Intel Core i5-9600K Review

Explore the Core i5-9600K! This Desktop processor is a highlight in Intel's mid-range range. Introduced in 2018, it has 6 cores and 6 threads. It operates at a base frequency of 3.7GHz, can hit up to 4.6GHz, and has a power consumption of 95W, ready to upgrade your gaming setup. The Core i5-9600K is designed on the Coffee Lake Refresh 14nm architecture and is a part of the respected Core i5 series.

And guess what? The Core i5-9600K is the ultimate successor to Intel's previous-gen gaming champion, the Core i5-8600K. The Core i5-8600K was based on the legendary Coffee Lake and 14nm process, and it made its grand entrance into the gaming scene back in 2017. But now, it's time for the Core i5-9600K 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 i5-9600K totally wins this game.

Introducing the Core i5-9600K, the high-performance counterpart to the award-winning Core i5-9500. Both are built on the same 14nm Coffee Lake Refresh platform, but the Core i5-9600K cranks the power up to a toasty 95W for those extra cores and threads. We're expecting big things from this one, just like its lower-powered sibling! 'sChoiceHype

The Core i5-9600K is the more expensive version of the Core i5-9500, and it shows with its higher base and boost clock speeds: 3.7 GHz and 4.6 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 i5-9600K compared to the Core i5-9500's limit of 65W. This extra power allows the Core i5-9600K 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.

Intel has been struggling lately to keep up with the new Ryzen 5 processors. This has forced them to get creative with their existing lineup. The Intel Core i5-9600K isn't exactly new - it's basically a Core i5-8600K with a higher clock speed. But there's one more twist...

Alright, buying advice time! Before this review, we recommended the Ryzen 5 3600X because it comes with a better stock cooler, can be overclocked, and the platform allows for easier future upgrades.

We still hold by that recommendation, but we ran some new benchmarks just in case. We focused on gaming performance, which should favor AMD's CPU. For application performance, check out our review of the Ryzen 5 3600X which also included the Core i5-8600K. The 2.5% factory overclock on the Core i5-9600K probably only translates to a 1-2% performance boost compared to those benchmarks.

For gaming, it's a close call. Both the Ryzen 5 3600X and Core i5-9600K are pretty much neck and neck. The Core i5-9600K can sometimes be faster due to better game support and lower latency, but the Ryzen 5 3600X often delivers smoother frame rates thanks to double the threads.

For things other than gaming, the Ryzen 5 3600X is the clear winner. With all those extra threads, it can crush the Core i5-9600K on demanding applications. Think of it this way: the Core i5-9600K is only slightly faster than the Core i5-8600K, so you can use that as a benchmark. For rendering videos and encoding stuff, the Ryzen 5 3600X can be up to 41% faster.

For gamers, both the Ryzen 5 3600X and Core i5-9600K are great choices. They're neck and neck, with a slight edge to the AMD CPU if you don't overclock it. The Core i5-9600K's base performance can be achieved with cheaper RAM (around $90), whereas the Ryzen 5 3600X 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

But beyond gaming, the Ryzen 5 3600X is the future-proof option. The Ryzen 5 platform on A320, B350, B450, X370, X470, X570 motherboards supports upcoming Zen 2 processors. So, if you buy a good A320, B350, B450, X370, X470, X570 board with the Ryzen 5 3600X now, you can easily upgrade to a newer Coffee Lake Refresh CPU later on.

For a 6-core CPU, the Intel Core i5-9600K is a steal at $198! It seems crazy cheap compared to its main competitor, the 6-core AMD Ryzen 5 3600X which costs $237. Basically, you get extra cores for almost nothing.

If you don't care too much about overclocking and max boost speeds, then the Intel Core i5-9500 is a good option for $207. It also has 6 cores and 6 threads, but with slightly lower clock speeds (3GHz base and 4.4GHz boost).

Can you game on Intel's Core i5 CPU? Absolutely! We got a solid 89% score in our gaming benchmarks.

Looking for an affordable powerhouse CPU for work and play? Look no further than the Core i5-9600K!

Building on the success of mainstream Core i5 CPUs, Intel is now attacking the mid-range market with the Core i5-9600K processors, available since Oct 2018.