If I had $300 to spend on a budget Intel upgrade, here's the CPU, motherboard and RAM I'd buy this Black Friday
Amongst all the hoo-hah over the latest hardware releases, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that some of the slightly older components of yesteryear don't suddenly age out into obscurity the second a new model is released. Canny buyers will often look out for deals a generation or two back, grabbing super-speedy components at a great price that others may have overlooked simply because they're not the latest and greatest thing.
As Black Friday 2023 kicks into high gear, I've spotted some slightly older components that go together like cheese and wine, and as a combo I reckon this would make the basis of a fantastic budget gaming PC, all for just under $300.
Bit of a magic trick this one, so make sure you're watching very closely...
Intel Core i5 12600KF | 10 cores, 20 threads | 6 P-cores + 8 E-cores | 4.9GHz | LGA 1700 | $311.25$140 at Amazon (save $171.25)
The Core i5 12600KF has been around for a little while now, but don't let that fool you into thinking its no longer a great performing CPU. It comes close to its more recent siblings in the benchmarks for a lot less money, and while it's a little power hungry compared to some of its competition we still think it makes a fantastic CPU for a modern gaming rig.
Price check: Newegg $159.99
Let's kick things off with a bang. This Intel Core i5 12600KF might be from the older Alder Lake family, but it's certainly far from a slouch. Those 10 cores (six performance, four efficient) and that 4.9GHz turbo frequency means that when it comes to gaming benchmarks this chip actually isn't that far off of our current favorite gaming CPU, the much newer Intel Core i5 13600K.
It's the KF designation too, which means it's unlocked and ready to overclock providing you pair it with
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