This year, the small partners who pay attention to the digital circle have lamented that the 12th generation of Core processors can be described as "toothpaste squeezing" in performance. The Core i5-12600KF and i5-12600K processors for the mainstream market occupy many DIY installation recommendations with the best-in-class gaming performance at the same price and competitive price. It can be said that in the price of two thousand dollars to choose the game processor, i5-12600KF and i5-12600K are undoubtedly the first choice.
So what are the differences between the two processors? In terms of paper specifications, the Core i5-12600KF and the Core i5-12600K parameters are basically the same, but there is no kernel display, and the two are basically the same in theoretical performance and game performance.
If you are a small white who does not understand the computer, perhaps you will still have some entanglements in your heart to choose "blue team" or "red team". This time, we use the Core i5-12600K processor to directly test several recently launched new games to see how the 12th generation of Core mainstream models actually perform.
Before the actual test, first of all, let's understand a wave, why this generation of Core performance improvement is so great.
Performance-Core Performance Core
Efficient-Core Energy Efficiency Core
This generation of Intel Core processor first has a major change in architecture, from the previous pure performance core architecture, to the performance core + energy efficiency core combination of high-performance hybrid architecture, this architecture changed the scheduling mechanism of the previous processor, with the addition of energy efficiency core, the performance core can focus on the main performance tasks such as games, energy efficiency core is to provide multi-threaded performance and background task processing, so that the processor performance during the game is further improved.
On the i5-12600K, it is precisely this high-performance hybrid architecture, with more core count and multi-threaded performance than conventional processors in the past, it has 6 performance cores, the maximum turbo frequency can reach 4.9GHz, and 4 energy efficiency cores, the maximum turbo frequency can reach 3.6Ghz, a total of 10 cores and 16 threads. In addition, it is equipped with a large capacity of 20MB L3 cache, which effectively improves the responsiveness of the processor.
12th generation Core can not only bring powerful game performance, but also perform well in power consumption, under the blessing of Intel 7 process + high-performance architecture, even under the specifications of 10 cores and 16 threads, i5-12600K can also be maintained at 125W TDP, that is to say, a hundred-yuan air-cooled radiator can meet the heat dissipation needs, considering that the load during the game is relatively light, it is more friendly for players in the choice of radiator.
12th generation Core-K series family
Finally, the specifications of the i5-12600K processor has also been improved, first of all, the use of Intel 7 process technology, support for PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 memory (compatible with DDR4), with the latest Z690 motherboard, bringing a wider range of device/storage expansion capabilities.
From the parameter point of view, it is obvious that the Core i5-12600K is very tempting. In the previous PConline's first review, the theoretical performance of the Core i5-12600K did not disappoint, and all of them performed well. Of course, considering the actual market positioning, I believe that more players are more concerned about the game performance of core i5-12600K, and today's PConline evaluation room will also test this.
Test platform parameter information
In terms of test platform, in order to maximize the performance of the i5-12600K processor, we chose a set of Z690 motherboard + DDR5-4800 memory + RTX 3090 graphics card test platform.
Game performance comparison
Next, we officially entered the game test, and we selected several representative games to test, including the recent hits "Eldon's Circle of Law", "Ghost Line: Tokyo" and "God of War 4"; the more popular first-person shooter competitive games "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive", "Rainbow Six: Siege"; and "Cyberpunk 2077", "Metro: Departure" Enhanced Edition, "Red Dead Redemption 2" and so on with high hardware requirements.
In order to maximize the load pressure of the processor and fully reflect the performance of the processor during the game, in the test, the game resolution is set to 1920×1080, all of which are the highest image quality, and the vertical synchronization is turned off, and the game without its own Benchmark will use MSI Afterburner for frame number recording.
The first is the recent very popular role-playing game "Eldon's Ring of Law", the game itself sets the frame limit to 60 frames, after some "special" means to unlock, you can release the 60 frame limit.
After 20 minutes of live game play, the average game frame rate of the Core i5-12600K platform is 125.3 frames, of which the minimum average frame of 1% is 84.4 frames, maintaining a good frame rate stability in the game.
In the game process, the CPU maintains a high frequency of nearly 4.5Ghz throughout the process, and the power consumption performance is also quite impressive, and the power consumption of the CPU is maintained at about 60W, which proves that under the blessing of high-performance hybrid architecture, the game performance of i5-12600K is quite good.
Next is also the most popular first-person action game recently, the style of the more terrifying "Ghost Line: Tokyo", because the map is mostly box-like design, there is not much load pressure on the hardware, after 20 minutes of game play, the average frame rate of the Core i5-12600K platform is 185.4 frames.
The host platform ported to the PC side of the classic masterpiece "God of War 4", compared to the host, "God of War 4" on the PC side of the picture quality has obviously improved, but for this test platform pressure is not very large, after 20 minutes of game play, the average frame rate of the Core i5-12600K platform is 136.1 frames, the highest can reach nearly 200 frames, the frame rate fluctuations are also quite stable.
