Review: Intel Core i5-11600K

Conclusion

The Intel 11th Gen Core desktop range is a curious one. Requiring new motherboards to extract maximum performance and features but at the same time not offering a clear upgrade path, appeal is limited to a select band of customers who want to build a system in the next six months.

Though it can't compete with rival AMD at the top end of the mainstream stack, matters do look up for the Core i5 range for a few good reasons. The use of 14nm production means, for now, there's decent stock levels of all models, pricing is generally good, and PCIe 4.0 brings the platform more up to date.

Yet familiar refrains abound for the range-topping model. The Core i5-11600K certainly isn't an innately bad processor, as evidenced by the benchmarks, particularly against comparable AMD chips, but its $262 (£250) street price feels too close to the bottom of the more powerful Core i7 / Ryzen 7 ranges for it to be a brilliant value play. K-series CPUs oftentimes find themselves in tough spots like these, but the very fact this chip gets pretty high on our bang4buck charts is testament to Intel's general progress for this generation.

As a one-hit range where value is equally as important as performance, with most pairing the chip with a discrete gaming card, it makes more sense to look at the Core i5-11400F ($157, £145) alongside an inexpensive B560 board. The duo costs the same as the Core i5-11600K alone and sacrifices little in the way of day-to-day horsepower. Heck, even a last-gen Core i5-10400F and B460 fits the value bill nicely... until Alder Lake arrives.

And that's the crux. If your current PC has the legs to survive another six to nine months, we'd recommend waiting until the next step-change in performance with the grounds-up Intel 12th Gen Core vs. either Zen 3+ or Zen 4 from AMD.

Yet for right here, right now, Intel's arguably higher levels of production and keener pricing make Core i5 a strong option in the mainstream PC market. 11th Gen still ought to do well for this very reason.

Intel Core i5-11600K

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The Intel Core i5-11600K is available to buy at Scan Computers.

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