The freely overclockable Intel Core i5-9600K for socket LGA 1151v2 is a six-core mid-range CPU that can only juggle the same number of threads at a time. Thus, it is deprived of simultaneous multithreading (in Intel terminology — «Hyperthreading»), which is possessed by more high-end i7 or i9 models.
Advantages
competent gaming CPU
high clock speeds with potential for overclocking
«on-board» graphic solution
Flaws
high price
no multithreading
The cores come with 6×256 KB of L2 cache and 9 MB of L3 cache. With a typical TDP of 95W, the processor runs at clock speeds from 3.7 to 4.6 GHz. Applications that use only one processor thread benefit the most from this.
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Leader in daily gaming
During benchmark tests, the Core i5-9600K outperformed the older (and more expensive) Intel Core i7-7700K. At the same time, it gets good marks in all benchmarks, from universal ones like PCMark to video encoding, and, above all, gaming ones. But in many cases, the processor is inferior to more affordable AMD models, including the R5 1600X for 10 tens of dollars, the R5 2600 for 120$and the R5 2600X for 13 tens of dollars. The Intel Core i5-9600K itself costs as much as 18 thousand, but it also comes with an integrated GPU.
Cheaper alternative: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 (3.4 GHz) socket AM4
The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 costs only 12 tens of dollars, but in our corresponding rating it is placed just above the processor from Intel. In «everyday» benchmarks, the model from AMD is slightly inferior, but it performs better in all «scalable» applications.
More power: AMD Ryzen 7 2700 (3.2 GHz) socket AM4
If you don’t want to spend more or less, then for about the same money you can get AMD’s “almost flagship” Ryzen 7 2700. This CPU has 8 cores and 16 threads, offers decent clock speeds and is ahead of i5 in almost all benchmarks -9600K — excluding our gaming tests with the GTX 1080.