Intel Core i5 12600K

This is the best processor of 2022 so far for tech lovers and early adopters says Jacob Ridley, who’s looking forward to see what else the year will bring.

- By Jacob Ridley

SPECS

Socket: Socket V LGA1700

Process: Intel 7 10nm

Cores (P+E): 6+4

Threads: 16

P-cache: 480KB L1, 7.5MB L2, 18MB L3

E-cache: 384KB L1, 2MB L2, 2MB L3

P-core: 3.7GHz (4.9GHz boost)

E-core: 2.8GHz (3.6GHz boost)

Unlocked: Yes

GPU: UHD Graphics 770, 32 EU, 300MHz, OpenGL 4.5, OpenCL 2.1

Memory max: 128GB, No ECC, 2-channel

Memory speed: DDR5 4800MT/s, DDR4 3200MT/s

PCIe: v5 16-lanes, v4 four-lanes Processor Base

Power (W): 125

Maximum Turbo Power (W): 150

The Core i5 12600K is the best general CPU so far of 2022. It’s faster than a Core i9 11900K, and brings with it support for the latest tech in DDR5 and PCIe 5.0. For that, we dare say it’s actually a great PC building deal.

The Core i5 is the CPU that matters for most home users. It’s cheaper than either a Core i7 or i9, yet still offers the basics of what makes those chips great for computing. With the Core i5 12600K, the first Core i5 of the Alder Lake generation, that’s no different, although that may be understating its abilities. It only took one generation, and less than 12 months, for Intel to take that Core i9 performance and deliver it inside a Core i5 package.