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Intel Core i5-10600

Intel Core i5-10600: Overview and Practical Tips for Building in 2025

April 2025

Key Features: Comet Lake Architecture in the Era of New Technologies

The Intel Core i5-10600 processor, released in 2020, remains a popular choice for budget PCs. Its Comet Lake architecture is built on a 14nm process, which, despite being somewhat outdated, provides stability and low heat output.

- Cores and Threads: 6 cores, 12 threads thanks to Hyper-Threading.

- Clock Speeds: Base clock — 3.3 GHz, maximum Turbo Boost — 4.8 GHz.

- Cache: 12 MB L3 — sufficient for most everyday tasks.

- Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 630 (supports 4K@60 Hz).

- Performance: In Geekbench 6 Single Core — 1577, Multi Core — 6155. For comparison, the Ryzen 5 5600 (2020) scores around ~1600/6400, making the competition close.

Key Features:

- Turbo Boost 2.0 technology for automatic overclocking under load.

- Support for DDR4-2666 (officially) and PCIe 3.0.

- Low TDP (65W), simplifying cooling system selection.

Compatible Motherboards: LGA 1200 Socket and Chipset Selection

The processor uses the LGA 1200 socket, limiting motherboard options to outdated but accessible models.

Chipsets:

- H410/B460: Budget boards (around $80-100). Suitable for office PCs but have limitations:

- Max. 64GB RAM (DDR4-2666).

- No memory overclocking.

- H470/Z490: Mid-range boards ($110-150). The Z490 chipset supports memory overclocking (up to DDR4-2933) and SLI/CrossFire.

Examples of Boards in 2025:

- ASRock B560M Pro4 ($95): A good balance of price and functionality.

- MSI Z490-A Pro ($130): For those who want the most from PCIe 3.0.

Important: New boards using LGA 1200 are no longer being produced, but they can still be found as leftover stock.

Supported Memory: DDR4 and its Nuances

The i5-10600 officially works with DDR4-2666, but on Z490 and B560 chipsets, XMP profiles can be activated to overclock to DDR4-3200.

Recommendations:

- For office tasks: 16GB DDR4-2666 (e.g., Crucial CT16G4DFD8266, $35).

- For gaming: 32GB DDR4-3200 (G.Skill Ripjaws V, $70) — improves performance in AAA titles.

Limitations:

- PCIe 3.0 doesn't allow new-gen SSDs to utilize their full speed (e.g., Samsung 990 Pro).

Power Supply: How Many Watts Do You Need?

The processor itself consumes up to 65W, but when building with a discrete graphics card, it is important to consider the overall load.

Configuration Examples:

- Without a graphics card (office PC): 300W PSU (Be Quiet! SFX Power 3, $45).

- With GTX 1660 Super: 450W PSU (EVGA 450 BR, $50).

- With RTX 3060: 550W PSU (Corsair CX550M, $70).

Tip: Choose power supplies with an 80 Plus Bronze rating or better for reliability.

Pros and Cons of the i5-10600 in 2025

Pros:

- Price: New processors can be found for $150-180 (in 2025).

- Energy Efficiency: Suitable for compact builds.

- Stability: Minimal issues with drivers and compatibility.

Cons:

- Outdated manufacturing process: 14 nm compared to 7 nm for Ryzen 5000/7000.

- No PCIe 4.0/5.0: Limits speed of SSDs and graphics cards.

- Weak upgrade potential: LGA 1200 socket does not support new Intel processors.

Use Cases: Where the i5-10600 is Still Relevant

1. Office PCs: Quick work with browsers, Excel, Zoom.

2. Multimedia: Streaming video, 1080p editing (in Premiere Pro, rendering will take about 20% longer than on the Ryzen 5 5600).

3. Gaming: On medium settings at Full HD:

- Cyberpunk 2077: ~45 FPS (with RTX 3060).

- Fortnite: ~90 FPS (with GTX 1660 Super).

