Custom PC - UK (2020-08)

(butnotall)witha 1.35Vvcore.We
reinedinthevcoreto1.32Vforthe5.1GHz
clockspeed,whichwasslightlyhigherthan
weneededwiththe10-corepart,buttheCPUran
cooler,rarelytopping80°Cunderfullloadwithour
water-cooledtestbench.
Intermsofperformance,thelowlystockspeedfrequencies
sawtheCorei5lagbehindtheCorei9-10900Kinmosttests,
sittingmorethan4,000pointsshortinourimageeditingtest,
butit performedsimilarlytotheRyzen5 3700XandRyzen
5 3600X.Inourheavilymulti-threadedHandbrakevideo
encodingtest,itsscoreof448,350wasjustbehindtheRyzen
5 3600X,buttheRyzen5 3700Xrecorded577,540.
Onceoverclocked,though,theIntelCPUbetteredevery
AMDCPUintheimageeditingtest,aswellastheRyzen 5
3600Xinthevideoencodingtest,butit stillfailedtocome
closetomatchingtheRyzen7 3700Xwithitseightcores
and16 threads.
Cinebench revealed a similar situation, where AMD CPUs
were far better value at stock speed, but the Intel CPU wasn’t
too far away from the Ryzen 7 3700X once it was overclocked,
and came close to matching the Core i7-9700K too. It also
gained a massive 1,000 points over the Core i5-9600K
here at 3,859 compared to 2,875, which shows the potential
benefits of Hyper-Threading. In both Handbrake and the
multi-threaded Cinebench test, the Core i5-10600K was also
slightly quicker than the older Core i7-8700K.
Where the Core i5-10600K really excels is games. It
matched the Core i9-10900K in Metro Exodus at 1080p and
added 5 per cent to the stock speed 99th percentile minimum
frame rate of the Ryzen 7 3700X. Overclocking yielded little
here, but it really helped in Far Cry New Dawn, where the 99th
percentile minimum frame rate rose from 90fps to 96fps. This
compares to a peak of 87fps with the Ryzen 7 3700X, which
was even slower at stock speed.
Meanwhile, power consumption peaked at 157W at stock
speed and just under 200W when overclocked in our test
system, which was actually the same as the stock speed

draw from our Ryzen 5

3600X system. The Core

i5-10600K is relatively power-

frugal and easy to cool compared

with Intel’s 8-core and 10-core models.

Conclusion

The Core i5-10600K is a clear demonstration

that Intel should have added Hyper-Threading

to its cheaper CPUs years ago – it would

have made the likes of the Core i5-9600K

far more attractive outside of gaming. The

massive boost to various multi-threaded

scores compared with the Core i5-9600K

means that the latest Core i5 is a great

all-rounder. It’s far more potent in multi-

threaded tasks than its predecessor, and it

keeps up with the monstrous Core i9-10900K in games too,

edging out noticeable leads over all AMD CPUs.

It’s at its best when overclocked, though, so you’ll need

to factor in a reasonable CPU cooler as well as a Z490

motherboard. While some had niggles overclocking the Core

i9-10900K, the Core i5-10600K will be a far easier customer

when it comes to tweaking voltages and frequencies.

Ultimately, the Core i5-10600K is a great CPU if you’re

building a new reasonably priced gaming rig, and you want

the fastest frame rates but can’t afford the Core i9. It also

packs a punch in multi-threaded performance, but if the

latter makes up most of your workload, the Ryzen 7 3700X

remains a better buy.

ANTONY LEATHER

VERDICT

Great performance in games and decent multi-threaded

grunt – the Core i5 K series is finally delivering on

expectations again.

OVERALLSCORE

86 %%

PERFORMANCE

42 / 50

FEATURES

12 / 15

VALUE

32 / 35

S P E C

Base frequency

4.1GHz

Max boost frequency

4.8GHz

Core

Comet Lake

Manufacturing process

14nm

Number of cores

6 x physical (12 threads)

Hyper-Threading

Ye s

Cache

12MB L3 cache, 6 x 256KB L2 cache

Memory controller

Dual-channel DDR4, up to

2666MHz

Packaging

LGA1200

Thermal design power (TDP)

125W

Features

Turbo Boost 2, FMA3, F16C, SHA, BMI

/ BMI1 + BMI2, AVX-512, AVX2, AVX,

AES, SSE4a, SSE4, SSSE3, SSE3,

SSE2, SSE, MMX