Home > CPU Comparison > Core i5 13600KF or Core i5 12600KF: what's better?

Intel Core i5 13600KF vs i5 12600KF

67 out of 100
Intel Core i5 13600KF
VS
59 out of 100
Intel Core i5 12600KF
Intel Core i5 13600KF
Intel Core i5 12600KF

We compared two desktop CPUs: the 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5 13600KF with 14-cores against the 3.7 GHz i5 12600KF with 10-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
88.5
(Very good)
Value Index
96.9
(Very good)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 12600KF and 13600KF
Advantages of Intel Core i5 13600KF
  • Supports up to 192 GB DDR5-5600 RAM
  • Has 4 more physical cores
  • Newer - released 11 months later
  • Has 4 MB larger L3 cache size
  • Around 12.8 GB/s (17%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • 4% higher Turbo Boost frequency (5.1 GHz vs 4.9 GHz)

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core i5 13600KF
vs
Core i5 12600KF

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Cinebench Scores (111th and 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 13600KF +26%
16248
Core i5 12600KF
12932
File compression 1400 MB/sec 1020 MB/sec
Clang compilation 135.3 Klines/sec 97.5 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 393.9 pages/sec 304.3 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 437.4 Mpixels/sec 396.9 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 270.9 pages/sec 263.3 pages/sec
Background blur 66.9 images/sec 57.3 images/sec
Photo processing 141 images/sec 118.2 images/sec
Ray tracing 29.3 Mpixels/sec 22.3 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 664 & 809 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Core i5 13600KF +36%
37326
Core i5 12600KF
27514
Integer math 122 GOps/sec 87.8 GOps/sec
Floating point math 90.2 GOps/sec 67 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 150M Primes/sec 90M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 50.8M Strings/sec 35.6M Strings/sec
Data encryption 26.9 GBytes/sec 18.4 GBytes/sec
Data compression 473.1 MBytes/sec 342.1 MBytes/sec
Physics 2206 Frames/sec 1544 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 28.7B Matrices/sec 22B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 4496 & 4042 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Core i5 13600KF +38%
310.46
Core i5 12600KF
225.04

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 9.6 PPW 7.6 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 130 PPW 103.5 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 298.6 PPW 220.1 PPW
Blender / Watt 2.48 PPW 1.8 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 13600KF
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-29 (DeviusDraem)Cinebench 2026614 / 4775
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-01 -> PouryaCinebench 2026630 / 3977
πŸ“˜ 2026-07-11 (Gogy)Cinebench 2024117 / 1290
πŸ“˜ 2025-10-13 (JM)Cinebench 2024116 / 1624
πŸ“˜ 2025-08-22 (Leo)Cinebench 2024116 / 1209
Add View all (9)
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)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i5 13600KF and i5 12600KF

General

Vendor Intel Intel
Released September 27, 2022 October 27, 2021
Type Desktop Desktop
Instruction Set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Raptor Lake Alder Lake
Model number i5-13600KF i5-12600KF
Integrated GPU No No
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen 5 7600X - AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
Successor - Intel Core Ultra 5 250KF Plus - Intel Core Ultra 5 250KF Plus
Intel CPU rating (58th and 93rd place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 6 6
P-Threads 12 12
Base Frequency (P) 3.5 GHz 3.7 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 5.1 GHz 4.9 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 8 4
E-Threads 8 4
Base Frequency (E) 2.6 GHz 2.8 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) 3.9 GHz 3.6 GHz
Total
Total Cores 14 10
Total Threads 20 16
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 35x 37x
L1 Cache 80K (per core) 80K (per core)
L2 Cache 2MB (per core) 9728K (shared)
L3 Cache 24MB (shared) 20MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier Yes Yes

Package

Fabrication Process 10 nm 10 nm
TDP (PL1) 125 W 125 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 181 W 150 W
Socket LGA-1700 LGA-1700
Peak Temperature 100Β°C 100Β°C
Desktop CPU ranking (59th and 82nd place)

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR5-5600
- DDR4-3200		 - DDR5-4800
- DDR4-3200
Max. Memory Size 192 GB 128 GB
Memory Channels 2 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 89.6 GB/s 76.8 GB/s
ECC Support Yes No

Misc

Official Site Intel Core i5 13600KF official page Intel Core i5 12600KF official page
PCI Express Version 5.0 5.0
PCI Express Lanes 20 20

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
172 (69.1%)
77 (30.9%)
Total votes: 249

Competitors

1. Intel Core i5 13600KF vs Intel Core i5 13600K (1)
2. Intel Core i5 13600KF vs Intel Core i7 12700KF (1)
3. Intel Core i5 13600KF vs Intel Core i5 14600KF (2)
4. Intel Core i5 13600KF vs AMD Ryzen 7 7700X
5. Intel Core i5 12600KF vs Intel Core i5 12400F
6. Intel Core i5 12600KF vs Intel Core i5 13400F
7. Intel Core i5 12600KF vs AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Intel Core i5 12600KF or i5 13600KF?
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