Intel’s 16-core flagship Alder Lake i9-12900K processor delivers a staggering performance improvement over it's predecessor (+70% 64-core). It features a new hybrid architecture which combines eight hyper-threaded performance cores with eight efficiency cores for a total of 24 threads. Alder Lake CPUs will require a new Z690 chipset which supports DDR5 memory and PCIe 5.0. At an MRSP of $590 USD, the i9-12900K is aimed at power users who demand the best of the best. That said, Intel’s 10-core 12600K matches the 12900K’s performance for the majority of consumer use cases at a 50% price discount. [Nov '21CPUPro]
The unlocked hex-core i5-8600K from Intel’s latest Coffee Lake generation of processors is the new flagship of the i5 series, succeeding the Kaby Lake quad-core i5-7600K. The 8th generation of processors brings the largest performance uplift since Sandy Bridge by adding more cores at each of the i3, i5 and i7 product lines. Like the other Coffee Lake processors, the i5-8600K is built upon optimized 14nm architecture, marginally improved upon from Kaby Lake and Skylake. The 8600K has a 95W TDP and a nominal stock clock of 3.6 GHz, which boosts to 4.1 GHz for all six cores, 4.2 GHz for dual/quad and 4.3 GHz for single core. Early benchmarks put the i5-8600K’s effective speed 15% ahead of the i5-7600K. A 50% increase in multi-core speed is explained by two additional cores and thanks to the quad-core clock bump from 4 GHz on the 7600K to 4.2 GHz on the 8600K there is also an additional 5% performance boost across all workloads. All Coffee Lake processors require a 300-series chipset, making a straight CPU upgrade unfeasible despite sharing the same socket as their Z270 predecessors. Even though most games still use less than 4 cores simultaneously, the i5-8600K is a great choice for gamers but for $80 less, the 8350K which is
faster than last years 7600K and only marginally weaker for gaming than the 8600K is certainly well worth considering as well. [Oct '17CPUPro]
We calculate effective speed which measures real world performance for typical users. Effective speed is adjusted by current prices to yield a value for money rating. Our calculated values are checked against thousands of individual user ratings. The customizable table below combines these factors to bring you the definitive list of top CPUs. [CPUPro]
Welcome to our PC speed test tool. UserBenchmark will test your PC and compare the results to other users with the same components. You can quickly size up your PC, identify hardware problems and explore the best value for money upgrades.