Real Example: A Reddit user built a PC with i5-10600 and RTX 2060 in 2023. In 2025, he is still playing Warzone 2.0 on medium settings without lags.

Comparison with Competitors: AMD vs Intel

- Ryzen 5 5600 ($160): Better in multi-threaded tasks (+15% in Blender), but motherboards (AM4) are more expensive.

- Ryzen 5 7500F ($220): On AM5, DDR5, PCIe 5.0 — a clear favorite, but requires a larger investment.

- Intel Core i3-13100 ($140): Newer but has only 4 cores — loses in multi-tasking.

Conclusion: The i5-10600 is a good choice if you need an affordable 6-core processor with proven reliability.

Practical Building Tips

1. Motherboard: Choose B560 or H470 for a balance of price and functionality.

2. Cooling: The stock cooler will suffice, but for quieter operation — consider the Deepcool GAMMAXX 400 ($25).

3. Upgrade: Don’t plan on moving to newer processors — the next step involves switching to the AM5/LGA 1700 platform.

4. SSD: Choose NVMe with PCIe 3.0 (e.g., WD Blue SN570, $60 for 1TB).

Final Verdict: Who is the i5-10600 For?

This processor is ideal for those who:

- Are building a PC under $600 (without a graphics card).

- Need reliability for office or study purposes.

- Play older or less demanding games.

Why in 2025? Low price, availability of components, and lack of setup challenges. However, for future upgrades or professional tasks, it’s better to consider the Ryzen 5 7500F or Core i5-13400.

Basic

Label Name

Intel

Platform

Desktop

Launch Date

April 2020

Model Name

The Intel processor number is just one of several factors - along with processor brand, system configurations, and system-level benchmarks - to be considered when choosing the right processor for your computing needs.

i5-10600

Code Name

Comet Lake

CPU Specifications

Total Cores

Cores is a hardware term that describes the number of independent central processing units in a single computing component (die or chip).

Total Threads

Where applicable, Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology is only available on Performance-cores.

Basic Frequency

3.30 GHz

Max Turbo Frequency

Max Turbo Frequency is the maximum single-core frequency at which the processor is capable of operating using Intel® Turbo Boost Technology and, if present, Intel® Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 and Intel® Thermal Velocity Boost. Frequency is typically measured in gigahertz (GHz), or billion cycles per second.

4.80 GHz

Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 Frequency

4.80 GHz

Intel Turbo Boost Technology

Intel® Turbo Boost Technology dynamically increases the processor's frequency as needed by taking advantage of thermal and power headroom to give you a burst of speed when you need it, and increased energy efficiency when you don’t.

2.0

Intel Hyper-Threading Technology

Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology (Intel® HT Technology) delivers two processing threads per physical core. Highly threaded applications can get more work done in parallel, completing tasks sooner.

Yes

Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0

Intel® Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 identifies the best performing core(s) on a processor and provides increased performance on those cores through increasing frequency as needed by taking advantage of power and thermal headroom.

L3 Cache

12 MB

CPU Socket

The socket is the component that provides the mechanical and electrical connections between the processor and motherboard.

FCLGA1200

Technology

Lithography refers to the semiconductor technology used to manufacture an integrated circuit, and is reported in nanometer (nm), indicative of the size of features built on the semiconductor.

14 nm

TDP

65 W

Max. Operating Temperature

Junction Temperature is the maximum temperature allowed at the processor die.

100°C

PCI Express Version

PCI Express Revision is the supported version of the PCI Express standard. Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (or PCIe) is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard for attaching hardware devices to a computer. The different PCI Express versions support different data rates.

3.0

Number of PCI Express Lanes

A PCI Express (PCIe) lane consists of two differential signaling pairs, one for receiving data, one for transmitting data, and is the basic unit of the PCIe bus. Max # of PCI Express Lanes is the total number of supported lanes.

Intel 64

Intel® 64 architecture delivers 64-bit computing on server, workstation, desktop and mobile platforms when combined with supporting software.¹ Intel 64 architecture improves performance by allowing systems to address more than 4 GB of both virtual and physical memory.

