Intel Core i5 13500 vs i5 12600K

We compared two desktop CPUs: the 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5 13500 with 14-cores against the 3.7 GHz i5 12600K with 10-cores. On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.

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
40.1
(Average)
Value Index
84.4
(Good)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 12600K and 13500
Advantages of Intel Core i5 13500
  • Supports up to 192 GB DDR5-4800 RAM
  • Has 4 more physical cores
  • Newer - released 1 year and 2 months later
  • Has 4 MB larger L3 cache size
Advantages of Intel Core i5 12600K
  • Unlocked multiplier
  • 2% higher Turbo Boost frequency (4.9 GHz vs 4.8 GHz)

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Cinebench 2026 (Single) 457 -
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) 5184 -
Cinebench Scores (#167th place)

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)
12573
File compression 930.8 MB/sec 822.6 MB/sec
Clang compilation 128.5 Klines/sec 98.7 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 277.9 pages/sec 261.1 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 395.3 Mpixels/sec 347.9 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 268.6 pages/sec 258.5 pages/sec
Background blur 58.6 images/sec 58.9 images/sec
Photo processing 95.8 images/sec 103.5 images/sec
Ray tracing 18.6 Mpixels/sec 22.8 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 1152 & 768 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
30777
Integer math 107.7 GOps/sec 87.8 GOps/sec
Floating point math 79.7 GOps/sec 67.1 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 99M Primes/sec 90M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 42M Strings/sec 35.7M Strings/sec
Data encryption 21.9 GBytes/sec 18.4 GBytes/sec
Data compression 383.8 MBytes/sec 342.8 MBytes/sec
Physics 1593 Frames/sec 1515 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 23.5B Matrices/sec 22B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 3228 & 7007 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
257.87

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 17.6 PPW 7.6 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 193.4 PPW 97.6 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 473.5 PPW 220.1 PPW
Blender / Watt 3.97 PPW 1.88 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 13500
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-04-08 (Ikkyusan)Cinebench 2024112 / 1247
πŸ“˜ 2026-04-08 (Ikkyusan)Geekbench 6 CPU2669 / 15633
πŸ“˜ 2026-04-08 (Ikkyusan)Cinebench 2026457 / 5184
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

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i5 13500 and i5 12600K

General

Vendor Intel Intel
Released January 3, 2023 October 27, 2021
Type Desktop Desktop
Instruction Set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Raptor Lake Alder Lake
Model number i5-13500 i5-12600K
Integrated GPU UHD Graphics 770 UHD Graphics 770
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen 5 7600 - AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
Successor - Intel Core i5 14500 - Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus
Intel CPU rating (#96th place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 6 6
P-Threads 12 12
Base Frequency (P) 2.5 GHz 3.7 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 4.8 GHz 4.9 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 8 4
E-Threads 8 4
Base Frequency (E) 1.8 GHz 2.8 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) 3.5 GHz 3.6 GHz
Total
Total Cores 14 10
Total Threads 20 16
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 25x 37x
L1 Cache 80K (per core) 80K (per core)
L2 Cache 1280K (per core) 9728K (shared)
L3 Cache 24MB (shared) 20MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No Yes

Package

Fabrication Process 10 nm 10 nm
TDP (PL1) 65 W 125 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 154 W 150 W
Socket LGA-1700 LGA-1700
Peak Temperature 100Β°C 100Β°C
Desktop CPU ranking (#86th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 770 Intel UHD Graphics 770
GPU Base Clock 300 MHz 300 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1550 MHz 1450 MHz
Shading Units 256 256
TMUs 16 16
ROPs 8 8
Execution Units 32 32
TGP 15 W 15 W
iGPU FLOPS
0.8 TFLOPS
0.7 TFLOPS

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR5-4800
- DDR4-3200
- DDR5-4800
- DDR4-3200
Max. Memory Size 192 GB 128 GB
Memory Channels 2 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 76.8 GB/s 76.8 GB/s
ECC Support Yes Yes

Misc

Official Site Intel Core i5 13500 official page Intel Core i5 12600K official page
PCI Express Version 5.0 5.0
PCI Express Lanes 20 20

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
379 (84%)
72 (16%)
Total votes: 451

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Intel Core i5 12600K or i5 13500?
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