If you're looking for a very capable CPU for the price on a platform that offers a variety of good motherboard choices, the Intel Core i5-12600KF is currently retailing at an all-time low price of $124.99. The processor, sold and shipped by Amazon, usually retails for $149.97, so you're saving 17% of the regular price.
The Core i5-12600KF (Alder Lake) is still a capable CPU on the LGA1700 platform. For the price, you're getting a 10-core, 16-thread CPU with six P-cores and four E-cores with a boost clock up to 4.9 GHz. The Alder Lake chip supports DDR5-4800 RAM out of the box and provides up to 20 high-speed PCIe 5.0 lanes to take advantage of the latest graphics cards and SSDs.
The Core i5-12600KF is an unlocked processor that can be overclocked for extra performance if you have a motherboard that supports overclocking and a capable CPU cooler. The Core i5-12600KF doesn't have an iGPU, so you must pair it with a discrete graphics card. On the bright side, the lack of an iGPU makes the chip $25 cheaper than its counterpart, the Core i5-12600K.
Even though the LGA1700 platform is obsolete, there are still plenty of options to assemble a decent PC. Motherboard options start at $70, paving the way for decent budget PC gaming builds.
Visit Amazon's Core i5-12600KF product page for more details and purchase options.
