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Intel Best Value CPU! $1500-1600 Intel i5-13600K DDR5 Gaming Build

Henrique 
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Intel high-end CPU lineup is vast, with options like the i9-13900K and i7-13700K, options that doesn’t make much sense for gaming only builds, something that the more affordable i5-13600K shines at, delivering excellent gaming performance, good productivity performance, with lower power consumption, that can be cooled by less expensive cooling solutions.

The Intel i5-13600K has great gaming performance for it’s price point, trading blows with the competition, like the more expensive Ryzen 7 7700X, and also with other Intel CPUs, like the i7-13700K. For those who need multi-threaded performance, the i5-13600K comes with 6x performance cores and 8x efficient cores, so it’s also a good option for some CPU intensive workloads.

  • The i5-13600K competes in both price and performance with the AMD Ryzen 7 7700/7700X, also consider taking a look at an AMD Ryzen 7700 Build

CPU

The 13th Intel i5 unlocked CPU comes in two versions, the i5-13600K with integrated graphics, and one without, the i5-13600KF. Other than that they are the same CPU, with the same capabilities, clock, cache and performance.

Our Recommendation: Intel i5-13600K (The iGPU is worth having, and usually price difference is almost negligible)

CPU Cooler

The i5-13600K can easily be cooled by a good Air Cooler, the Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120, be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 5 and many others are all you need for a cool operation while gaming.

For those who want to overclock the i5-13600K, or use the CPU in intensive applications, a good 360mm AIO would be a better pick, for that, options like the ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 360 (compatible case required) would be the main recommendation,

Our Recommendation: Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 & Thermalright Peerless Assassin 140, or similar in the $35-60 price range.

Air Cooler

Water cooler

  • Be aware that the ARCTIC radiator thickness is 38mm (Without Fans) and might not fit in all cases.

Motherboard

It doesn’t take much to run the i5-13600K, and most Z790, even higher-end B760 motherboard, like the Gigabyte B760 AORUS ELITE AX DDR5, will do the job really well. There’s not a whole lot to upgrade to, LGA 1700 is a platform at the end of it’s life cycle, and spending too much on it is not recommended.

Our Recommendation: ASUS TUF Gaming Z790-Plus WIFI (or similar Z790 DDR5 motherboard in the $200 price range)

RAM

Intel can benefit a bit from high frequency RAM, of course, at some point you start having diminishing returns, and with 2x16GB 6000 CL30 and 2x16GB 6400 CL32 kits in the $95-120 range, it makes sense to stay in that price range for optimal performance and stability for the money.

Our Recommendation: G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 2x16GB 6400 CL32 (Or similar 2x16GB kit, 6000MT/s or better, CL32 or lower, in the $95-120 price range)

Storage

For games, a good SSD is a must have, faster loading times, faster access times, better usability of your new PC, everything will be faster and more responsive. Intel 13th gen CPUs and Z790 Motherboards can make use of PCIe 5.0/4.0 SSDs, and since PCIe 5.0 SSDs won’t bring a significant improvement in gaming, it makes sense to look into a high-end 1TB or 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD.

Our Recommendation: Any 1TB SSD if you want to be close to the $1500 budget.

1TB PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD

2TB PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD

Cases

For a high-end build a good airflow case is extremely necessary, not only that, but you also need one that fits all the components you choose, like PSU, CPU Cooler, AIO, GPU etc. A good mid or full-tower airflow case around $100-150 would be recommended for a build like this.

Our Recommendation: Lian Li Lancool 216 (Excellent cooling and value) or NZXT H5 Flow (Space, quality), or similar case in the $100-150 price range.

PSU

The GPUs listed bellow are quite efficient, and easy on the power supply requirements, but the recommended spec is to buy at least a 850W ATX 3.0 & PCIE5 PSU for this build, so you have some headroom for improvements and upgrades later. Power supplies like the Thermaltake GF3 850W, MSI MPG A850G PCIE5 Corsair RM850e and others, are great examples of high quality PSUs to pair with this build.

Our recommendation: Corsair RM850x ATX 3.1 or NZXT C850 ATX 3.1 (Or similar high quality ATX 3.0 & PCIE5 850W PSU in a similar price range).

850W PSUs

GPU

Right now, one of the best GPUs available for a build in this price range is the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 12GB. It offers support for DLSS 4, a somewhat decent, but not amazing 12GB of VRAM and improved Ray Tracing performance when compared to the RTX 4070.

Overall, the RTX 5070 offers similar performance to the previous RTX 4070 SUPER, but with support for the new Nvidia technology.

Our Recommendation: GeForce RTX 5070 12GB

Nvidia

Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER 12GB

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