Intel Core i5-12600K vs AMD Ryzen 5 7600X

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Core i5-12600K CPU1 vs CPU2 AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
Intel Core i5-12600K AMD Ryzen 5 7600X

CPU comparison

Intel Core i5-12600K or AMD Ryzen 5 7600X - which processor is faster? In this comparison we look at the differences and analyze which of these two CPUs is better. We compare the technical data and benchmark results.

The Intel Core i5-12600K has 10 cores with 16 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 4.90 GHz. Up to 128 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i5-12600K was released in Q4/2021.

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X has 6 cores with 12 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 5.30 GHz. The CPU supports up to 128 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X was released in Q4/2022.
Intel Core i5 (331) Family AMD Ryzen 5 (84)
Intel Core i 12000 (34) CPU group AMD Ryzen 7000 (14)
12 Generation 6
Alder Lake S Architecture Raphael (Zen 4)
Desktop / Server Segment Desktop / Server
Intel Core i5-11600K Predecessor AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
Intel Core i5-13600K Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Core i5-12600K is a 10 core processor with a clock frequency of 3.70 GHz (4.90 GHz). The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X has 6 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 4.70 GHz (5.30 GHz).

Intel Core i5-12600K Characteristic AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
10 Cores 6
16 Threads 12
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture normal
Yes Hyperthreading Yes
Yes Overclocking ? Yes
3.70 GHz (4.90 GHz)
6x Golden Cove
A-Core 4.70 GHz (5.30 GHz)
2.80 GHz (3.60 GHz)
4x Gracemont
B-Core --

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Processors with the support of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors. Algorithms for ML improve their performance the more data they have collected via software. ML tasks can be processed up to 10,000 times faster than with a classic processor.

Intel Core i5-12600K Characteristic AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

The integrated graphics unit of a processor is not only responsible for the pure image output on the system, but can also significantly increase the efficiency of the system with the support of modern video codecs.

Intel UHD Graphics 770 GPU AMD Radeon Graphics (Raphael)
0.30 GHz GPU frequency 0.40 GHz
1.45 GHz GPU (Turbo) 2.20 GHz
11 GPU Generation 9
10 nm Technology 5 nm
3 Max. displays 3
32 Compute units 2
256 Shader 128
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
64 GB Max. GPU Memory 8 GB
12 DirectX Version 12

Hardware codec support

A photo or video codec that is accelerated in hardware can greatly accelerate the working speed of a processor and extend the battery life of notebooks or smartphones when playing videos.

Intel UHD Graphics 770 GPU AMD Radeon Graphics (Raphael)
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec h264 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec VP9 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec VP8 Decode / Encode
Decode Codec AV1 No
Decode / Encode Codec AVC Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

The Intel Core i5-12600K supports a maximum of 128 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X can connect up to 128 GB of memory in 2 memory channels.

Intel Core i5-12600K Characteristic AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200 Memory DDR5-5200
128 GB Max. Memory 128 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
76.8 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 83.2 GB/s
Yes ECC Yes
9.50 MB L2 Cache 6.00 MB
20.00 MB L3 Cache 32.00 MB
5.0 PCIe version 5.0
20 PCIe lanes 24
78.8 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth 94.5 GB/s

Thermal Management

The TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The Intel Core i5-12600K has a TDP of 125 W, that of the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X is 105 W.

Intel Core i5-12600K Characteristic AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
125 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 105 W
150 W TDP (PL2) 142 W
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
100 °C Tjunction max. 95 °C

Technical details

The Intel Core i5-12600K has a 29.50 MB cache, while the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X cache has a total of 38.00 MB.

