Home > CPU Comparison > Core i7 9700K or Core i5 12600K: what's better?

Intel Core i7 9700K vs i5 12600K

41 out of 100
Intel Core i7 9700K
VS
58 out of 100
Intel Core i5 12600K
Intel Core i7 9700K
Intel Core i5 12600K

We compared two desktop CPUs: the 3.6 GHz Intel Core i7 9700K 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 (1)

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
24.0
(Mediocre)
Value Index
84.4
(Good)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 12600K and 9700K
Advantages of Intel Core i5 12600K
  • Around 35.2 GB/s (85%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • Has 8 MB larger L3 cache size, helping fully utilize a high-end GPU in gaming
  • Newer PCI Express version – 5.0
  • Newer - released 3 years and 1 month later
  • More modern manufacturing process – 10 versus 14 nanometers
  • More powerful Intel UHD Graphics 770 integrated graphics: 0.7 vs 0.5 TFLOPS
  • 40% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 2547 vs 1817 points
  • Has 2 more physical cores

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core i7 9700K
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)
Core i7 9700K
1817
Core i5 12600K +40%
2547
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Core i7 9700K
8435
Core i5 12600K +45%
12200
File compression 666.4 MB/sec 822.6 MB/sec
Clang compilation 63.1 Klines/sec 98.7 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 191 pages/sec 261.1 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 262.2 Mpixels/sec 347.9 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 182.9 pages/sec 258.5 pages/sec
Background blur 52.6 images/sec 58.9 images/sec
Photo processing 74.1 images/sec 103.5 images/sec
Ray tracing 11.3 Mpixels/sec 22.8 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 411 & 768 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Core i7 9700K
2859
Core i5 12600K +37%
3917
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Core i7 9700K
14407
Core i5 12600K +91%
27512
Integer math 41.4 GOps/sec 87.8 GOps/sec
Floating point math 35.5 GOps/sec 67.1 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 51M Primes/sec 90M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 25.6M Strings/sec 35.7M Strings/sec
Data encryption 4.6 GBytes/sec 18.4 GBytes/sec
Data compression 207.1 MBytes/sec 342.8 MBytes/sec
Physics 878 Frames/sec 1515 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 18.1B Matrices/sec 22B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 12808 & 7007 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Core i7 9700K
133.75
Core i5 12600K +76%
234.96

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 5.7 PPW 7.6 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 88.8 PPW 97.6 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 151.7 PPW 220.1 PPW
Blender / Watt 1.41 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 9700K
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2025-10-22 (Texhex)Cinebench 202475 / 528
πŸ“˜ 2025-03-29 (Bobby)Geekbench 6 CPU1777 / 8438
πŸ“˜ 2025-03-29 (Bobby)Cinebench 202481 / 592
πŸ“˜ 2025-02-17 (chuckie)Cinebench 202480 / 537
πŸ“˜ 2025-01-04 (Brian)Cinebench 202474 / 518
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 9700K and i5 12600K

General

Vendor Intel Intel
Released October 8, 2018 October 27, 2021
Type Desktop Desktop
Instruction Set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Coffee Lake Alder Lake
Model number i7-9700K i5-12600K
Integrated GPU UHD Graphics 630 UHD Graphics 770
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen 7 3700X - AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
Successor - Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus - Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus
Intel CPU rating (#96th place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 8 6
P-Threads 8 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
E-Threads - 4
Base Frequency (E) - 2.8 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) - 3.6 GHz
Total
Total Cores 8 10
Total Threads 8 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 256K (per core) 9728K (shared)
L3 Cache 12MB (shared) 20MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier Yes Yes

Package

Fabrication Process 14 nm 10 nm
TDP (PL1) 95 W 125 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) - 150 W
Socket LGA-1151 LGA-1700
Peak Temperature 100Β°C 100Β°C
Desktop CPU ranking (144th and 86th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 630 Intel UHD Graphics 770
GPU Base Clock 350 MHz 300 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1200 MHz 1450 MHz
Shading Units 192 256
TMUs 24 16
ROPs 3 8
Execution Units 24 32
TGP 15 W 15 W
iGPU FLOPS
Core i7 9700K
0.5 TFLOPS
Core i5 12600K +40%
0.7 TFLOPS
More info: UHD Graphics 770 compared to Graphics 630

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR4-2666 - DDR5-4800
- DDR4-3200
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 128 GB
Memory Channels 2 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 41.6 GB/s 76.8 GB/s
ECC Support No Yes

Misc

Official Site Intel Core i7 9700K official page Intel Core i5 12600K official page
PCI Express Version 3.0 5.0
PCI Express Lanes 16 20

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
8 (9.4%)
77 (90.6%)
Total votes: 85

Competitors

1. Intel Core i5 12600K vs Intel Core i5 13600K (3)
2. Intel Core i5 12600K vs Apple M1
3. Intel Core i5 12600K vs Intel Core i5 14600K (2)
4. Intel Core i5 12600K vs Intel Core i7 13700K
5. Intel Core i5 12600K vs AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
6. Intel Core i5 12600K vs AMD Ryzen 5 7600X (3)
7. Intel Core i5 12600K vs Intel Core i7 12700K (3)
8. Intel Core i5 12600K vs AMD Ryzen 5 7600
9. Intel Core i7 9700K vs Intel Core i5 12400F
10. Intel Core i7 9700K vs AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Intel Core i5 12600K or i7 9700K?
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Avatar
Bruce December 12, 2021 at 05:54 AM
I already have the 9700k. The upgrade for gaming is not worth it......expense of a new motherboard, potentially new ddr4 ram, new lga1700 compatible cooler (or a converter for the existing cooler if one exists). There is no DDR5 ram available and its rip off pricing anyway. Plus gamers that already own a K series CPU from the 8th gen. or higher will see limited gains in the majority of titles when paired with a 3060 (or lower) tier GPU. Most games cannot / do not, make use of this CPU power. If I did more than gaming on that PC it would be a different answer.
+18 Reply
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