Skip to main content

Intel Core i5 11600K vs. AMD Ryzen 5600X: Which CPU is better?

Intel and AMD CPUs are more competitive today than they have been in more than a decade, making it a great time to upgrade if you can find any of the new-generation chips in stock. Intel’s 11th-generation Rocket Lake CPUs raised the bar for single-threaded performance once again, making the battle for the midrange hotter than ever.

The Intel Core i5 11600K and AMD Ryzen 5 5600X are set to be the two best-bang-for-your-buck gaming CPUs for their generation, but which one is truly the best?

Pricing and availability

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X debuted alongside the more capable 5800X, 5900X, and 5950X, with a retail price of $299. Due to shortages, the price in early 2021 is more typically around $350. Availability is improving throughout 2021, so it’s unlikely that we’ll see these chips disappear entirely again in the near future.

The Intel Core i5-11600K is set to go on sale on March 30 — though is available to pre-order now. Its MSRP was just $262, though it is currently available for $293. That’s still significantly cheaper than you can buy a 5600X, but closer than was initially expected.

Specs and performance

Intel Corporation

One of the best ways to get a rough idea of how two processors compare is to take a look at their specifications. Since both chips have six cores and 12 threads, there isn’t a whole lot to differentiate them, but there are some notable standout specs that are worth taking a closer look at.

Intel Core i5-11600K AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
Process node 14nm 7nm
Architecture Cypress Cove Zen 3
Cores/Threads 6/12 6/12
Base clock 3.9GHz 3.7GHz
Maximum Boost Clock (All core) 4.9GHz (4.6GHz) 4.6GHz (4.2GHz+)
Integrated graphics Intel Xe UHD 750 N/A
TDP 125W  65W

Clock speed can be king in some applications and games, and with the big instructions per clock (IPC) gain of Rocket Lake — Intel claims up to 19 percent thanks to its backported Ice Lake architecture, even if that’s in ideal circumstances — having a near 5GHz boost clock could be a winner for the 11600K. That said, its 4.6Ghz all core is down 200MHz from the last generation, and the 5600X is no slouch. Though it’s unlikely to hit over 4.5GHz all-core in every application, it has a high IPC of its own that vastly outstripped the previous generation, Intel 10600K, so it could be a close fight.

We’ll need to wait for comprehensive review testing to get a solid idea of how these two chips perform against each other in real-world applications and games, but some pre-release benchmarks suggest that Intel may need to leverage its value price tag to great effect, as it’s not as competitive as it needs to be a true alternative.

Leaked Geekbench scores from earlier this year gave the 5600X a solid lead in both single-threaded and multi-threaded performance, and some additional application and gaming benchmarks from March only saw the 11600K pull ahead in some games, and even then not by much.

This would make sense considering the results we’ve seen from other chips in the Rocket Lake range which have seen more robust benchmarking. In Anandtech’s detailed review of the 11700K, it fell notably behind the comparably specced Ryzen 5800X.

The real kicker is that despite the relative competitiveness of the 11600K, it does so at almost double the power and thermal demands of the 5600X. For those chasing the rawest of performance, it’s not going to matter much, but in OEM systems, for the environmentally conscious, or those chasing silence, it’s going to be a hard sell.

Features

Intel 500 Series
Image used with permission by copyright holder

AMD leaped ahead of Intel in features with its Ryzen 5000 series, introducing PCIExpress 4.0 for massive graphics bandwidth and faster storage. It also added support for faster memory up to 3200MHz. With Rocket Lake, Intel’s CPUs now have that too. It also introduced some application-specific accelerators, which could make those using certain Microsoft Office applications, or Adobe’s Photoshop and Lightroom take notice — although it’s hard to imagine many upgrading their processors to make Excel run faster.

Intel has made a big deal of expanding overclocking to its lower-tier 500-series chipsets with the 11th-generation. The 11600K owners will be able to overclock their memory on H570 and B560 motherboards, as well as the high-end Z590 platform. That’s something that you can do on any of the 5600X compatible B450, X470, B550, and X570 motherboards, so again, the chips are closer in feature parity than in recent years.

Onboard graphics is somewhere Intel will retain its typical advantage, as AMD only includes that with its APUs. The 11600K includes Intel’s 11th-generation Xe graphics, which is more than capable of entry-level gaming and reasonable frame rates in e-sports games at 1080p. If you’re buying a near-$300 CPU though, especially a K model, you’re almost certainly pairing it with a dedicated graphics card, so that’s largely redundant.

Wait and see what you can get, at what price

Until we have comprehensive third-party benchmarks from trusted reviewers about how these two chips compare head to head, it’s not fair to come down too hard on one side or the other. As speculation ahead of that inevitable time in just a few weeks, though, it looks as if the 5600X will remain the stronger overall CPU. Even if the 11600K can steal the performance crown in some games, it’s going to be a hard-fought battle and it will do so at a massively increased thermal and power demand. That suggests that there won’t be much overclocking headroom to be had — a shame, considering how capable the X600K Intel CPUs have typically been at overclocking in previous generations.

The one saving grace may be pricing and availability. If the 5600X continues to sell well above its suggested retail price, the 11600K may offer much better value for money for midrange gaming PCs.

 

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Jon Martindale
Jon Martindale is the Evergreen Coordinator for Computing, overseeing a team of writers addressing all the latest how to…
Intel’s upcoming laptop CPU may destroy even the best desktop chips
Intel Alder Lake mobility chip.

Benchmarks of the not-yet-released Intel Core i9-13900HX have leaked, and to call these results impressive would be an understatement.

It seems that Intel's upcoming laptop CPU may easily dethrone even some of the best desktop processors, let alone mobile chips. Even chips that are not out yet are already in danger, such as Apple's M2 Max.

Read more
AMD 7000X3D V-Cache CPUs could challenge Intel at CES 2023
AMD 3D V-Cache chip is shown over a coppery background.

New AMD 7000X3D V-Cache CPUs could be shown as early as January 2023 at next year’s CES, promising big gaming performance gains and potentially wrestling the title of best gaming chip from Intel once more.

The latest news comes from a supposedly leaked internal road map that reveals AMD is planning to unveil its next-generation 3D V-Cache CPUs based on the Zen 4 architecture at CES 2023. This information comes from Wccftech which has a good track record of uncovering insider information. The report goes on to suggest that there will be two 3D V-Cache chips announced at the event, which is notable.

Read more
Intel Core i9-13900K vs. Core i9-12900K: Is it worth the upgrade?
Intel Core i9-12900K in a motherboard.

Intel Raptor Lake is finally here, and although there's a handful of CPUs in this first wave of 13th-generation CPUs, it's hard not to focus on the flagship, the Intel Core i9-13900K. Equipped with a seemingly endless number of cores, capable of hitting those ultra-high clock speeds, and socket-compatible with Alder Lake, it checks most of the boxes as far as the top-shelf CPUs are concerned.

But the 13900K is mostly just a refinement of the 12900K with extra cores. Is getting a Core i9-13900K worth the splurge, or should you keep things more budget-friendly with a 12th-gen CPU? Below, we'll compare the two Intel flagships and help you choose a winner.
Pricing and availability

Read more