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Intel Core i5 12600K vs Apple M1 Pro

58 out of 100
Intel Core i5 12600K
VS
55 out of 100
Apple M1 Pro
Intel Core i5 12600K
Apple M1 Pro

We compared two 10-core CPUs: the 3.7 GHz Intel Core i5 12600K (desktop) against the 3.2 GHz Apple M1 Pro (laptop). 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

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
Integrated Graphics
iGPU capabilities for gaming and 3D-intensive tasks
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

Key Differences

What are the key differences between Pro and 12600K
Advantages of Intel Core i5 12600K
  • Supports up to 128 GB DDR5-4800 RAM
  • Unlocked multiplier
  • 9% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 2547 vs 2328 points
Advantages of Apple M1 Pro
  • More powerful Apple M1 Pro GPU (16-core) integrated graphics: 5.3 vs 0.7 TFLOPS
  • Around 128 GB/s (167%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • More modern manufacturing process – 5 versus 10 nanometers

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core i5 12600K
vs
M1 Pro

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Core i5 12600K +19%
950
M1 Pro
796
Cinebench 2026 (Single) - 444
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) - 3334
Cinebench Scores (#167th 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 +9%
2547
M1 Pro
2328
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Core i5 12600K +18%
12200
M1 Pro
10305
File compression 822.6 MB/sec 1230 MB/sec
Clang compilation 98.7 Klines/sec 82.4 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 261.1 pages/sec 249.1 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 347.9 Mpixels/sec 271.3 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 258.5 pages/sec 246.4 pages/sec
Background blur 58.9 images/sec 36.9 images/sec
Photo processing 103.5 images/sec 102.5 images/sec
Ray tracing 22.8 Mpixels/sec 10.7 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 768 & 593 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Core i5 12600K +3%
3917
M1 Pro
3795
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Core i5 12600K +25%
27512
M1 Pro
21934
Integer math 87.8 GOps/sec 45.6 GOps/sec
Floating point math 67.1 GOps/sec 64 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 90M Primes/sec 272M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 35.7M Strings/sec 32.5M Strings/sec
Data encryption 18.4 GBytes/sec 12.2 GBytes/sec
Data compression 342.8 MBytes/sec 272.2 MBytes/sec
Physics 1515 Frames/sec 2696 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 22B Matrices/sec 12.6B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 7007 & 2437 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Core i5 12600K +26%
234.96
M1 Pro
186.87

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 7.6 PPW 26.5 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 97.6 PPW 343.5 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 220.1 PPW 731.1 PPW
Blender / Watt 1.88 PPW 6.23 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)Geekbench 6 CPU2668 / 12254
πŸ“˜ 2025-12-20 (Kierannosaurus)Cinebench 2024118 / 1041
πŸ“˜ 2025-12-05 (Kierannosaurus)Cinebench 2024115 / 1017
Add View all (10)
Apple M1 Pro
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-03-27 (bbffx)Geekbench 6 CPU2450 / 12944
πŸ“˜ 2026-03-27 (bbffx)Cinebench 2026444 / 3334
πŸ“˜ 2026-03-27 (bbffx)Cinebench 2024115 / 857
πŸ“˜ 2025-02-23 (anon121434)Cinebench 202499 / 682
πŸ“˜ 2025-02-19 (serhii)Cinebench 2024109 / 796
Add View all (7)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i5 12600K and Apple M1 Pro

General

Vendor Intel Apple
Released October 27, 2021 October 18, 2021
Type Desktop Laptop
Instruction Set x86-64 ARMv8
Codename Alder Lake Apple M1
Model number i5-12600K -
Integrated GPU UHD Graphics 770 Apple M1 Pro GPU (16-core)
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen 5 5600X -
Successor - Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus - Apple M5 Pro (18-Core)
Intel CPU rating (#96th place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 6 8
P-Threads 12 8
Base Frequency (P) 3.7 GHz 3.2 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 4.9 GHz -
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 4 2
E-Threads 4 2
Base Frequency (E) 2.8 GHz 2.1 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) 3.6 GHz -
Total
Total Cores 10 10
Total Threads 16 10
Bus Frequency 100 MHz -
Multiplier 37x -
L1 Cache 80K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 9728K (shared) 24MB (shared)
L3 Cache 20MB (shared) -
Unlocked Multiplier Yes No

Package

Transistors - 33.7 billions
Fabrication Process 10 nm 5 nm
TDP (PL1) 125 W 30 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 150 W -
Socket LGA-1700 Apple M-Socket
Peak Temperature 100Β°C -
Desktop CPU ranking (#86th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 770 Apple M1 Pro GPU (16-core)
GPU Base Clock 300 MHz 450 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1450 MHz 1296 MHz
Shading Units 256 2048
TMUs 16 128
ROPs 8 64
Execution Units 32 256
TGP 15 W 30 W
iGPU FLOPS
Core i5 12600K
0.7 TFLOPS
M1 Pro +657%
5.3 TFLOPS
More info: Apple M1 Pro GPU (16-core) compared to UHD Graphics 770

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR5-4800
- DDR4-3200		 - LPDDR5-6400
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 32 GB
Memory Channels 2 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 76.8 GB/s 204.8 GB/s
ECC Support Yes No

Misc

Official Site Intel Core i5 12600K official page -
PCI Express Version 5.0 -
PCI Express Lanes 20 -

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
31 (48.4%)
33 (51.6%)
Total votes: 64

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8. Intel Core i5 12600K vs Intel Core i5 13600K (3)
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10. Intel Core i5 12600K vs Apple M1
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Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M1 Pro or Intel Core i5 12600K?
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