The i5 series of the Intel Core processors have long been popular with PC gamers, striking a superb balance between performance and price.
But which generation of the i5 Intel chip represents the best value for money? For this guide, we’ll be comparing the two latest additions: the Intel Core i5-13600K and the Intel Core i5-14600K.
Both processors are based on the Raptor Lake architecture, so there’s no generational leap here. Yet Intel has still made some tweaks to the Intel Core i5-14600K to improve performance. We have detailed all of the key differences below, while also including our own benchmark results.
Price and availability
The Intel Core i5-14600K launched back in October 2023, making it the newer processor of the two. It has a launch price of $319, and can be found in UK online retailers for around £300.
As for the Intel Core i5-13600K, this processor arrived in stores in October 2022, an entire year befores its successor. It has the same $319 launch price as its successor, and varies a lot in price across retailers: sometimes it’s even more expensive than the i5-14600K, and other times you can get it for about £20 cheaper. It really depends on where you’re shopping and whether that’s a deal on.
Specs
By judging the name of the Intel Core i5-14600K, you may assume that it is part of a newer generation compared to the older Intel Core i5-13600K chip, but that’s not strictly true.
Both chips use the same Intel 7 process, so you won’t find any architecture changes. This will limit the possible performance gains of the 14600K, making the new chip feel more like a refresh than an actual successor.
This also means that there are a great deal of similarities between the two chips. Both use a hybrid design, with 6 performance cores and 8 efficient cores totaling up to 14 cores on each chip.
The main difference between the two is that Intel has bumped up the boosted clock speed of the Intel Core i5-14600K to 5.3GHz, compared to the maximum 5.1GHz clock speeds of the Intel Core i5-13600K. This makes the new chip feel like an overclocked iteration of its predecessor.
The only other key upgrade can be found in the chip’s connectivity. The Intel Core i5-14600K now offers “discrete support” for Wi-Fi 7. The latest wireless standard is capable of up to a 40Gbps rate, making it 4x faster than Wi-Fi 6E on the 13600K.
Performance
The specs of the Intel Core i5-14600K indicate that you shouldn’t expect a sizable performance boost compared to the i5-13600K, and this is exactly what we found out in our benchmark tests.
The Intel Core i5-14600K consistently outperformed its predecessor across all of our benchmarks, albeit with marginal leads. This was the case for both single-core and multi-core workloads.
We also made sure to test the two chips with in-game benchmarks, which saw similar results. For Horizon Zero Dawn, there was only a 4fps boost, while Dirt Rally saw a 7fps improvement. But for games such as Cyberpunk 2077, Borderlands 3 and Returnal, the results were identical.
This highlights how similar these two desktop processors are. The Intel Core i5-14600K is certainly more powerful, but only by such a small margin that you probably wouldn’t notice much of a performance difference.
Power consumption and temperature
When boosting the peak clock speed of a processor, you need to supply it with more power. As a result, it should come as no surprise that the Intel Core i5-14600K saw greater power consumption than the Intel Core i5-13600K in our tests.
When installed inside our test rig, the 14600K saw a peak power draw of 517.6W, which is noticeably higher than the 497.6W figure of the 13600K. This probably isn’t enough of a difference to force you into upgrading your PSU, but it does mean the Intel Core i5-13600K is the more power efficient chip which could be handy if you want to keep your energy bill as small as possible.
The Intel Core i5-14600K also generates more heat, hitting a peak temperature of 93°C during our testing. The Intel Core i5-13600K only hit a peak of 81°C when put under the same workload. This means you may need a good cooling solution to maximise the performance of the latest Intel chip.
Verdict
There really isn’t much between the Intel Core i5-14600K and Intel Core i5-13600K; they’re like identical twins, but the former is marginally faster to achieve a slightly better performance. However, our testing shows that the performance advantage is rarely noticeable, especially in gaming where you’ll only see a few extra frames per second, if that.
The i5-13600K also proves to be more efficient, both in terms of power consumption and thermal performance. The latter is especially important, as you may need an advanced cooling solution in order to maximise the power of the Intel Core i5-14600K.
However, there are so few differences here that you should probably base your decision on price. For most cases, you should opt for the more affordable processor. If they’re priced the same, then the Intel Core i5-14600K is your best bet due to the slightly higher performance.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
