Intel Core i5-12600K review: The new mainstream CPU champ crushes Ryzen

Intel's 12th-gen Core i5-12600K offers stunning performance over its AMD Ryzen rival--and offers consumers unheard-of value too. If there was ever a CPU designed solely for revenge, Intel's 12th-gen "Alder Lake" Core i5-12600K would be it. Based on Intel's new--and surprisingly good--hybrid CPU design that includes a mixture of high-performance cores and high-efficiency cores, the Core i5-12600K deals a death blow to AMD's popular Ryzen 5 5600X in just about everything you can run on it. Looking at its superior performance over the Ryzen 5, we almost want to throw a penalty flag for unsportsmanlike conduct for way Core i5 chip runs up the score on to Ryzen 5. This is the new mainstream desktop processor to beat. Our previous Intel Alder Lake reveal coverage dug deep into the makeup of these radical new 12th-gen Core chips, as well as hard details about the individual chips in the lineup and platform/motherboard details. Be sure to check it out if you aren't up to speed on what's going on in Intel's new architecture yet.