Intel Core i5-13600K Desktop Processor 14 cores (6 P-cores + 8 E-cores) 24M Cache, up to 5.1 GHz

Product Information

And while the rated 125W TDP for the i5-13600K remains the same as with the 12600K, it pulls substantially more power under load than its predecessor in my tests, so plan your build accordingly. The way the 13600K vs 13700K breaks down is that the i5-13600K is a more mainstream processor meant for everyday use, basic to moderate productivity, light media editing (like working with family photos and video), and moderate gaming. All in all, the Core i5-14600K did exactly as we expected in testing, matching the Core i5-13600K in almost every way. However, the difference is so slim as to leave us questioning why we would recommend it over the previous generation. We can’t really see any advantage to owning the Core i5-14600K over the Core i5-13600K, and we actually can see some disadvantages to it. While the 13600K has the lowest minimum power draw of the three chips tested with 1.973W (an 18% lower power consumption than the 12600K's minimum of 2.415W), it also maxes out at an astonishing 204.634W, which is about 83% more power to achieve a roughly 40% better performance. The big concern we have here: The climbing price of Core i5 processors will also likely mean budget-friendly options released further down the road will also cost more. This is a trend we have seen far too much of in recent years, and Intel certainly isn’t alone here, but that doesn’t counter our disappointment at this generational price increase.

Processors that support 64-bit computing on Intel® architecture require an Intel 64 architecture-enabled BIOS. Intel processor numbers are not a measure of performance. Processor numbers differentiate features within each processor family, not across different processor families. See http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/processor-numbers.html for details.

In terms of core counts, the i5-13600K doubles the efficiency cores over the i5-12600K, for a total of 14 cores and 20 threads to the i5-12600K's 10 cores and 16 thread. This is also substantially more than the Ryzen 5 7600X, which is a straight six-core/12-thread chip with all its cores being full-power performance cores. Intel classifications are for general, educational and planning purposes only and consist of Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCN) and Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) numbers. Any use made of Intel classifications are without recourse to Intel and shall not be construed as a representation or warranty regarding the proper ECCN or HTS. Your company as an importer and/or exporter is responsible for determining the correct classification of your transaction.

The Intel Core i7-13700K, meanwhile, is meant for more professional users who have more taxing workloads like professional designers, video editors, 3D modelers, and program developers. Gamers are also major targets for the 13700K, since many games require a lot of computational power at a fairly constant rate for long stretches of time, something very few other apps demand. AMD’s Ryzen 9 and Ryzen 7 chips might have handily undercut their Core i9 and Core i7 competitors in terms of power consumption, but Intel’s Core i5 processors put up a respectable fight against the Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 CPUs. This chip also draws 65% more power than the Core i5-12600K for a roughly 25% better performance. These are hardly signs of efficiency, and it continues the exact wrong trend we saw with Intel Alder Lake. For comparison, the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X has a max power draw of 211.483W, and its 3D V-Cache variant has an incredibly tight 136.414W power draw in my AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D review. Intel's relative price increase with the Core i5-13600K is unwelcome. But we’ve run our tests and cannot deny that the Core i5-13600K still offers exceptional performance for what you pay. Sure, it isn't as fast as the Core i9-13900K or the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X in CPU tests (those flagships have a big core-count advantage), but in games with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080—or anything weaker. really—it is more than a match for these two higher-end CPUs. In the end, the Core i5-13600K outperforms the Ryzen 5 7600X by about 40%, while improving on the Core i5-12600K's performance by about 25%. As far as bottom line results go, this would make this processor a slam dunk, but one thing keeps this chip from true greatness: its power consumption.These wins, however, were slim, and the Core i5-14600K and the Core i5-13600K tied for first place against the faster and more expensive competition in all of the other tests. This suggests that so long as you have a graphics card on the level of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 or anything slower, you really have no need to buy any of these faster and more costly processors for gaming and gaming alone. They're mainly relevant from a pure-gaming perspective if you're trying to compete in the upper echelon of esports with a high-refresh monitor and a top-end video card like the GeForce RTX 4090. (Of course, you might want the extra CPU horsepower for other non-gaming tasks, which is a whole other matter.) The Core i5-14600K and the Core i5-13600K will do just fine. So with that breakdown laid out, if you're looking for something for more casual use on the family PC or you need a new processor for light to moderate business work like data entry or accounting work, the i5-13600K should be more than enough for your needs.

For as long as I can remember, I've had love of all things tech, spurred on, in part, by a love of gaming. I began working on computers owned by immediate family members and relatives when I was around 10 years old. I've always sought to learn as much as possible about anything PC, leading to a well-rounded grasp on all things tech today. In my role at PCMag, I greatly enjoy the opportunity to share what I know. Is this a dealbreaker? Not yet, but if Intel thinks it can keep the top spot by just keeping its foot on the gas while AMD is making real investments in power efficiency within a single generation of processors, this won't be good for Intel in the long run. While Intel Meteor Lake chips still use the same 10nm "Intel 7" process as the previous 12th-gen Alder Lake chips, the 13th-gen chips improve on the previous architecture in a number of key ways.

Verdict: A Core i5 That's New in Name Only

Considering that the Intel Core i9-13900K didn't get a price increase over its 12th-gen counterpart, the price hike here is probably the biggest disappointment with this chip. Enthusiast users are used to spending the extra money to have the best right out the gate, so they could absorb some of the price inflation rather than let it fall squarely on the one chip that most people are going to use. Given this information, it seemed likely that these processors would trade places, depending on the test, but instead the Core i5-13600K performs better in every test. It doesn't win by a wide margin in some tests, but it does win. The Core i5-12600K, for its part, was left in the dust, and the Core i5-13600K even manages to perform slightly better than the 16-core Ryzen 9 7950X in a few tests. (That said, the Core i5 lost to the 16-core/32-thread Ryzen 9 7950X badly in most tests, as you'd expect.) See http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/hyper-threading/hyper-threading-technology.html?wapkw=hyper+threading for more information including details on which processors support Intel® HT Technology. Overall, the Core i5 shows excellent power consumption readings during our tests. It peaks at 471W during our Adobe Premiere test, which is the lowest of any of the CPUs we tested for comparison. Intel's Core i5 pulls slightly more power in the Cinebench test than the competing Ryzen 7 7700X, but it also performs slightly better in that test, which makes this a rather mixed result. Given this information, it seemed likely that these processors would trade places, depending on the test, but instead the Core i5-13600K performs better in every test. It doesn't win by a wide margin in some tests, but it does win. The Core i5-12600K, for its part, was left in the dust,and the Core i5-13600K even manages to perform slightly better than the 16-core Ryzen 9 7950X in a few tests. (That said, the Core i5 lost to the 16-core/32-thread Ryzen 9 7950X badly in most tests, as you'd expect.)