Intel Core i5-10600K review: The most affordable gaming CPU today

In the product launch last May, besides the Core i9-10900K, which occupies most of the focus of technology pages, Intel also sent to the i5-10600K media in the press kit. It is also obvious that the i5 series of CPUs do not pay as much attention as the i7 or later i9 because they are shaped for the mid-high-end personal computer market. However, not so that the attraction of this CPU line is inferior to its seniors. Even, i5-10600K can be considered one of the most interesting CPUs in dozens of Intel Core i Comet Lake-S 10-generation CPUs.

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Continuing the tradition of the Core i5, i5-10600K CPUs towards the user with a reasonable budget and know what they need. The difference between the i5-10600K and i7-10700K is about $ 100, a number that many people can take advantage of to upgrade the graphics card, for a better gaming experience. 

One of the points that makes the 10th generation Core i5 in general and i5-10600K in particular become much more attractive than the previous generation is the return of HyperThreading hyperthreading feature. Now, the i5 CPUs will be configured with 6 cores 12 threads instead of 6 cores 6 threads like i5-9600K. As a result, the multitasking performance of this CPU has been greatly improved, ready to compete with rivals on the other side of the battlefield and even competitors in the higher segment thanks to the superior clock speed.

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The above configuration is reused from the i9-10900K review, so it looks a bit redundant, "overkill". In fact, the mainboard to pair with the i5-10600K will just be a mid-range Z490 with VRM of about 6-8 phases, just enough to slightly overclock. In addition, I also consider the i5-10600K to be an ideal choice for SFF compact configurations using an ITX form motherboard.

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With HyperThreading, with 12 threads, the rendering performance of i5-10600K has been completely improved compared to its predecessor i5-9600K. As a result, in the typical Cinebench R20 test, which is very popular for measuring single and multi-core performance as well as testing the stability of the system, the single-core and multi-core scores of the i5-10600K are even higher. slightly more than rival Ryzen 5 3600X. 

Please note that while the score is similar, Intel Core and AMD Ryzen 3000 have a considerable distance in technology, one side uses the 14nm process while the other uses 7nm. That is to say, even though it is somewhat old, Intel's technology is still enough to make the opponent be wary.

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Meanwhile, the Blender score of i5-10600K surprised results when faster than Ryzen 5 3600X when rendering BMW files and slower in the Classroom file. In terms of pure performance through tests like CPU-Z, Geekbench, 3DMark, thanks to the higher clock rate than the opponent, the i5-10600K easily scores higher, even surpassing up to 15%.

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Thanks to a higher clock rate of about 0.4GHz compared to the single-core boost and multi-core boost, Core i5-10600K easily surpasses the opponent in gaming performance when tested. Higher average FPS and 1% low FPS than the competition will help ensure a smoother user experience. Not only that, in poorly optimized games like PUBG, the average FPS of i5-10600K is even on par with competitors in the upper range like Ryzen 7 3700X. FPS is the most powerful evidence that even though the technology is up to 5 years old, Intel still has the ability to cause difficulties, even surpassing in the ability to play games compared to rivals. This is a big surprise, especially in the context of semiconductor technology still has great leaps every year.

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In terms of temperature, with only 6 processing cores, the temperature of i5-10600K is handled very well. In the 10th generation Core i, flattening the silicon base and increasing the thickness of the IHS thermal pad helped greatly in controlling the operating temperature. When operating with a standard clock in the air conditioner of 25 degrees Celsius, the temperature of the highest i5-10600K also did not touch 70 degrees C when dissipated with AIO 240mm and TDP at 89W only. The TDP level when the CPU is at idle is only 36 degrees Celsius. If there is no need for overclocking, the i5-10600K can be cooled by popular heat sinks or low profile low profile heaters for compact cases. SFF.

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Thanks to the heat generated during the relatively modest operation, users still have about 30 degrees Celsius to be able to easily overclock for i5-10600K. In this review, with the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility overclocking tool, the i5-10600K can easily reach 4.9 GHz all core and temperatures below 80 degrees Celsius. 150W, slightly higher than the published 125W rating. This slight overclocking makes it easy for users to get around 10% more performance.

To sum up, the i5-10600K may be considered the most interesting CPU in Intel's recently released Comet Lake-S CPU line. Equipped with 6 cores and 12 threads with high clock speed makes this CPU easily touch the "sweet spot" of gaming configurations equipped with NVIDIA RTX 2070 or AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT and above. Not to mention, the well-controlled operating temperature also helps the i5-10600K can be used for compact ITX configurations. If you are in need of building a configuration for gaming, the 10-generation Core i5 in general and i5-10600K in particular will be the most optimal choice on the market today, ready to race gaming performance with both Rivals on the price range.

Advantages:
-Good gaming performance
-Cool operation
-Easy to overclock

Disadvantages:
-Still stomping at process 14n