Smart Wizard
Get a complete build plan based on budget and goals.
Build Comparison
Compare complete builds side by side.
Part Comparison
Check specs, price, and value across parts.
Bottleneck Calculator
Measure CPU and GPU balance before you buy.
Power Calculator
Estimate wattage and PSU headroom.
Will It Run?
Test your hardware against popular games.
Smart Wizard
Get a complete build plan based on budget and goals.
Build Comparison
Compare complete builds side by side.
Part Comparison
Check specs, price, and value across parts.
Bottleneck Calculator
Measure CPU and GPU balance before you buy.
Power Calculator
Estimate wattage and PSU headroom.
Will It Run?
Test your hardware against popular games.
Smart Wizard
Get a complete build plan based on budget and goals.
Build Comparison
Compare complete builds side by side.
Part Comparison
Check specs, price, and value across parts.
Bottleneck Calculator
Measure CPU and GPU balance before you buy.
Power Calculator
Estimate wattage and PSU headroom.
Will It Run?
Test your hardware against popular games.
Intel
Detailed architecture, platform, memory, and feature data for this CPU.
Instruction Sets
| Merchant | Base | Promo | Shipping | Availability | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Newegg | $131.41 | β | FREE | In Stock | $131.41 | Buy |
About This Product
The Intel Core i5-9600K is a 9th generation desktop processor with 6 cores and 6 threads, offering a base clock of 3.7 GHz and a boost clock of 4.6 GHz. It is suitable for mainstream gaming at 1080p and general desktop use. At its current price, it competes with newer entry-level CPUs that may offer better multi-threaded performance.
Performance Benchmarks
Scores are grouped by benchmark family so it is easy to compare raw speed, threaded output, and real-world value without mixing scales.
Render Workloads
Next-Gen Scale
Large Sample Pool
Value & Efficiency
These derived metrics use Cinebench R23 multi-core performance to keep the value calculation consistent across the catalog.
Performance per Watt
76.9 pts/W
Performance per Dollar
61.0 pts/$
Gaming Performance
These results come from real submitted gameplay sessions, so the reference GPU matters as much as the CPU itself.
Reference GPU
Roblox
Mixed player settings
69 FPS
Smooth
Reference GPU
DayZ
Mixed player settings
63 FPS
Smooth
Project Zomboid
Mixed player settings
44 FPS
Playable
Popular Comparisons
These pairings are pre-ranked from the comparison engine so readers can jump straight into the most relevant alternatives.

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Create a fully compatible build with our System Builder.
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Rating
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Verdict
βA decent budget gaming CPU for 1080p, but consider newer alternatives for better value.β

Multi-core 11,166
"99% better single-core, 35% slower multi-core, $84 more expensive"

Multi-core 6,832 Β· $111
"tied single-core, 7% better multi-core, $15 more expensive"