Yes

Instruction Set

The instruction set is a hard program stored inside the CPU that guides and optimizes CPU operations. With these instruction sets, the CPU can run more efficiently. There are many manufacturers that design CPUs, which results in different instruction sets, such as the 8086 instruction set for the Intel camp and the RISC instruction set for the ARM camp. x86, ARM v8, and MIPS are all codes for instruction sets. Instruction sets can be extended; for example, x86 added 64-bit support to create x86-64. Manufacturers developing CPUs that are compatible with a certain instruction set need authorization from the instruction set patent holder. A typical example is Intel authorizing AMD, enabling the latter to develop CPUs compatible with the x86 instruction set.

64-bit

PCI Express Configurations

PCI Express (PCIe) Configurations describe the available PCIe lane configurations that can be used to link to PCIe devices.

Up to 1x16 | 2x8 | 1x8+2x4

Memory Specifications

Memory Type

Intel® processors come in four different types: Single Channel, Dual Channel, Triple Channel, and Flex Mode. Maximum supported memory speed may be lower when populating multiple DIMMs per channel on products that support multiple memory channels.

DDR4-2666

Max Memory Size

Max memory size refers to the maximum memory capacity supported by the processor.

128 GB

Memory Channels

The number of memory channels refers to the bandwidth operation for real world application.

Bus Speed

8 GT/s

Max Memory Bandwidth

Max Memory bandwidth is the maximum rate at which data can be read from or stored into a semiconductor memory by the processor (in GB/s).

41.6 GB/s

ECC Memory Supported

ECC Memory Supported indicates processor support for Error-Correcting Code memory. ECC memory is a type of system memory that can detect and correct common kinds of internal data corruption. Note that ECC memory support requires both processor and chipset support.

GPU Specifications

Integrated Graphics Model

An integrated GPU refers to the graphics core that is integrated into the CPU processor. Leveraging the processor's powerful computational capabilities and intelligent power efficiency management, it delivers outstanding graphics performance and a smooth application experience at a lower power consumption.

Intel® UHD Graphics 630

Graphics Base Frequency

Graphics Base frequency refers to the rated/guaranteed graphics render clock frequency in MHz.

350 MHz

Graphics Frequency

Graphics max dynamic frequency refers to the maximum opportunistic graphics render clock frequency (in MHz) that can be supported using Intel® HD Graphics with Dynamic Frequency feature.

1.20 GHz

Graphics Video Max Memory

64 GB

4K Support

Yes | at 60Hz

DirectX Support

DirectX* Support indicates support for a specific version of Microsoft’s collection of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) for handling multimedia compute tasks.

Max Resolution (HDMI)

Max Resolution (HDMI) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor via the HDMI interface (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your system.

4096 x 2160@30Hz

Max Resolution (DP)

Max Resolution (DP) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor via the DP interface (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your system.

4096 x 2304@60Hz

Max Resolution (eDP - Integrated Flat Panel)

Max Resolution (Integrated Flat Panel) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor for a device with an integrated flat panel (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your device.

4096 x 2304@60Hz

Number of Displays Supported

Miscellaneous

Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x)

Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x) allows one hardware platform to function as multiple “virtual” platforms. It offers improved manageability by limiting downtime and maintaining productivity by isolating computing activities into separate partitions.

Yes

Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)

Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) continues from the existing support for IA-32 (VT-x) and Itanium® processor (VT-i) virtualization adding new support for I/O-device virtualization. Intel VT-d can help end users improve security and reliability of the systems and also improve performance of I/O devices in virtualized environments.

Yes

Intel Standard Manageability (ISM)

Intel® Standard Manageability is the manageability solution for Intel vPro® Essentials platforms and is a subset of Intel® AMT with out-of-band management over Ethernet and Wi-Fi, but no KVM or new life cycle management features.

