Intel Core i5-11600 Review

Behold the Core i5-11600! This Desktop processor is a gem in Intel's mid-range collection. Debuted in 2021, it's equipped with 6 cores and 12 threads. With a base clock speed of 3.2GHz, a turbo speed of 4.5GHz, and a power consumption of 65W, it's primed to boost your gaming performance. The Core i5-11600 is engineered on the Rocket Lake 14nm platform and belongs to the renowned Core i5 series.

And guess what? The Core i5-11600 is the ultimate successor to Intel's previous-gen gaming champion, the Core i5-10600. The Core i5-10600 was based on the legendary Comet Lake and 14nm process, and it made its grand entrance into the gaming scene back in 2020. But now, it's time for the Core i5-11600 to take the throne and conquer the gaming world!

The best CPUs are the ones that slay frames at a price that won't make you ragequit. The Core i5-11600 totally wins this game.

Want a high-end desktop (HEDT) CPU with 8 cores to compete with the Intel Core i5-11600? Be prepared to spend some serious coin. The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X costs $399 and doesn't even guarantee better performance.

The Core i5-11600 is the more expensive version of the Core i5-11500, and it shows with its higher base and boost clock speeds: 3.2 GHz and 4.5 GHz, respectively. That's a nice boost in speed, but the real game changer is the higher power delivery (PPT). This lets the motherboard pump more juice (up to 142W) to the Core i5-11600 compared to the Core i5-11500's limit of 65W. This extra power allows the Core i5-11600 to crank up the boost clocks even more aggressively, on both single and multiple cores. That means the performance gap between these two CPUs might be bigger than what the specs on paper suggest.

Even though the Intel Core i5-11600 only has a TDP of 65W, it still packs a punch. This CPU can go toe-to-toe with the much more expensive AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, which guzzles a whopping 105W of power.

The high number of threads (over 7!) in the Intel Core i5-11600 makes it a monster for tasks that use all the cores at once (multi-threaded workloads), especially for the price. If you edit a lot of videos or work with giant spreadsheets, the Core i5-11600 will give you a noticeable performance boost.

The Intel Core i5-11600 is another impressive addition to Intel's 11 Gen of Core i5 processors. It boasts 6 cores and 12 threads, with a boost clock of up to 4.5 GHz. While the specs might not look super top-of-the-line on paper, the real-world performance you get for your $213 is fantastic.

For gamers, both the Ryzen 5 5600X and Core i5-11600 are great choices. They're neck and neck, with a slight edge to the AMD CPU if you don't overclock it. The Core i5-11600's base performance can be achieved with cheaper RAM (around $90), whereas the Ryzen 5 5600X needs faster RAM ($110-$120) to hit the frame rates we showed. The price difference is small though, and with anything less than an RTX 2070 or Vega 64 graphics card, your GPU will bottleneck your performance anyway. BottleneckAtPlay

One of the best things about the Intel Core i5-11600 is that it comes with a free CPU cooler! You can grab the Core i5-11600 for $213 without having to spend extra on cooling.

The Intel Core i5-11600 comes with a basic heatsink cooler, nothing fancy. But it gets the job done for this low-power CPU (TDP of 65W). You won't need a fancy aftermarket cooler unless you want to overclock it.

For a 6-core CPU, the Intel Core i5-11600 is a steal at $213! It seems crazy cheap compared to its main competitor, the 6-core AMD Ryzen 5 5600X which costs $299. Basically, you get extra cores for almost nothing.

However, the Intel Core i5-11600 falls a bit behind in clock speeds. The Ryzen 7 5800X can reach 4GHz base clock and boost up to 4.8GHz.

If you don't care too much about overclocking and max boost speeds, then the Intel Core i5-11500 is a good option for $192. It also has 6 cores and 12 threads, but with slightly lower clock speeds (3GHz base and 4.3GHz boost).

The Core i5-11600 is a great choice for both gaming and content creation, thanks to its high performance (1.28%) and at least 12 threads. Live streaming, eSports, and uploading gameplay videos are becoming increasingly popular, and this CPU can handle it all.

Looking for an affordable powerhouse CPU for work and play? Look no further than the Core i5-11600!