
Add View all (20)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i5 12600K and AMD Ryzen 7 5800X

General

Vendor Intel Amd
Released October 27, 2021 October 8, 2020
Type Desktop Desktop
Instruction Set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Alder Lake Zen 3 (Vermeer)
Model number i5-12600K -
Integrated GPU UHD Graphics 770 No
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen 5 5600X - Intel Core i7 11700K
Successor - Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus - AMD Ryzen 7 7800X
Intel CPU rating (#96th place)
AMD Ryzen CPU ranking (#95th place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 6 8
P-Threads 12 16
Base Frequency (P) 3.7 GHz 3.8 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 4.9 GHz 4.7 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 4 -
E-Threads 4 -
Base Frequency (E) 2.8 GHz -
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) 3.6 GHz -
Total
Total Cores 10 8
Total Threads 16 16
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 37x 38x
L1 Cache 80K (per core) 64K (per core)
L2 Cache 9728K (shared) 512K (per core)
L3 Cache 20MB (shared) 32MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier Yes Yes

Package

Transistors - 4.15 billions
Fabrication Process 10 nm 7 nm
TDP (PL1) 125 W 105 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 150 W 142 W
Socket LGA-1700 AM4
Peak Temperature 100Β°C 90Β°C
Desktop CPU ranking (86th and 98th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 770 -
GPU Base Clock 300 MHz -
GPU Boost Clock 1450 MHz -
Shading Units 256 -
TMUs 16 -
ROPs 8 -
Execution Units 32 -
TGP 15 W -
iGPU FLOPS
Core i5 12600K
0.7 TFLOPS
Ryzen 7 5800X
n/a
See: Intel UHD Graphics 770 benchmarks

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR5-4800
- DDR4-3200		 - DDR4-3200
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 128 GB
Memory Channels 2 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 76.8 GB/s 51.2 GB/s
ECC Support Yes Yes

Misc

Official Site Intel Core i5 12600K official page AMD Ryzen 7 5800X official page
PCI Express Version 5.0 4.0
PCI Express Lanes 20 20

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
763 (79.3%)
199 (20.7%)
Total votes: 962

Competitors

1. AMD Ryzen 7 5800X vs AMD Ryzen 5 7600 (1)
2. AMD Ryzen 7 5800X vs AMD Ryzen 7 5700X (8)
3. AMD Ryzen 7 5800X vs AMD Ryzen 9 9900X
4. AMD Ryzen 7 5800X vs Intel Core i5 13400F (1)
5. AMD Ryzen 7 5800X vs AMD Ryzen 5 7500F
6. Intel Core i5 12600K vs Apple M1
7. Intel Core i5 12600K vs AMD Ryzen 5 7600X (3)
8. Intel Core i5 12600K vs Intel Core i5 13600K (3)
9. Intel Core i5 12600K vs Intel Core i7 13700K
10. Intel Core i5 12600K vs Intel Core i5 14600K (2)
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X or Intel Core i5 12600K?
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Avatar
BG Visuals September 19, 2022 at 10:07 AM
Now in India Ryzen 7 7800x is cheaper than the intel i5 12600k.
+26 Reply
Avatar
Ko Bo October 6, 2022 at 05:06 AM
Where tf are you seeing this from this is some incorrect information.
+12 Reply
Avatar
No Name August 22, 2022 at 02:24 AM
I thought ryzen was the Winner because it was more expensive didn't know Intel was that good.
+19 Reply
Avatar
Non-K April 1, 2022 at 10:46 AM
Wow. The i5-12600k is the better choice here for those who don't need dedicated graphics cards.
+6 Reply
Avatar
PsArtPro December 20, 2021 at 03:32 AM
My I5 12600K is almost here. A big jump from 10y old AMD-FX-X4-4100 (2core/4thread). πŸ˜‡
+14 Reply
Avatar
Some Body December 5, 2021 at 12:24 AM
I choose the i5 12600k. It's a bit more futureproof with DDR5 and PCIe5.0 and I don't like to buy new PCs that often. My old one is 10 years old now with an i5-2500k :D So the i5 12600k ideally lasts another 10 years. Either way, it is also about 50€ cheaper than the Ryzen 7 5800X, at least in Germany at this date. I Gotta spend more on the motherboard then, but I think it will be worth it.
+15 Reply
Avatar
Umair Shah February 16, 2022 at 09:56 PM
Go for B660 motherboard especially Gigabyte B660M DS3H DDR4 and you will just spend fair amount, don't go for the Z690 yet.
+11 Reply
Avatar
Tony G November 12, 2021 at 09:03 AM
It depends, what is the price difference?
0 Reply
Avatar
Kam B November 25, 2021 at 12:04 PM
On Newegg, the 12600k is at $299.99 currently. The Ryzen 7 5800x usually sells at $386.99 on Newegg but currently has a black Friday sale right now but will probably return to the regular price after black Friday. In my opinion, I would go with the 5800x because of its competitive performance and less power usage than an Intel CPU. Decent Intel motherboards are pricey but the new Z690 motherboards are better than the majority of X570 or B550 motherboards.
+13 Reply
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