The classic FPS game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, set to the highest quality, select the map FPS Benchmark map scene in the Workshop for testing, the average frame rate of the Core i5-12600K platform is 670.25FPS.
Rainbow Six: Siege, set to the highest quality, runs the in-game benchmark scene, the average frame rate of the Core i5-12600K platform is 519FPS, and the minimum frame rate is very stable.
The famous "hardware killer" Cyberpunk 2077 uses real-time ray-traced reflections, shadows, global illumination, diffuse illumination and ambient occlusion to enhance the game's graphics, which requires a high hardware foundation to run in high quality.
Cyberpunk 2077 added a graphics benchmark after the 1.5 update, tested in 1080P resolution preset "Super" quality, and the Core i5-12600K platform can achieve an average of 105.35 frames.
Tomb Raider: Shadow is a classic AAA game with a high degree of recognition and often appears in reviews in various media outlets. The test is set to the highest quality, ray tracing and DLSS are turned off, and the performance testing tools that come with the game run, with an average frame rate of 213FPS on the Core i5-12600K platform.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is an action-adventure open-world game released by Rockstar, and the hardware requirements are also very high. When testing, the image quality is set to the highest, running the performance detection tool that comes with the game, the average frame rate of the Core i5-12600K platform is 138.392FPS, and the minimum frame rate is also 98.9325FPS, which can also run smoothly.
Launched in 2021, The Subway: Gone Enhanced Edition further enhances the graphics performance compared to the original game, providing amazing ray-tracing effects, and of course, the hardware configuration requirements are also higher. The test quality is set to extremely high, DLSS is balanced mode, running the game's own performance detection tools, core i5-12600K platform average frame rate of 112.30FPS, once again withstood the test.
The well-known racing game "F1:2021", the screen is set to 1080P resolution, ultra-high picture quality, under the preset of The Chinese track and sunny weather environment, three circles of game frame rate test, the average frame rate of the Core i5-12600K platform can reach 191 frames, basically no pressure.
After a variety of games of the actual test, this set of core i5-12600K based game platform, the performance did not disappoint, in the running of high-quality games can achieve a smooth game experience, at the same time due to the 12th generation of Core high-performance core IPC significantly improved, giving the Core i5-12600K efficient and stable game performance, not only in the game operation continues to maintain a high frequency, and the power consumption performance is also quite eye-catching.
Specifically, in action games like Eldon's Circle of Law, Ghost Line: Tokyo, and God of War 4, the Core i5-12600K platform has a fairly stable frame rate fluctuation, providing players with a comfortable visual experience and operation experience; in FPS games such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Rainbow Six: Siege, the Core i5-12600K can provide ultra-high frame rates at the esports level to escort the high level of esports players; and in the face of FPS games like Cyberpunk 2077, "Rainbow Punk 2077", "Siege" Metro: Gone Enhanced Edition is a hardware killer game, the Core i5-12600K can also be well matched with the RTX 3090 graphics card, providing perfect graphics effects and smooth frame rate performance.
Summary: An ultra-cost-effective gaming processor
As a 12th generation of Core Alder Lake-S family for mainstream players model, after a variety of games of the actual test, Core i5-12600K game performance is indeed very powerful, with the overall improvement of the architecture and performance improvement, in the actual game test, Core i5-12600K whether running online games or AAA masterpieces, the performance is very outstanding, can meet all kinds of players stable, smooth, high frame rate game pursuit.
In addition, in terms of theoretical performance and productivity, the Core i5-12600K also has the same excellent performance performance and media rendering/export efficiency, the 12th generation Core equipped with a high-performance hybrid architecture, with Intel thread scheduling management, can intelligently assign work task priorities, important tasks to allocate performance core operation, light/multi-threaded tasks to energy efficiency core operation.
i5-12600K Theoretical and Productivity Performance Testing
Performance/energy efficiency core clusters are intelligently distributed to each other in synergy and have higher operational efficiency than traditional single performance core architectures, so the Core i5-12600K is also a high-quality choice for media creation productivity users.
Although the use of Core i5-12600K processor for testing, but considering the recent price of Core i5-12600KF is still quite fragrant, for the nuclear display is not particularly large demand, then you can consider a wave of Core i5-12600KF; its price is cheaper than the Core i5-12600K, considering that the player's host is mostly used with discrete graphics cards, Therefore, it is recommended that gamers use the Core i5-12600KF-based platform to build high-performance game consoles.
As for the installation of the "Blue Team" or "Red Team", the next generation of Zen 4 processors will use the new AM5 interface, then the choice of Zen 3 processors basically does not have much upgrade potential.
And the 12th generation Core in terms of gameplay and single-core performance is better, if you directly build a new platform, then it is still recommended on the 12th generation Core processor, in addition to the new technical support of PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 memory (also support DDR4 memory), B660/Z690 motherboards are also more advantageous in scalability.
According to official news, LGA-1700 supports 13th generation Core processors, the future upgrade to a new generation of Core is not a big problem, worried about Whether LGA-1700 can "fight the future" users, you can rest assured to buy.