Whether you're looking to put together a new gaming rig or a mid-range productivity PC, Intel's Core i5-12600KF is one of the best CPUs you can buy right now. And thanks to Amazon Prime Day, it's down to its lowest price ever of $217for Prime members. That's $47 off Intel's MSRP and $33 lower than it's ever been before.
As a K-series chip, the Core i5-12600KF is unlocked for overclocking, so you can easily push it beyond its 4.9 GHz stock turbo frequency with a good cooler. Just know that the F at the end of this CPU's name means it lacks functioning integrated graphics. So you'll have to provide one of the best graphics cards to connect to your monitor. If you want to build a system with integrated graphics, you'll have to look elsewhere.
(opens in new tab)
In our testing of the Core i5-12600K (the same CPU as the 12600KF, just with integrated graphics enabled), we saw it run our 11 test games just 8 frames per second (fps) slower than the much pricier Core i9-12900K (both at stock speeds with DDR4 RAM, at 1440p resolution). The only way to get significantly faster gaming performance than this CPU is to buy a top-end Core i9 and overclock the snot out of it.
So pairing this Core i5-12600KF with some affordable DDR4 RAM and one of the many graphics cards that are finally becoming affordable again (see best Prime Day graphics card deals) is a great way to build a powerful gaming PC.
