The Intel Core i5-14500 is the objective winner of this comparison, securing victory in eight of the fourteen evaluated specifications. Its most significant technical advantage over the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is its L2 cache, which is 617% larger. While the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 holds a 58% advantage in Max Turbo Power, the superior cache capacity of the Intel Core i5-14500 provides a more substantial lead across the majority of the measured categories.

Users prioritizing high-capacity cache for modern computing tasks should select the Intel Core i5-14500 to leverage its significant architectural lead. Conversely, the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 remains a viable alternative for those specifically seeking the efficiency profile offered by its Max Turbo Power advantage. Your final decision should depend on whether your primary requirements align with the cache-heavy architecture of the Intel processor or the power-focused specifications of the AMD model.