Home > CPU Comparison > Core i7 11700K or Core i5 12600K: what's better?

Intel Core i7 11700K vs i5 12600K

51 out of 100
Intel Core i7 11700K
VS
58 out of 100
Intel Core i5 12600K
Intel Core i7 11700K
Intel Core i5 12600K

We compared two desktop CPUs: the 3.6 GHz Intel Core i7 11700K with 8-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.

  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
27.4
(Mediocre)
Value Index
84.4
(Good)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 12600K and 11700K
Advantages of Intel Core i7 11700K
  • 2% higher Turbo Boost frequency (5 GHz vs 4.9 GHz)
Advantages of Intel Core i5 12600K
  • Around 26.8 GB/s (54%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • More modern manufacturing process – 10 versus 14 nanometers
  • Has 2 more physical cores
  • Has 4 MB larger L3 cache size
  • Newer PCI Express version – 5.0
  • Newer - released 8 months later

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core i7 11700K
vs
Core i5 12600K

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
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)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Core i7 11700K
10622
Core i5 12600K +15%
12200
File compression 829.7 MB/sec 822.6 MB/sec
Clang compilation 85.6 Klines/sec 98.7 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 211.8 pages/sec 261.1 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 338.9 Mpixels/sec 347.9 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 227.4 pages/sec 258.5 pages/sec
Background blur 52.3 images/sec 58.9 images/sec
Photo processing 85.1 images/sec 103.5 images/sec
Ray tracing 18.8 Mpixels/sec 22.8 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 1062 & 768 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Core i7 11700K
24313
Core i5 12600K +13%
27512
Integer math 86.2 GOps/sec 87.8 GOps/sec
Floating point math 51.1 GOps/sec 67.1 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 66M Primes/sec 90M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 36.8M Strings/sec 35.7M Strings/sec
Data encryption 15.5 GBytes/sec 18.4 GBytes/sec
Data compression 321.8 MBytes/sec 342.8 MBytes/sec
Physics 1030 Frames/sec 1515 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 22.9B Matrices/sec 22B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 6143 & 7007 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Core i7 11700K
209.12
Core i5 12600K +12%
234.96

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 6 PPW 7.6 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 85 PPW 97.6 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 194.5 PPW 220.1 PPW
Blender / Watt 1.67 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 i7 11700K
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-05-12 (TheGoodOldChipsGERMANY)Cinebench 202499 / 867
πŸ“˜ 2026-01-14 (Aaron esxboi)Cinebench 202492 / 745
πŸ“˜ 2024-11-03 (Sierra)Cinebench 202467 / 557
πŸ“˜ 2024-05-26 (Guest #3)Cinebench 202495 / 767
πŸ“˜ 2024-04-03 (Bryan Santiago)Cinebench 202490 / 775
Add View all (5)
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)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i7 11700K and i5 12600K

General

Vendor Intel Intel
Released March 16, 2021 October 27, 2021
Type Desktop Desktop
Instruction Set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Rocket Lake Alder Lake
Model number i7-11700K i5-12600K
Integrated GPU UHD Graphics 750 UHD Graphics 770
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen 7 5700X - AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
Successor - Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus - Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus
Intel CPU rating (146th and 96th place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 8 6
P-Threads 16 12
Base Frequency (P) 3.6 GHz 3.7 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 5 GHz 4.9 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 8 10
Total Threads 16 16
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 36x 37x
Bus Bandwidth 8 GT/s -
L1 Cache 64K (per core) 80K (per core)
L2 Cache 512K (per core) 9728K (shared)
L3 Cache 16MB (shared) 20MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier Yes Yes

Package

Fabrication Process 14 nm 10 nm
TDP (PL1) 125 W 125 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) - 150 W
Socket LGA-1200 LGA-1700
Peak Temperature 100Β°C 100Β°C
Desktop CPU ranking (105th and 86th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 750 Intel UHD Graphics 770
GPU Base Clock 300 MHz 300 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1300 MHz 1450 MHz
Shading Units 256 256
TMUs 64 16
ROPs 32 8
Execution Units 32 32
TGP 15 W 15 W
iGPU FLOPS
Core i7 11700K
0.7 TFLOPS
Core i5 12600K
0.7 TFLOPS
More info: UHD Graphics 770 compared to Graphics 750

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR4-3200 - DDR5-4800
- DDR4-3200
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 128 GB
Memory Channels 2 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 50 GB/s 76.8 GB/s
ECC Support No Yes

Misc

Official Site Intel Core i7 11700K official page Intel Core i5 12600K official page
PCI Express Version 4.0 5.0
PCI Express Lanes 20 20

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
72 (9.2%)
712 (90.8%)
Total votes: 784

Competitors

1. Intel Core i7 11700K vs Intel Core i9 11900K (5)
2. Intel Core i7 11700K vs AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
3. Intel Core i7 11700K vs Intel Core i7 13700K
4. Intel Core i7 11700K vs Intel Core i5 13600K
5. Intel Core i5 12600K vs AMD Ryzen 5 7600
6. Intel Core i5 12600K vs AMD Ryzen 5 7600X (3)
7. Intel Core i5 12600K vs Intel Core i5 14600K (2)
8. Intel Core i5 12600K vs Apple M1
9. Intel Core i5 12600K vs Intel Core i7 13700K
10. Intel Core i5 12600K vs Intel Core i5 13600K (3)
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Intel Core i5 12600K or i7 11700K?
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