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If you don’t know what desktop processor to upgrade to at the moment, I can’t blame you. It’s a great thing to be spoiled for choice, and with multiple Intel CPU generations all using the same LGA motherboard socket, you’ve got loads of DDR5 processors to shop for.
My favorite one to recommend to the majority of gamers is the i5-13600K, which I use in my own build I put together last summer. It isn’t quite at its lowest-ever price, but you can grab it at Amazon for just $274.99 right now, down from an original MSRP of $329.
When I put together our Intel Core i5-13600K review, it hammered home to me that an i7 or i9 CPU is overkill for the majority of gamers today. This CPU is a little monster that rocks 14 cores and 20 threads, which is more than enough for even the busiest of modern gaming PCs.
The best CPUs for gaming can be expensive, especially if you opt for the latest generations. Luckily, the 14th Generation (Raptor Lake Refresh) options have now been available for a while, so the 13th Generation is starting to offer more bang for buck with each passing day.
Should you buy the Intel Core i5-13600K?
I put my CPU through a fair amount. When I’m not working with it, I’m playing games in 4K, I’m live streaming, I’m video editing, I’m recording footage for a YouTube video - things that you’d typically think an i7 or Ryzen 7 processor would be needed for. My dear reader, I’m here to tell you that if you haven’t upgraded your CPU in a few generations, modern i5 CPUs are all you really need now.
You’d find fewer cores and threads in an 11th Gen i9 than you do in this i5. In fact, this thing has better specs than the 12th Gen i7-12700K, which rocks 12 cores and 20 threads.
There’s nothing I throw at this processor that it doesn’t handle with ease. Granted, when I’m video editing with 4K files, it can run a little hot, but I do have it placed inside an ITX chassis with nothing but airflow to cool it down. Even when I was benchmarking it for review purposes, the thing that made it sweat the most was RTS games running at 4K Ultra settings - and even then, it was still producing somewhat playable frame rates.
Unless you’re big into heavier genres and you want fully optimal settings, this CPU can handle pretty much everything without pushing beyond 7% of its processing power. Yes, you read that right. Again, you might be pushing it to uncomfortable temperatures if you really want to test it, but you’re not going to run into problems with the 13600K in more realistic scenarios.
If you’re a professional content creator who wants the extra headroom for streaming off of one PC, the Intel Core i7-13700K might be better suited or, on the AMD side, a CPU with an X3D cache. To be clear, this i5 is capable of it, but with even more cores, threads, and a bigger cache to play with, the i7 will give you more peace of mind. What’s more, while playing a game on your PC simultaneously, you’re likely to keep your frames a bit higher (depending on your GPU). Still, this is a very powerful CPU for gaming and content creation, and one that I’d recommend to anyone trying to put together a new DDR5 system.
Pulling together more components for a PC build? Check out the best RAM for gaming, the best graphics cards, and the best PC cases.
