Intel
Intel Core i5-10600K
The unlocked Comet Lake i5: the same six Skylake-derived cores as the 10400 but clocked to 4.8 GHz and free to overclock on a Z490 board. It is a gaming-first chip that trades multi-thread capacity for per-core clock speed.
Pros
- Unlocked multiplier and unlocked memory ratios on Z490 — most samples run 4.9–5.0 GHz all-core
- 4.8 GHz single-core boost gives it near-i7 gaming performance in its generation
- Soldered IHS (STIM) keeps overclocked temperatures manageable
- 6 cores / 12 threads and 12 MB L3, enough for gaming plus streaming overlays
- UHD Graphics 630 on board for display output and QuickSync encoding
Cons
- No cooler in the box, and overclocked it needs a good tower or 240 mm AIO
- 125 W rating is nominal — PL2 is 182 W and overclocks push well past it
- PCIe 3.0 only; no Gen4 SSD or GPU support
- Six cores is thin for modern multi-threaded work next to an 8-core Zen 3
Below average
Computed from specs & benchmarks via our public methodology.
Full specifications
Everything we track for the Intel Core i5-10600K
General
- Announced
- 2020
- Socket
- LGA1200
- Process
- 14 nm
- Base TDP
- 125 W
- Max turbo power
- 182 W
- Unlocked multiplier
- Yes
- Cooler included
- No
Cores & Clocks
- Cores
- 6
- Performance cores
- 6
- Efficiency cores
- 0
- Threads
- 12
- Base clock
- 4.1 GHz
- Boost clock
- 4.8 GHz
- L2 cache
- 2 MB
- L3 cache
- 12 MB
Integrated GPU
- iGPU
- Intel UHD Graphics 630
- iGPU clock
- 1,200 MHz
Memory
- Memory support
- DDR4-2666
- Max memory
- 128 GB
- Memory channels
- 2
Platform
- PCIe version
- 3
- CPU PCIe lanes
- 16
Benchmarks
- Geekbench 6 (single)
- 1,560
- Geekbench 6 (multi)
- 6,500
- Cinebench R23 (single)
- 1,230
- Cinebench R23 (multi)
- 9,200
- PassMark
- 14,500
Quick answers
Is the Intel Core i5-10600K good in 2026?
The Intel Core i5-10600K earns an Inno Score of 36.3/100 (“Below average”) based on its specs and benchmark results. The unlocked Comet Lake i5: the same six Skylake-derived cores as the 10400 but clocked to 4.8 GHz and free to overclock on a Z490 board. It is a gaming-first chip that trades multi-thread capacity for per-core clock speed.
What are the key specs of the Intel Core i5-10600K?
Cores: 6 · Threads: 12 · Boost clock: 4.8 GHz · Socket: LGA1200
What are the closest alternatives to the Intel Core i5-10600K?
Its closest rivals on InnoReviews are Intel Core i7-8700K, AMD Ryzen 7 2700X, Intel Core i5-11400 — open the comparison pages for a spec-by-spec breakdown.