Home > CPU Comparison > Core i7 12700K or Core i5 13600K: what's better?

Intel Core i7 12700K vs i5 13600K

64 out of 100
Intel Core i7 12700K
VS
67 out of 100
Intel Core i5 13600K
Intel Core i7 12700K
Intel Core i5 13600K

We compared two desktop CPUs: the 3.6 GHz Intel Core i7 12700K with 12-cores against the 3.5 GHz i5 13600K with 14-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 (6)

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
29.7
(Mediocre)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 13600K and 12700K
Advantages of Intel Core i5 13600K
  • Supports up to 192 GB DDR5-5600 RAM
  • Newer - released 11 months later
  • Has 2 more physical cores
  • 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 i7 12700K
vs
Core i5 13600K

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Cinebench 2026 (Single) 597 492
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) 4728 5581
Cinebench Scores (110th and 94th 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
14714
Core i5 13600K +9%
16101
File compression 1230 MB/sec 1300 MB/sec
Clang compilation 122.3 Klines/sec 134.7 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 382.6 pages/sec 374.2 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 374.5 Mpixels/sec 465.8 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 267.6 pages/sec 277.2 pages/sec
Background blur 55.9 images/sec 68.3 images/sec
Photo processing 98.2 images/sec 136 images/sec
Ray tracing 29.6 Mpixels/sec 30.1 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 731 & 448 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
34256
Core i5 13600K +9%
37461
Integer math 114.3 GOps/sec 122 GOps/sec
Floating point math 87.9 GOps/sec 90.2 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 112M Primes/sec 153M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 45.8M Strings/sec 50.8M Strings/sec
Data encryption 23.4 GBytes/sec 26.9 GBytes/sec
Data compression 445.1 MBytes/sec 473.1 MBytes/sec
Physics 1773 Frames/sec 2245 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 28.8B Matrices/sec 28.6B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 11963 & 5100 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 9.6 PPW 10.3 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 117.7 PPW 128.8 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 274 PPW 299.7 PPW
Blender / Watt 2.47 PPW 2.48 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 13600K
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-04-09 (Shinigami)Cinebench 2026492 / 5581
πŸ“˜ 2025-04-29 (DSMJohn)Cinebench 2024118 / 1289
πŸ“˜ 2025-04-20 (io)Cinebench 2024114 / 1206
πŸ“˜ 2025-04-09 (stuchi)Cinebench 2024124 / 1248
πŸ“˜ 2024-09-23 (Fireman12402)Cinebench 2024112 / 1258
Add View all (6)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i7 12700K and i5 13600K

General

Vendor Intel Intel
Released October 27, 2021 September 27, 2022
Type Desktop Desktop
Instruction Set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Alder Lake Raptor Lake
Model number i7-12700K i5-13600K
Integrated GPU UHD Graphics 770 UHD Graphics 770
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen 7 5800X - AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
Successor - Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus - Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus
Intel CPU rating (69th and 60th place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 8 6
P-Threads 16 12
Base Frequency (P) 3.6 GHz 3.5 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 4.9 GHz 5.1 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 4 8
E-Threads 4 8
Base Frequency (E) 2.7 GHz 2.6 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) 3.8 GHz 3.9 GHz
Total
Total Cores 12 14
Total Threads 20 20
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 36x 35x
L1 Cache 80K (per core) 80K (per core)
L2 Cache 12MB (shared) 2MB (per core)
L3 Cache 25MB (shared) 24MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier Yes Yes

Package

Fabrication Process 10 nm 10 nm
TDP (PL1) 125 W 125 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 190 W 181 W
Socket LGA-1700 LGA-1700
Peak Temperature 100Β°C 100Β°C
Desktop CPU ranking (69th and 61st place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 770 Intel UHD Graphics 770
GPU Base Clock 300 MHz 300 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1500 MHz 1500 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
0.8 TFLOPS
Core i5 13600K
0.8 TFLOPS
See: Intel UHD Graphics 770 benchmarks

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR5-4800
- DDR4-3200		 - DDR5-5600
- DDR4-3200
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 192 GB
Memory Channels 2 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 76.8 GB/s 89.6 GB/s
ECC Support Yes Yes

Misc

Official Site Intel Core i7 12700K official page Intel Core i5 13600K official page
PCI Express Version 5.0 5.0
PCI Express Lanes 20 20

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
342 (17.3%)
1631 (82.7%)
Total votes: 1973

Competitors

1. Intel Core i7 12700K vs Intel Core i7 12700F
2. Intel Core i7 12700K vs Intel Core i5 14400F
3. Intel Core i7 12700K vs Intel Core i7 14700K (1)
4. Intel Core i7 12700K vs Intel Core i7 12700KF (2)
5. Intel Core i5 13600K vs AMD Ryzen 7 9700X
6. Intel Core i5 13600K vs AMD Ryzen 5 9600X
7. Intel Core i5 13600K vs AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
8. Intel Core i5 13600K vs Intel Core i5 12600K (3)
9. Intel Core i5 13600K vs AMD Ryzen 7 7700X (11)
10. Intel Core i5 13600K vs AMD Ryzen 5 7600X (16)
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Intel Core i5 13600K or i7 12700K?
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Avatar
Robin December 5, 2022 at 08:05 PM
Is it worth upgrading to 13600K? I can upgrade my 8 month old 12700K to a brand new 13600K for only 25$
+113 Reply
Avatar
McD December 13, 2022 at 06:44 PM
Honestly, they perform 95% similarly, but with a slight advantage on i5 for their thermal (lower TDP). But, if you only game and don't do much CPU-intensive work, I say save your $25 and get some McD. I have 12700k as well with DDR4 and I don't plan on upgrading unless it's the 13th i7 or i9 with DDR5 for the next couple of years.
+48 Reply
Avatar
BurgerKing February 8, 2023 at 03:52 AM
McD, The i5 compared to the i7 in gaming has about a 4-6% difference in performance. they support the same ddr5 ram speeds, depending on your motherboard. the intel website says "up to 5600mhz" for both of them but with a motherboard that supports 6000mhz, you can rock 6000mhz ddr5 ram on both the i5 and the i7. easily worth $25.
+15 Reply
Avatar
McPudd November 20, 2022 at 04:32 PM
So there’s pretty much no reason to upgrade this generation?
+48 Reply
Avatar
Woody February 19, 2023 at 06:54 PM
You have to keep in mind, this is comparing the last gen's i7 to this gen's i5. That's a pretty good upgrade for an i5.
+26 Reply
Avatar
I7 12700k October 21, 2022 at 08:14 AM
Still good cpu if you bought it before 13gen don't be sad for the new gen because the i7 12th is more powerful and does all things we need.
+291 Reply
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