The Intel Core i5-11600KF was a desktop processor with 6 cores, launched in March 2021, at an MSRP of $237. It is part of the Core i5 lineup, using the Rocket Lake-S architecture with Socket 1200. Thanks to Intel Hyper-Threading the core-count is effectively doubled, to 12 threads. Core i5-11600KF has 12 MB of L3 cache and operates at 3.9 GHz by default, but can boost up to 4.9 GHz, depending on the workload. Intel is building the Core i5-11600KF on a 14 nm production process, the transistor count is unknown. You may freely adjust the unlocked multiplier on Core i5-11600KF, which simplifies overclocking greatly, as you can easily dial in any overclocking frequency.
With a TDP of 125 W, the Core i5-11600KF consumes a lot of power, so good cooling is definitely needed. Intel's processor supports DDR4 memory with a dual-channel interface. The highest officially supported memory speed is 3200 MT/s, but with overclocking (and the right memory modules) you can go even higher. For communication with other components in the system, Core i5-11600KF uses a PCI-Express Gen 4 connection. This processor does not have integrated graphics, you will need a separate graphics card.
Hardware virtualization is available on the Core i5-11600KF, which greatly improves virtual machine performance. Additionally, IOMMU virtualization (PCI passthrough) is supported, so that guest virtual machines may directly use host hardware. Programs using Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) will run on this processor, boosting performance for calculation-heavy applications. Besides AVX, Intel has added support for the newer AVX2 and AVX-512 instructions, too.