Home > CPU Comparison > Core i5 12600KF or Ryzen 5 5600X: what's better?

Intel Core i5 12600KF vs AMD Ryzen 5 5600X

59 out of 100
Intel Core i5 12600KF
VS
48 out of 100
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
Intel Core i5 12600KF
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X

We compared two desktop CPUs: the 3.7 GHz Intel Core i5 12600KF with 10-cores against the 3.7 GHz AMD Ryzen 5 5600X with 6-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

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
96.9
(Very good)
Value Index
48.0
(Average)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 5600X and 12600KF
Advantages of Intel Core i5 12600KF
  • Has 4 more physical cores
  • Around 25.6 GB/s (50%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • Newer PCI Express version – 5.0
  • Newer - released 1 year and 1 month later
  • 20% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 2598 vs 2173 points
  • 7% higher Turbo Boost frequency (4.9 GHz vs 4.6 GHz)
Advantages of AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
  • 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 12600KF
vs
Ryzen 5 5600X

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Cinebench 2026 (Single) - 459
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) - 2477
Cinebench Scores (#166th 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)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Core i5 12600KF +42%
12932
Ryzen 5 5600X
9135
File compression 1020 MB/sec 954.5 MB/sec
Clang compilation 97.5 Klines/sec 66.2 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 304.3 pages/sec 169 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 396.9 Mpixels/sec 245 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 263.3 pages/sec 213.5 pages/sec
Background blur 57.3 images/sec 47.2 images/sec
Photo processing 118.2 images/sec 68.8 images/sec
Ray tracing 22.3 Mpixels/sec 16 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 809 & 1003 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Core i5 12600KF +26%
27514
Ryzen 5 5600X
21824
Integer math 87.8 GOps/sec 70.6 GOps/sec
Floating point math 67 GOps/sec 39.5 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 90M Primes/sec 135M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 35.6M Strings/sec 26.2M Strings/sec
Data encryption 18.4 GBytes/sec 15.7 GBytes/sec
Data compression 342.1 MBytes/sec 252.2 MBytes/sec
Physics 1544 Frames/sec 1307 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 22B Matrices/sec 17B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 4042 & 35079 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Core i5 12600KF +44%
225.04
Ryzen 5 5600X
156.48

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 7.6 PPW 9 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 103.5 PPW 140.5 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 220.1 PPW 335.8 PPW
Blender / Watt 1.8 PPW 2.41 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 12600KF
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2025-11-06 (Bughunter47)Cinebench 2024109 / 833
πŸ“˜ 2025-11-01 (desbiensl)Cinebench 2024108 / 951
πŸ“˜ 2025-03-04 (Sylph)Cinebench 202498 / 674
πŸ“˜ 2025-01-15 (Fei Mian)Cinebench 2024112 / 994
πŸ“˜ 2025-01-12 (Isdato)Cinebench 2024107 / 933
Add View all (7)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-20 (CTB)Cinebench 2026497 / 2892
πŸ“˜ 2026-08-17 (dolip)Cinebench 2026459 / 2477
πŸ“˜ 2026-04-07 (Skull)Cinebench 202493 / 592
πŸ“˜ 2025-11-24 (Suhail Alharbi)Geekbench 6 CPU2174 / 9054
πŸ“˜ 2025-11-24 (Suhail Alharbi)Cinebench 202490 / 583
Add View all (20)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i5 12600KF and AMD Ryzen 5 5600X

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 i5-12600KF -
Integrated GPU No No
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen 5 5600X - Intel Core i5 11600K
Successor - Intel Core Ultra 5 250KF Plus - AMD Ryzen 5 9600X
Intel CPU rating (#93rd place)
AMD Ryzen CPU ranking (#124th place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 6 6
P-Threads 12 12
Base Frequency (P) 3.7 GHz 3.7 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 4.9 GHz 4.6 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 6
Total Threads 16 12
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 37x 37x
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

Fabrication Process 10 nm 7 nm
TDP (PL1) 125 W 65 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 150 W 88 W
Socket LGA-1700 AM4
Peak Temperature 100Β°C 95Β°C
Desktop CPU ranking (82nd and 119th place)

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 No Yes

Misc

Official Site Intel Core i5 12600KF official page AMD Ryzen 5 5600X official page
PCI Express Version 5.0 4.0
PCI Express Lanes 20 20

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
200 (74.3%)
69 (25.7%)
Total votes: 269

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4. Intel Core i5 12600KF vs AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
5. Intel Core i5 12600KF vs Intel Core i5 12400F
6. Intel Core i5 12600KF vs Intel Core i5 13400F
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Comments

So which CPU will you choose: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X or Intel Core i5 12600KF?
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