Intel Core i5-12600K Characteristic AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
10 nm Technology 5 nm
Monolithic Chip design Chiplet
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, AVX2+ ISA extensions SSE4a, SSE4.1, SSE4.2,FMA3, AVX2, AVX512
LGA 1700 Socket AM5 (LGA 1718)
VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d Virtualization AMD-V, SVM
Yes AES-NI Yes
Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux Operating systems Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux
Q4/2021 Release date Q4/2022
289 $ Release price 299 $
show more data show more data


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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 6 CPU benchmarks
Intel Core i5-12600K (91%)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X (100%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 8 CPU benchmarks
Intel Core i5-12600K (99%)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X (96%)

Cinebench 2024 (Single-Core)

The Cinebench 2024 benchmark is based on the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxon's 3D program Cinema 4D. The benchmark runs are each 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
Intel Core i5-12600K Intel Core i5-12600K
10C 16T @ 4.90 GHz
105 (91%)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
6C 12T @ 5.30 GHz
115 (100%)

Cinebench 2024 (Multi-Core)

The Multi-Core test of the Cinebench 2024 benchmark uses all cpu cores to render using the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxons Cinema 4D. The benchmark run is 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
Intel Core i5-12600K Intel Core i5-12600K
10C 16T @ 4.90 GHz
909 (100%)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
6C 12T @ 5.30 GHz
885 (97%)

Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Intel Core i5-12600K Intel Core i5-12600K
10C 16T @ 4.90 GHz
1918 (97%)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
6C 12T @ 5.30 GHz
1976 (100%)

Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Intel Core i5-12600K Intel Core i5-12600K
10C 16T @ 4.50 GHz
17660 (100%)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
6C 12T @ 5.30 GHz
15315 (87%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Single-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Intel Core i5-12600K Intel Core i5-12600K
10C 16T @ 4.90 GHz
1854 (84%)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
6C 12T @ 5.30 GHz
2197 (100%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Intel Core i5-12600K Intel Core i5-12600K
10C 16T @ 4.50 GHz
11912 (100%)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
6C 12T @ 5.30 GHz
11874 (100%)

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The single-core benchmark only evaluates the performance of the fastest CPU core, the number of CPU cores in a processor is irrelevant here.
Intel Core i5-12600K Intel Core i5-12600K
10C 16T @ 4.90 GHz
2472 (87%)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
6C 12T @ 5.30 GHz
2846 (100%)

Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The multi-core benchmark evaluates the performance of all of the processor's CPU cores. Virtual thread improvements such as AMD SMT or Intel's Hyper-Threading have a positive impact on the benchmark result.
Intel Core i5-12600K Intel Core i5-12600K
10C 16T @ 4.50 GHz
11991 (94%)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
6C 12T @ 5.30 GHz
12714 (100%)

Cinebench R20 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Intel Core i5-12600K Intel Core i5-12600K
10C 16T @ 4.90 GHz
741 (98%)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
6C 12T @ 5.30 GHz
759 (100%)

Cinebench R20 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Intel Core i5-12600K Intel Core i5-12600K
10C 16T @ 4.50 GHz
6702 (100%)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
6C 12T @ 5.30 GHz
5989 (89%)

iGPU - FP32 Performance (Single-precision GFLOPS)

The theoretical computing performance of the internal graphics unit of the processor with simple accuracy (32 bit) in GFLOPS. GFLOPS indicates how many billion floating point operations the iGPU can perform per second.
Intel Core i5-12600K Intel Core i5-12600K
Intel UHD Graphics 770 @ 1.45 GHz
742 (100%)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
AMD Radeon Graphics (Raphael) @ 2.20 GHz
563 (76%)

Blender 3.1 Benchmark

In the Blender Benchmark 3.1, the scenes "monster", "junkshop" and "classroom" are rendered and the time required by the system is measured. In our benchmark we test the CPU and not the graphics card. Blender 3.1 was presented as a standalone version in March 2022.
Intel Core i5-12600K Intel Core i5-12600K
10C 16T @ 4.50 GHz
249 (100%)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
6C 12T @ 5.30 GHz
235 (94%)

Estimated results for PassMark CPU Mark

Some of the CPUs listed below have been benchmarked by CPU-monkey. However the majority of CPUs have not been tested and the results have been estimated by a CPU-monkey’s secret proprietary formula. As such they do not accurately reflect the actual Passmark CPU mark values and are not endorsed by PassMark Software Pty Ltd.
Intel Core i5-12600K Intel Core i5-12600K
10C 16T @ 4.50 GHz
27830 (96%)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
6C 12T @ 5.30 GHz
28953 (100%)

