Home > CPU Comparison > Core i7 12700K or Core i5 12600K: what's better?

Intel Core i7 12700K vs i5 12600K

64 out of 100
Intel Core i7 12700K
VS
58 out of 100
Intel Core i5 12600K
Intel Core i7 12700K
Intel Core i5 12600K

We compared two desktop CPUs: the 3.6 GHz Intel Core i7 12700K with 12-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 (3)

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
75.8
(Good)
Value Index
84.4
(Good)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 12600K and 12700K
Advantages of Intel Core i7 12700K
  • Has 5 MB larger L3 cache size, helping fully utilize a high-end GPU in gaming
  • Has 2 more physical cores

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core i7 12700K
vs
Core i5 12600K

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Cinebench 2026 (Single) 597 -
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) 4728 -
Cinebench Scores (110th and 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 12700K +21%
14714
Core i5 12600K
12200
File compression 1230 MB/sec 822.6 MB/sec
Clang compilation 122.3 Klines/sec 98.7 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 382.6 pages/sec 261.1 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 374.5 Mpixels/sec 347.9 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 267.6 pages/sec 258.5 pages/sec
Background blur 55.9 images/sec 58.9 images/sec
Photo processing 98.2 images/sec 103.5 images/sec
Ray tracing 29.6 Mpixels/sec 22.8 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 731 & 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 12700K +25%
34256
Core i5 12600K
27512
Integer math 114.3 GOps/sec 87.8 GOps/sec
Floating point math 87.9 GOps/sec 67.1 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 112M Primes/sec 90M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 45.8M Strings/sec 35.7M Strings/sec
Data encryption 23.4 GBytes/sec 18.4 GBytes/sec
Data compression 445.1 MBytes/sec 342.8 MBytes/sec
Physics 1773 Frames/sec 1515 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 28.8B Matrices/sec 22B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 11963 & 7007 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Core i7 12700K +32%
309.16
Core i5 12600K
234.96

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 117.7 PPW 97.6 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 274 PPW 220.1 PPW
Blender / Watt 2.47 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 12700K
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-08-14 (Melvin Tejada)Cinebench 2026597 / 4728
πŸ“˜ 2026-07-08 (Myla)Cinebench 2026555 / 3917
πŸ“˜ 2026-05-04 (sisham)Cinebench 2024100 / 635
πŸ“˜ 2025-08-22 (Ray)Cinebench 2024115 / 1305
πŸ“˜ 2024-12-19 (Zach Jones)Cinebench 2024114 / 1231
Add View all (10)
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 12700K and i5 12600K

General

Vendor Intel Intel
Released October 27, 2021 October 27, 2021
Type Desktop Desktop
Instruction Set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Alder Lake Alder Lake
Model number i7-12700K i5-12600K
Integrated GPU UHD Graphics 770 UHD Graphics 770
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen 7 5800X - AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
Successor - Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus - Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus
Intel CPU rating (69th 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) 4.9 GHz 4.9 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 4 4
E-Threads 4 4
Base Frequency (E) 2.7 GHz 2.8 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) 3.8 GHz 3.6 GHz
Total
Total Cores 12 10
Total Threads 20 16
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 36x 37x
L1 Cache 80K (per core) 80K (per core)
L2 Cache 12MB (shared) 9728K (shared)
L3 Cache 25MB (shared) 20MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier Yes Yes

Package

Fabrication Process 10 nm 10 nm
TDP (PL1) 125 W 125 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 190 W 150 W
Socket LGA-1700 LGA-1700
Peak Temperature 100Β°C 100Β°C
Desktop CPU ranking (69th and 86th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 770 Intel UHD Graphics 770
GPU Base Clock 300 MHz 300 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1500 MHz 1450 MHz
Shading Units 256 256
TMUs 16 16
ROPs 8 8
Execution Units 32 32
TGP 15 W 15 W
iGPU FLOPS
Core i7 12700K +14%
0.8 TFLOPS
Core i5 12600K
0.7 TFLOPS
See: Intel UHD Graphics 770 benchmarks

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR5-4800
- DDR4-3200		 - DDR5-4800
- DDR4-3200
Max. Memory Size 128 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 i7 12700K 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
374 (34.7%)
704 (65.3%)
Total votes: 1078

Competitors

1. Intel Core i7 12700K vs Intel Core i7 12700F
2. Intel Core i7 12700K vs Intel Core i7 12700KF (2)
3. Intel Core i7 12700K vs Intel Core i7 14700K (1)
4. Intel Core i7 12700K vs Intel Core i5 13600K (6)
5. Intel Core i7 12700K vs Intel Core i5 14400F
6. Intel Core i5 12600K vs Apple M1
7. Intel Core i5 12600K vs AMD Ryzen 5 7600X (3)
8. Intel Core i5 12600K vs AMD Ryzen 5 7600
9. Intel Core i5 12600K vs Intel Core i5 13600K (3)
10. Intel Core i5 12600K vs Intel Core i7 13700K
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Intel Core i5 12600K or i7 12700K?
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Avatar
Bud May 22, 2022 at 04:29 AM
12700k is about 20% faster if you have all the cores hammering at a 100% work rate. In the real world, this is never the case. 12600k is a great chip for 95% of users. The other 5% are probably in professional graphics etc. By the time you want to upgrade from the 12600k you would also want to upgrade from the 12700k, so future-proofing is not the issue. It depends which chip is best value to you at the time you purchase. If you can buy the12600k at 20% discount from the 12700k then that is probably your best choice. On the other hand, I chose the 12700k because I do like those extra cores even though I'll probably never make full use of them. Also, I won't be overclocking. If anything, I will be underclocking to run it cooler.
+92 Reply
Avatar
im not givin out my name May 17, 2022 at 04:22 PM
wouldn't a 12700k be more future-proof because of the extra 2 cores? and wouldn't it theoretically be able to have 100mhz higher stable overclocks (excluding heat) because of the extra 100mhz? or am I overthinking it?
+40 Reply
Avatar
root May 17, 2022 at 05:13 PM
It depends on your needs :)
+36 Reply
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