Intel Core i5-13600K: What Real Users Actually Think

You're extremely unlikely to encounter any issues with a 13600k. The issues largely seem to be related to i9s, and seem pretty rare (if at all) on i7s and especially i5s.

Just overclocked mine to 5.5GHz and couldn't be happier — favorite CPU I have ever owned.

My i5-13600k I've had for almost a year and it's super stable. Even though right now it's still running with no PL1 and PL2 limits enforced, it stays under 180W when running all core workload.

The i5 13600k I got for $250 and a used 3080 for $400 at the start of this year has been my favorite build to date. Unreal performance for the price.

I've never seen articles of 13600k being affected though, but for what it's worth I'm also using this cpu and it's been fine for maybe 2 years already I think.

I bought a $350 new 13900k — thank God for all the tech tubers and tech news reporters for bringing down the prices. 13600k should be fine, just limit the frequencies and voltages, don't let your motherboard choose the settings.

Only specific 13th gen production batches had the oxidation issue. Intel confirmed full removal of impacted processors from supply chain by early 2024. However, on-shelf inventory may still be present.

Intel 13/14th gen are excellent CPUs for the money, they hold up more than fine today.

With the new BIOS it's fine. i5's were not even very affected, it was more i7s and i9s.

I have an i5 13600kf and have never had an issue with it. I have overclocked it multiple times.

It's the best Intel CPU since at least the i5-2500K. It's absolutely surreal that they doubled multicore performance at the $300 price point in two years, and the thing is also more fun to overclock than any Intel chip in a long time.

The main issue was oxidation plus over voltage causing degradation. If it's a brand new chip and you use a motherboard that is updated with the latest microcode there shouldn't be any issue. People with 14900K chips have reported no voltage spiking with the latest microcode.

Good CPU if you're not the type who thinks updating BIOS is a taboo — very common practice.

Long time AMD supporter here. Just went with the 13600K this go around. I just couldn't ignore the bonus E-cores and slightly better gaming performance for $30 more.

I think i5-13600K is the new i5-2500K. It is a beast in both gaming and productivity tasks, overclocks well and will probably last years. Mine is overclocked to 5.4Ghz/4.3Ghz (P/E) on air and I have also overclocked and tightened my RAM.

If you want to buy Intel I would go only for 12th gen CPU. Like i5 12600K or i7 12700K. I have a 13700K right now and will be changing to 12th gen because of the issues I have with it.

I switched out an entire esports fleet to Intel 13th gen i5-13500s from Ryzen 5 3600s. Phenomenal threads per dollar, and overall performance is just great.

I wouldn't say that i5 cannot suffer from this power problem. I got a friend who got the 13600k running with AIO and experienced constant crashes ever since he bought it until he limited the power to Intel specs.

Based on what we know about the degradation, the 13600K can be expected to degrade slower than the i7/i9 variants. But it may still degrade, and it will take a while until we know anything about the survival rate of new CPUs that have only used the upcoming microcode update. So the 13600K is still kind of a lottery ticket.

Before the 7800X3D came around, that was the gaming CPU to recommend. It matched the 7700X in gaming and destroyed it in productivity performance. It's honestly still worth recommending if you want a more stable and balanced experience with your computer.

Yeah baby! Awesome for productivity work and gaming. I plan to stick with mine for a lot of years ahead.

13600K owner. Undervolted, running stock clocks. Not a single blue screen in 2 years.

I am late to the party, but if this happens to help, I have been running 13600k for some time now and have absolutely no issues. Combined it with the 4070 Super, works really well.

As someone who owns and is using a 13600k in my own machine right now, I can't say I've seen any of this degradation on mine. I use it for Baldur's Gate 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Skyrim, Fallout, Smite, etc. I play Cyberpunk on a 32" UHD monitor and I'm ok with not trying to push it.

I have a 13600K since January 2023 and I didn't see any errors when I did some tests last week. I used it at default settings this whole time. In my opinion if you buy brand new now and do the BIOS update, you should be fine.

Not going to lie, my i5-13600k is a great performer but I am questioning a few BSODs I've had since I built this thing. I've known Gigabyte and ASUS overvolt the hell out of CPUs, so I dialed in the proper settings early and even undervolted.

Go with the Arc B580 GPU if you can get it. It has performed very well with my i5-13600k. Better than my RX 6700 XT in many cases.

I use one of these for Unraid and Plex. Works great.

I prefer AMD lately, but I've still been saying that 13600k is the best all around price:performance cpu out right now.

Before I bought my i5 13600k, I ran the i5 2500k for over a decade. I felt they were both cut from the same cloth.

19 months of heavy use and not a single crash.

I'm just finding this post and I've been using the i5 13600k for a year and a half. I have had zero issues!

Me and my friend both bought and built a computer with the i5 13600k and while his worked perfectly fine, mine has had to use my warranty because it keeps crashing and freezing. I think Intel is great and I prefer Intel over Ryzen but this issue isn't uncommon.

I have the 13700k without any problems, and the ones that have problems are the 13900 and 14900. Believe me, you won't have any problems with the 13700 or 13600.

I'm planning to get one. Was considering the 14600k instead but the improvements are absolutely negligible from what I've seen. Looks like it punches well above its own weight and that's all I need to know.

I've used a 13600k paired with a 4080 — it's great, but I use it at stock speed as I have trouble with stability once OC'd.

Upgraded from an 11700K and got some pretty big gains, and it's cool and quiet too on my Peerless Assassin.

2.5 years later of having mine with heavy gaming I have no issues with the cpu, never had a BSOD or any type of random crashes. Works like a charm with my current build.

My 13600k just died had it for 5 months. Liquid cooled too, and not overclocked.

I don't know if it's my 13600k causing the issues or not, but I've been having issues since I had the PC built. Freezes randomly in games, and struggles to even bring up task manager.

I have it for about a year, no issues.

My 13600k runs as my daily rendering animation and processing serious audio fx in my DAW. I run a lot of Adobe apps that seem to like Intel over AMD. I'm running it undervolted using Intel XTU. Had it since early 2023 — get one. They're cheap!

I have an i5-13600kf and it's amazing. This CPU is so good, I find it mostly sitting at 10-20% usage while running any of my games, and it is a good price too.