The Core i5-12600K delivers very good performance under Windows 11 and is also future-proof. It is worthwhile for buyers who are building a completely new PC system.

I can still remember a question from my job interview at GameStar in 2013. It was asked by Daniel Visarius, the head of hardware at the time: Do you need a Core i7 for gaming? he wanted to know. As the review of the Core i5 12600K once again shows, the answer has not changed even nine years later and despite new Core i9 models (haha, how fitting!)...

The Intel Core i5-12600K performs well all round in the test and proves to be an excellent PC centrepiece for both everyday tasks and gaming. In many tests, it even beats its high-end predecessor, the i9-11900K, with lower power consumption. Last but not least, the price is convincing: at launch you pay only 329 euros - that's very reasonable for a top gaming CPU.

Intel brings a very pleasant, fresh wind to the CPU market with the new hybrid processors. It is the mixture of the P- and E-cores, PCI-Express 5.0 and DDR5 that looks very advanced at a stroke and is convincing on the page. However, Intel is now going the way of AMD in the summer of 2019: there is still no hardware that can take real advantage of the new PCI Express interface...

Well done: Intel's new Core i5-12600K and Core i9-12900K CPUs are far more than 30 per cent faster than their predecessors. The i9 even beats AMD's 750 euro Ryzen 9 5950X, but it can't compete with the wickedly expensive AMDTR 3990X.