A Brief Note on Intel Core i5 13600K
Traditionally, the Intel high-end Core i9 and Core i7 CPUs are expensive and popular among professionals who primarily use them for multi-threaded productivity applications. Gamers generally don’t need very high core count or outstanding multithreading performance. This is where the likes of Intel Core i5 13600K come into picture. With reasonably good core count (total 14 cores) and support for overclocking, the 13600K continues to lead the mid-range gaming CPUs.
Architecture
Continuing the Hybrid Architecture from the 12th Gen Alder Lake processors, the Intel Core i5 13600K consists of 6 Performance (P) Cores and 8 Efficiency (E) Cores. The performance cores support hyper threading but the efficiency cores don’t. So, the 6P + 8E Core 13600K supports 20 threads. This configuration is significantly better than the previous gen’s equivalent CPU, the Intel Core i5 12600K processor as it has only 4 Efficiency (E) Cores. The microarchitecture of the 13th Gen CPUs are the updated Raptor Cove P Cores and Gracemont E Cores. Under the hood, the “Raptor Cove” cores have a 15% single-threaded performance gain when compared with the previous gen’s “Golden Cove” cores. The E cores are same for both 12th Gen and 13th Gen CPUs. The base clock speed of the P and E Cores of 13600K are 3.5 GHz and 2.6 GHz respectively. This is lower than the 3.7 GHz and 2.8 GHz of the 12600K. But the turbo clock has seen a significant bump. For the 12600K, the turbo clocks of P and E Cores are 4.9 GHz and 3.6 GHz respectively. But for 13600K, there is roughly a 5% boost in the turbo clock of the P Core at 5.1 GHz and a 9% boost in the E Core at 3.9 GHz. Intel made the 13th gen Raptor Lake processors using the same LGA 1700 Socket as the 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs. So, if you have a decent motherboard, then the upgrade cost will be less.
Memory and Cache
The Intel Core i5 13600K CPU supports both DDR4 and DDR5 RAM types in dual channel mode. While the DDR4 frequency is same as 12th gen’s DDR4-3200, DDR5 saw a huge improvement with support for DDR5-5600 (12th Gen maxed out at DDR5-4800). Support for DDR4 means, you don’t need to make a significant investment, if you already own a decent DDR4 RAM kit. But the industry is moving towards DDR5 and the cost of DDR5 RAM kits is slowly coming down. The main change between the 12th Gen Alder Lake processors and the 13th Gen Raptor Lake processors is in the implementation of the Cache. Each P core of the 13600K Processor gets 2 MB L2 Cache (this was only 1.25 MB for 12th Gen Processors). One module of E cores gets 4 MB L2 Cache (again a huge bump from only 2 MB per module for 12th Gen). If you aren’t familiar with the E Core modules, Intel grouped four E Cores into a cluster that share the L2 cache. So, in 13600K, you get 8 MB for eight E Cores. This makes the total L2 Cache of 13600K at 20 MB. It also has 24 MB L3 Cache, which is common for all the cores.
PCIe and Power
The Intel Core i5 13600K processor has 20 PCIe lanes from the CPU. Of these, 16 are PCIe Gen 5 while the remaining 4 are Gen 4. The final configuration of the PCIe lanes will depend on the motherboard you select and the corresponding chipset. Similar to the Alder Lake processors, even the 13th Gen Raptor Lake processors are fabricated using the “Intel 7”. Even though Intel calls it “Intel 7”, it is technically a 10 nm node. The base processor power of Intel Core i5 13600K CPU is 125W while the maximum turbo power is 181W.
Specifications of Intel Core i5 13600K
Intel Core i5 13600K Review
Now that we have seen some basic information about the 13600K, let us proceed with the review of the Intel Core i5 13600K processor. We will see the benchmark results for synthetic applications, mainstream applications, and games. We will also see some numbers regarding the thermals and power consumption. (6 * 2 MB = 12 MB) 4 MB per E Core Module (2 * 4 MB = 8 MB) 4 PCIe 4.0 Lanes
Test System
We will be testing the Intel Core i5 13600K CPU against similar tier processors from both Intel and AMD. Before we begin, here is a quick look at our Intel and AMD test systems.
Application Benchmarks
Cinebench R23 Multi-Core (Higher is Better)
Let us start with the most popular benchmark tool, the Cinebench R23. After the 10-minute multicore loop test, we got a score of just over 24000 points. If we compare this with the Intel Core i7 13700K, then the performance of the Intel Core i5 13600K is roughly 20% less. But if you compare the performance of Intel Core i5 13600K and AMD Ryzen 7 7700X, then the former boasts a 20% performance improvement.
Cinebench R23 Single-Core (Higher is Better)
Coming to the single core performance in the Cinebench R23, the story has a twist. The single-core performance of the Intel Core i5 13600K is very similar to that of the Intel Core i7 13700K and the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X. An interesting thing here is the single core performance of the Intel Core i5 13600K is similar to the previous generation’s flagship from Intel, the Core i9 12900K.
PassMark’s CPUMARK 10.2 Multi-Threaded/Overall (Higher is Better)
Next, we have another popular benchmark tool from PassMark, the CPU Mark. The following results show the overall or multi-threaded CPU Mark Score of all the processors in this test. The story is similar to the Cinebench Multi-threading test. Here the Intel Core i5 13600K scores just over 40000 points. The performance gap between the Intel Core i7 13700K and the Intel Core i5 13600K is roughly 23% in favor of the former. However, Intel Core i5 13600K shows a 7% better performance than the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X.
