INTEL Core™ i5 12600K or INTEL Core™ i5 12600

[Vitali]

Dear all, I am building right now a HTPC small formfactor PC, which has very limited space

for the processor cooler - fan. I have purchased Noctua NH-L9i-17xx Low-Profile CPU Cooler, and

in my country the price for INTEL Core™ i5 12600K or INTEL Core™ i5 12600 processors

is about the same. And I do not know which one is better to buy, as INTEL Core™ i5 12600

dissipates less heat, and more suitable for small form factor PC, while INTEL Core™ i5 12600K

is faster.

Could you please advise me if it is possible in BIOS of my motherboard (Asus ROG STRIX Z690-I Gaming Wi-Fi) – to reduce operating frequencies of INTEL Core™ i5 12600K to make it operate with the same TDP 65 Watts as INTEL Core™ i5 12600?

I would prefer faster processor, but I am worried about heat dissipation by a faster processor.

Sincerely,

Vitalii

[AlHill]

You need to discuss ASUS bios issues with ASUS,

Doc (not an Intel employee or contractor)
[Waiting for Windows 12]

[Vitali]

Sorry, may be due to my poor English I did not word my question correctly. I have no questions regarding Asus BIOS, I was asking will it be possible to operate INTEL Core™ i5 12600K processor at reduced frequency with the help of Intel Z690 chip-set motherboard so that to reduce heat dissipation to the level of INTEL Core™ i5 12600 processor?

[megan3000 · Accepted solution]

HTPC small formfactor PC... do you mean home theater PC?

if the purposes is just for home theater PC (Netflix, Prime Video, local video streaming, ISO DVD files, and so on) I doesn't make sense for me to build a Core™ i5 12600K-based PC... I would rather look for a mini PC for that purpose... You may take a look a some of the newer Intel NUCs with 11th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/details/nuc/kits.html

There are other manufactures that also offers mini PCs... For instance, I have a HP mini PC G3 600 and I enjoy with no complains my streaming apps and and playback of stored local movies... it has support for 4K as well

Back to your main question, almost any newer BIOS from a decent manufacturer offers possibilities to adjust CPU frequency in the BIOS and maybe also through software, but keep in mind that this is risky and you may impact your availability for warranty for both CPU and mobo...

To be honest... I don't think it is a good plan to buy a high-end power CPU (i5-12600K) to end up undervolting it if the only purposes is streaming (HTPC) ... is like buying a rally or F1 car and trying to adjust their wheels and engine to use it just on the city's streets.. I'm not saying you shouldn't buy the i5-12600K, I'm just sharing my personal opinion...

If you think you may use this PC for other tasks (high demanding tasks) and gaming, the Core™ i5 12600K will surely perform better, but you will need to keep an eye on the temperatures ...

Anyway... Noctua says that that cooler is compatible with the CPU 12600K. Check this link: https://ncc.noctua.at/cpus/model/Intel-Core-i5-12600K-1581

But... I would also be worried about the internal airflow in the PC since the 12600K would be hotter since it has higher TDP...

The i5-12600K has the double of TDP requirement than the i5-12600 so I'm not sure how hard (if possible) it would be to lower its TPD to the 12600's level...

i5-12600 doesn't have Efficient-cores so you only have P-cores to compare each other...

Look for the User's Manual of the Asus motherboard and check the BIOS options they have... and ask Asus or asus forums about similar experience or similar rigs...

I know Intel blocked undervolting on previous generations of processors due to security threads... so I'm not sure if this is still applicable to this new 12th gen...

[Vitali]

Thank You! It helps a lot. As for your question why I want to use a high end processor for HTPC, the answer is the following:

1) It has Intel UHD Graphics 770 built in, and I am not planning to buy an additional video card (the prices are plain crazy)

2) I believe Intel UHD Graphics 770 has built in hardware decoders (encoders?) for H264 and H265 codecs. In case of any new codec to be introduced in future, I hope to be able to rely on software decoding with the help of high end processor.

3) I will be using this HTPC with 4K TV, but in future I plan to buy 8K TV.

Thank You again for your piece of advice, I will follow it.

Sincerely,

Vitalii