Cinebench R15 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Intel Core i5-12600K Intel Core i5-12600K
10C 16T @ 4.90 GHz
274 (88%)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
6C 12T @ 5.30 GHz
313 (100%)

Cinebench R15 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Intel Core i5-12600K Intel Core i5-12600K
10C 16T @ 4.50 GHz
2596 (100%)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
6C 12T @ 5.30 GHz
2510 (97%)

CPU performance per watt (efficiency)

Efficiency of the processor under full load in the Cinebench R23 (multi-core) benchmark. The benchmark result is divided by the average energy required (CPU package power in watts). The higher the value, the more efficient the CPU is under full load.
Intel Core i5-12600K Intel Core i5-12600K
17,660 CB R23 MC @ 115 W
154 (100%)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
15,315 CB R23 MC @ 103 W
149 (97%)

CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (Single-Core)

The CPU-Z benchmark measures a processor's performance by measuring the time it takes the system to complete all benchmark calculations. The faster the benchmark is completed, the higher the score.
Intel Core i5-12600K Intel Core i5-12600K
10C 16T @ 4.50 GHz
766 (100%)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
6C 12T @ 5.30 GHz
0 (0%)

CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (Multi-Core)

The CPU-Z benchmark measures a processor's performance by measuring the time it takes the system to complete all benchmark calculations. The faster the benchmark is completed, the higher the score.
Intel Core i5-12600K Intel Core i5-12600K
10C 16T @ 3.70 GHz
5540 (100%)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
6C 12T @ 4.70 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Intel Core i5-12600K AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
Unknown Unknown

News and articles for the Intel Core i5-12600K and the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X

Why the new AMD Ryzen 7000 processors for the AM5 socket are currently not a good deal
Why the new AMD Ryzen 7000 processors for the AM5 socket are currently not a good deal
Posted by Stefan on 2022-10-11
At the end of September 2022, the time had come: AMD presented its latest desktop processors called AMD Ryzen 7000. Initially, 4 processors with 6 to 16 CPU cores were released.

The new socket AM5 (LGA 1718) is used for the first time, which is intended to replace the very durable socket AM4 introduced in 2017 as AMDs mainstream platform. This includes (depending on the chipset) PCIe 5.0 support as well as the exclusive use of DDR5 memory on all AM5 mainboards.

Officially, DDR5-5200 is the maximum, but with AMDs EXPO Technology which is similar to Intel's XMP 3.0, AMD now also has a solution for easy overclocking of the main memory. AMD itself names DDR5-6000 as the sweet spot for the new AMD Ryzen 7000 processors.
The evolution of AMD Ryzen processors
The evolution of AMD Ryzen processors
Posted by Stefan on 2022-09-06
The AMD Ryzen processors are designed for the mid to high-end range and are grouped into the Ryzen 3, Ryzen 5, Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 9 classes. AMD follows the market leader Intel, which groups its Core i series (Intel Core i3, Core i5, Core i7 and Core i9) identically.

The AMD Ryzen processors were first introduced by AMD in Q1 2017. They are the successor to the not particularly successful AMD Bulldozer processors. The latter were manufactured using an outdated manufacturing process and could not keep up with the competing products from Intel. AMD lost a large portion of its desktop processor market share during this period.
AMD Ryzen 7000 and Intel Core i 13 Gen at almost 6 GHz clock speed
AMD Ryzen 7000 and Intel Core i 13 Gen at almost 6 GHz clock speed
Posted by Stefan on 2022-08-29
In September, both AMD and Intel are introducing their new mainstream desktop processors. It doesn't seem to have been as close as this year for a long time, leaked benchmarks of the new top models from AMD and Intel point to a head-to-head race.

This year even the 6 GHz clock limit is almost within reach. With a good cooler and some overclocking it should be possible to reach the 6 GHz limit. But even in series production, the manufacturers try to realize the highest possible clock frequency, at least on one core.

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