Home > CPU Comparison > Core i5 8600K or Ryzen 5 2600X: what's better?

Intel Core i5 8600K vs AMD Ryzen 5 2600X

34 out of 100
Intel Core i5 8600K
VS
33 out of 100
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X
Intel Core i5 8600K
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X

We compared two 6-core desktop CPUs: the 3.6 GHz Intel Core i5 8600K against the 3.6 GHz AMD Ryzen 5 2600X. 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.
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Value for money (Beta)

Global average CPU prices are used by default! For better accuracy, enter your current prices and click “Calculate".
Currency
VS
44.7
(Average)
Value Index
39.7
(Mediocre)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 2600X and 8600K
Advantages of Intel Core i5 8600K
  • Supports up to 128 GB DDR4-2666 RAM
  • 26% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 1605 vs 1272 points
  • Includes an integrated GPU Intel UHD Graphics 630
  • 2% higher Turbo Boost frequency (4.3 GHz vs 4.2 GHz)
Advantages of AMD Ryzen 5 2600X
  • Has 7 MB larger L3 cache size, helping fully utilize a high-end GPU in gaming
  • More modern manufacturing process – 12 versus 14 nanometers
  • Newer - released 6 months later
  • Around 1.11 GB/s (3%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core i5 8600K
vs
Ryzen 5 2600X

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
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 8600K +26%
1605
Ryzen 5 2600X
1272
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Core i5 8600K +10%
6114
Ryzen 5 2600X
5577
File compression 473.5 MB/sec 528.6 MB/sec
Clang compilation 40.5 Klines/sec 46 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 144.1 pages/sec 133.2 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 191 Mpixels/sec 172.1 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 156.7 pages/sec 112.6 pages/sec
Background blur 39.9 images/sec 24.5 images/sec
Photo processing 62.7 images/sec 52.9 images/sec
Ray tracing 7.6 Mpixels/sec 9.89 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 1138 & 600 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Core i5 8600K
10142
Ryzen 5 2600X +37%
13867
Integer math 27.7 GOps/sec 47.3 GOps/sec
Floating point math 23.8 GOps/sec 24.2 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 42M Primes/sec 38M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 17.2M Strings/sec 22.9M Strings/sec
Data encryption 3.1 GBytes/sec 13.1 GBytes/sec
Data compression 140.7 MBytes/sec 198.8 MBytes/sec
Physics 722 Frames/sec 690 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 12.5B Matrices/sec 7.6B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 3889 & 7233 samples

Blender

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

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 3.6 PPW 5.1 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 64.4 PPW 58.7 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 106.8 PPW 146 PPW
Blender / Watt 0.95 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 8600K
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2025-03-16 (london)Cinebench 202463 / 342
Add View all (1)
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2025-06-13 (StarCry)Cinebench 202466 / 469
📘 2024-12-12 (Firestorm780)Cinebench 202468 / 485
Add View all (2)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i5 8600K and AMD Ryzen 5 2600X

General

Vendor Intel Amd
Released October 5, 2017 April 19, 2018
Type Desktop Desktop
Instruction Set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Coffee Lake -
Model number i5-8600K -
Integrated GPU UHD Graphics 630 No
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen 5 2600X - Intel Core i5 8600K
Successor - Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus - AMD Ryzen 5 9600X
AMD Ryzen CPU ranking (#176th place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 6 6
P-Threads 6 12
Base Frequency (P) 3.6 GHz 3.6 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 4.3 GHz 4.2 GHz
Total
Total Cores 6 6
Total Threads 6 12
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 36x 36x
Bus Bandwidth 8 GT/s -
L1 Cache 64K (per core) 96K (per core)
L2 Cache 256K (per core) 512K (per core)
L3 Cache 9MB (shared) 16MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier Yes Yes

Package

Transistors - 4.8 billions
Fabrication Process 14 nm 12 nm
TDP (PL1) 95 W 95 W
Socket LGA-1151 AM4
Peak Temperature 100°C 95°C
Desktop CPU ranking (164th and 171st place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 630 -
GPU Base Clock 350 MHz -
GPU Boost Clock 1150 MHz -
Shading Units 192 -
TMUs 24 -
ROPs 3 -
Execution Units 24 -
TGP 15 W -
iGPU FLOPS
Core i5 8600K
0.4 TFLOPS
Ryzen 5 2600X
n/a
See: Intel UHD Graphics 630 benchmarks

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR4-2666 - DDR4-2933
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 64 GB
Memory Channels 2 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 42.6 GB/s 43.71 GB/s
ECC Support No Yes

Misc

Official Site Intel Core i5 8600K official page AMD Ryzen 5 2600X official page
PCI Express Version 3.0 3.0
PCI Express Lanes 16 20

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
6 (35.3%)
11 (64.7%)
Total votes: 17

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: AMD Ryzen 5 2600X or Intel Core i5 8600K?
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