Intel® SSE4.1 | Intel® SSE4.2 | Intel® AVX2

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology is an advanced means of enabling high performance while meeting the power-conservation needs of mobile systems. Conventional Intel SpeedStep® Technology switches both voltage and frequency in tandem between high and low levels in response to processor load. Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology builds upon that architecture using design strategies such as Separation between Voltage and Frequency Changes, and Clock Partitioning and Recovery.

Yes

Execute Disable Bit

Execute Disable Bit is a hardware-based security feature that can reduce exposure to viruses and malicious-code attacks and prevent harmful software from executing and propagating on the server or network.

Yes

Cache

CPU Cache is an area of fast memory located on the processor. Intel® Smart Cache refers to the architecture that allows all cores to dynamically share access to the last level cache.

12 MB Intel® Smart Cache

Intel AES New Instructions

Intel® AES New Instructions (Intel® AES-NI) are a set of instructions that enable fast and secure data encryption and decryption. AES-NI are valuable for a wide range of cryptographic applications, for example: applications that perform bulk encryption/decryption, authentication, random number generation, and authenticated encryption.

Yes

Intel Boot Guard

Intel® Device Protection Technology with Boot Guard helps protect the system’s pre-OS environment from viruses and malicious software attacks.

Yes

Intel Clear Video HD Technology

Intel® Clear Video HD Technology, like its predecessor, Intel® Clear Video Technology, is a suite of image decode and processing technologies built into the integrated processor graphics that improve video playback, delivering cleaner, sharper images, more natural, accurate, and vivid colors, and a clear and stable video picture. Intel® Clear Video HD Technology adds video quality enhancements for richer color and more realistic skin tones.

Yes

Intel Clear Video Technology

Yes

Intel VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT)

Intel® VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT), also known as Second Level Address Translation (SLAT), provides acceleration for memory intensive virtualized applications. Extended Page Tables in Intel® Virtualization Technology platforms reduces the memory and power overhead costs and increases battery life through hardware optimization of page table management.

Yes

Intel InTru 3D Technology

Yes

Intel OS Guard

Yes

OpenGL Support

OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a cross-language, multi-platform API (Application Programming Interface) for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics.

4.5

Intel Quick Sync Video

Intel® Quick Sync Video delivers fast conversion of video for portable media players, online sharing, and video editing and authoring.

Yes

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6

Single Core Score

1577

Geekbench 6

Multi Core Score

6155

Geekbench 5

Single Core Score

1229

Geekbench 5

Multi Core Score

6200

Passmark CPU

Single Core Score

2928

Passmark CPU

Multi Core Score

14351

Compared to Other CPU

Geekbench 6 Single Core

Core i7-10700KF

1695 +7.5%

Xeon Gold 5416S

1644 +4.2%

Core i5-10600

1577

Core i9-12900E

1528 -3.1%

Xeon E-2224

1472 -6.7%

Geekbench 6 Multi Core

Xeon Gold 6134

6928 +12.6%

Core i7-11700T

6500 +5.6%

Core i5-10600

6155

Xeon Platinum 8156

5726 -7%

Core i5-1245UE

5418 -12%

Geekbench 5 Single Core

Ryzen 5 PRO 6650H

1311 +6.7%

Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3945WX

1270 +3.3%

Core i5-10600

1229

Xeon W-3335

1192 -3%

Core i5-1230U

1160 -5.6%

Geekbench 5 Multi Core

Core i5-10600KF

6985 +12.7%

Core i7-7800X

6578 +6.1%

Core i5-10600

6200

Core i3-12300T

5932 -4.3%

Xeon Gold 6230R

5672 -8.5%

Passmark CPU Single Core

Xeon Gold 5512U

3077 +5.1%

Ryzen 5 5500H

2999 +2.4%

Core i5-10600

2928

Xeon E-2276G

2854 -2.5%

EPYC 75F3

2775 -5.2%

Passmark CPU Multi Core

Ryzen 5 PRO 4650GE

15601 +8.7%

Ryzen 5 5625U

14967 +4.3%

Core i5-10600

14351

Xeon E5-2667

13862 -3.4%

Ryzen 3 7440U

13296 -7.4%