Intel Core i5-10600K and Core i5-10600KF peak at 4.98 GHz on Geekbench and post scores that defy the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and Ryzen 5 3600X but at a cost

The Comet Lake Intel Core i5-10600K (unlocked) and Core i5-10600KF (unlocked/disabled iGPU) have been put through their paces on Geekbench 4, as noticed by Tum Apisak. Both of the CPUs produced up to 4.98 GHz clock rates and managed to come up with similar benchmark results too. The i5-10600K scored 6,081 (single) and 28,523 points (multi) while the i5-10600KF produced 6,070 (single) and 28,673 points (multi). Both of these chips are currently on stepping level 5.

The strong scores, especially in the single-core benchmarks, should appeal to gamers looking to put together a desktop PC that features a reasonably priced processor. In fact, the ever popular AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and Ryzen 5 3600X offer similar median-level multi-core scores but are outclassed by the Intel Core i5-10600K and i5-10600KF in the single-core scores (see table below). Over 2,700 Ryzen 5 3600X chips have been tested on Geekbench 4 while more than 9,500 Ryzen 5 3600 parts have been through the benchmark.

As always, it’s best to remember the “flip side” of the benchmark score coin. The expected TDP of the Intel Core i5-10600K and i5-10600KF is 125 W while the Ryzen 5 3600X relies on 95 W and the Ryzen 5 3600 just 65 W. The TDP for the Comet Lake chips is based on the base clock, so to hit those heady 4.98 GHz heights there’s going to be much higher power consumption. Also, the AMD parts still sit at attractive prices: US$230 for the Ryzen 5 3600X and US$175 for the Ryzen 5 3600 (at the time of writing). The regular Intel Core i5-10600 is expected to cost around US$250. So it looks like a purchase may be down to just how much desire there is for the strongest single-core performance.