PassMark’s CPUMARK 10.2 Single-Threaded (Higher is Better)
Coming to the single threaded performance in CPU Mark, the results are surprising as the Intel Core i5 13600K falls significantly short in front of the Intel Core i7 13700K. The Intel Core i5 13600K could only score just over 4200 points while the Intel Core i7 13700K score over 4400 points.
Blender Open Data Render Time (Lower is Better)
Another popular open-source tool is Blender. For the next couple of tests, we will see the render times and number of samples per minute in Blender version 3.4. The Intel Core i5 13600K took 40 seconds over 9 minutes while Intel Core i7 13700K took just 10 seconds over 8 minutes.
Blender Samples Per Minute (Higher is Better)
The results for number of samples in a minute for Blender Render is also very similar to the render time results. Here you can see the samples per minute score across the three test scenes: monster, junkshop, and classroom.
Adobe Photoshop 2022 Puget System Benchmark (Higher is Better)
The Adobe suite has a couple of important tools that many creators and artists use. We will start with the Adobe Photoshop 2022. It has a built-in Puget System Standard Benchmark. If you look at the overall scores, the Intel Core i5 13600K falls significantly short in front of the Intel Core i7 13700K and even the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X.
Adobe Premier Pro 2022 Puget System Benchmark (Higher is Better)
Next application in the Adobe suite is the Premier Pro 2022. In this test, the Intel Core i5 13600K makes a comeback as it scores just shy of 1100 points. This is 100 points more than the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X and 100 points less than the Intel Core i7 13700K.
7-Zip File Manager Compression (Higher is Better)
One of the popular and widely used open-source applications is the 7-Zip File Manager. It helps in archiving files. For this test, we are performing the built-in benchmark feature. Here is the result in million instructions per second (MIPS) for compressing using a standards 32 MB dictionary size and 10 passes.
7-Zip File Manager Decompression (Higher is Better)
In decompression, the AMD Ryzen CPUs dominate the charts with AMD Ryzen 7 7700X comfortably beating the Intel Core i5 13600K.
Chromium Code Compilation Time (Lower is Better)
Developers working on large projects need a stable multi-threaded system with a powerful CPU. So, we tested the code compilation performance by taking the open-source Chromium project code. The performance of Intel Core i5 13600K is not that great as it could finish the compilation in just over 69 minutes. Even the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X compiled in less time.
Corona 1.3 Render Time (Lower is Better)
The last “application” benchmark is the Corona 1.3, which is a high-quality shading engine for production rendering. Let us now see the rendering time of different Intel and AMD CPUs.
Gaming Benchmarks
Let us move to some gaming performance. We tested some popular titles at a resolution of 1920 × 1080 (1080p) as anything beyond, the GPU will dominate the performance. We are running all the games in DirectX 12 with Ray Tracing and DLSS off.
Far Cry 6
Resolution: 1920 × 1080 DirectX 12 Game Setting: Ultra DirectX Raytracing: Off
The first game is Far Cry 6. Here, the Intel Core i5 13600K shows its dominance over AMD counterparts (except the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D). Here are the rounded off average frames and also 1% low fps.
Cyberpunk 2077
Resolution: 1920 × 1080 DirectX 12 Game Setting: Ultra Texture: High Ray Tracing: Off DLSS: Off
Next, we have another popular title, Cyberpunk 2077. The story is the same, where current gen Intel CPUs can pump over 140 fps on average while the Ryzen 7000 Series CPUs struggle to push past 130 fps.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Resolution: 1920 × 1080 DirectX 12 Game Setting: High DLSS: Off
Last but not least, we tested the Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Both the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X and the Intel Core i5 13600K have a similar performance that is very close to the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X but ultimately less than the Intel Core i7 13700K. What surprised in this game is the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D beating all the current gen Intel and AMD flagships. Based on this result, we are very excited to get our hands on the upcoming Ryzen 7000 Series CPUs with 3D V-Cache.
Clock Speed
We ran the AIDA64 Stress Test for 10 minutes and here are the maximum frequency and average frequency of all cores.
CPU Temperature
During the same AIDA64 Stress Test, we monitored the CPU Temperatures with Corsair iCUE H150i RGB Elite Liquid CPU Cooler. Here are the CPU temps for your reference.
Power Consumption
During the Blender render, we measured the CPU Package Power Draw using the HWiNFO tool. The following table consists of the peak CPU Package Power Draw as reported by HWiNFO.
Final Verdict
With a retail price of $319 and the performance it offers, the Intel Core i5 13600K is one of the best gaming CPUs from Intel. It is definitely a better option both in terms of price and gaming performance if you compare with the expensive Intel Core i7 13700K and AMD Ryzen 9 7900X. The thermals of the Intel Core i5 13600K is a concern. It runs hotter than the Intel Core i7 13700K and way hotter than all AMD Ryzen CPUs. But the advantage of the Raptor Lake CPUs from Intel is it still supports DDR4 Memory. Overall, we are impressed with the price and gaming performance of the Intel Core i5 13600K. It is one of the best (if not the best) bank for the buck gaming CPU in the market right now. Comment * Name * Email * Website
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