How Many Cores Do Intel Core i5-11500T CPUs Have?

In addition to discussing the number of cores in the 11500T, this article will discuss recommendations for compatible motherboards, CPU coolers, and memory.

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Intel's 11500T CPUs have 6 cores. The processor has a 1.50 GHz base frequency and supports a 3.90 GHz max turbo frequency.

Check out our Recommended Motherboards for the 11th Gen 11500T below.

The Intel Core i5-11500T has 12 threads.

For Intel's 11th gen processors, Hyper-Threading is available for each core. Hyper-Threading provides two threads for each of the 6 cores on the 11500T.

The processor has a 1.50 GHz base frequency and supports a 3.90 GHz max turbo frequency.

Processor Name Suffix	Meaning
T	"T" means it is a power-optimized lifestyle CPU. In other words, it is designed not to use as much power and thus not generate as much heat. These CPUs are ideal for lower-performance small form factor PCs and are sold as part of a pre-built system.

The 11500T model name doesn't have an F suffix. Non-F CPUs contain integrated graphics, and a separate graphics card isn't required if your motherboard includes video-output connectors (e.g., HDMI).

The 11500T model name doesn't have a K suffix. Non-K CPUs can not be overclocked.

A CPU cooler's TDP (Thermal Design Power) rating indicates how much heat it can dissipate in watts. If the cooler can't keep your CPU cool enough, your CPU may throttle (slow down), and your cooler will constantly run at full speed.

Intel CPU specifications indicate this power dissipation number as "Processor Base Power."

The Core i5-11500T has a TDP of 35 watts.

A CPU cooler can still work with a lower TDP rating than the TDP of a CPU. However, the CPU will eventually throttle itself to a lower frequency to allow itself to cool.

The CPU may not achieve or maintain maximum turbo speeds without adequate cooling.

Learn more in What is the Best Type of CPU cooler for a Gaming PC?.

For Intel's 11th generation Core i5 11500T processor, you'll need a motherboard with an LGA 1200 socket and a compatible 500-series or 400-series chipset.

Motherboards for Intel processors are made with chipsets provided by Intel. Each chipset offers a unique set of capabilities. However, motherboards must explicitly support features and capabilities for you to use them. Verify that a motherboard supports the features and capabilities you desire.

The lack of a "K" suffix in the model name 11500T means it doesn't support overclocking. Because of this, there is no need for you to use the top of the line Z590 or Z490 chipsets which support overclocking. Instead, you can use a motherboard with Intel's other 500 or 400-series desktop chipsets listed below.

For compatiblity with Intel's 11th generation Core processors, you can use any of the 500-series chipsets: Z590, H570, B560, H510. These are roughly sorted from most to least functionality. The W580 and Q570 chipsets are also compatible, but are intended for workstation and business use cases; their availability in stand-alone motherboards is limited.

Intel 500 Series Desktop Chipsets

	Z590	H570	B560	H510	W580	Q570
Recommended Usage	For Enthusiast Gamer PCs	For General Home and Gaming PCs	For Budget PCs	For Barebones PCs	For High-End Creative/Engineering Workstations	For Nicer Business PCs
Motherboard Availability					Limited	Limited
Launch Date	Q1 2021	Q1 2021	Q1 2021	Q1 2021	Q2 2021	Q2 2021
CPU Overclocking	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Memory Overclocking	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
PCIe 4.0 Slots via Processor (10th Gen CPUs at PCIe 3.0 Speeds)	One x16 + One x4 or Two x8 + One x4 or One x8 + Three x4	One x16 + One x4	One x16 + One x4	One x16	One x16 + One x4 or Two x8 + One x4 or One x8 + Three x4	One x16 + One x4 or Two x8 + One x4 or One x8 + Three x4
PCIe 3.0 Lanes via Chipset	Up to 24	Up to 20	Up to 12	Up to 6	Up to 24	Up to 24
Integrated Wireless	Wi-Fi 6 AX201	Wi-Fi 6 AX201	Wi-Fi 6 AX201	Wi-Fi 6 AX201	Wi-Fi 6 AX201	Wi-Fi 6 AX201
DMI 3.0 Lanes	8	8	4	4	8	8
USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps)	Up to 3	Up to 2	Up to 2	None	Up to 3	Up to 3
USB 3.2 Gen 2x1 (10 Gbps)	Up to 10	Up to 4	Up to 4	None	Up to 10	Up to 8
USB 3.2 Gen 1x1 (5 Gbps)	Up to 10	Up to 8	Up to 6	Up to 4	Up to 10	Up to 10
USB 2.0 Ports	14	14	12	10	14	14
SATA 3.0 Ports	6	6	6	4	8	6
PCIe RAID	0, 1, 5, 10	0, 1, 5, 10	None	None	0, 1, 5, 10	0, 1, 5, 10
SATA RAID	0, 1, 5, 10	0, 1, 5, 10	None	None	0, 1, 5, 10	0, 1, 5, 10

• Find Z590 Chipset 11th Gen Motherboards on Amazon (affiliate link).

• Find H570 Chipset 11th Gen Motherboards on Amazon (affiliate link).

• Find B560 Chipset 11th Gen Motherboards on Amazon (affiliate link).

• Find H510 Chipset 11th Gen Motherboards on Amazon (affiliate link).

While the budget-friendly 400-series B460 and H410 won't work with the 11th generation Core processors, the Z490 and H470 400-series chipsets are compatible. However, these chipsets were originally designed for the 10th generations Core processors, and will limit the capabilities of your system. The W480 and Q470 chipsets are also compatible, but are intended for workstation and business use cases; their availability in stand-alone motherboards is limited.

Intel 400 Series Desktop Chipsets

	Z490	H470	W480	Q470
Recommended Usage	For Enthusiast Gamer PCs	For General Home and Gaming PCs	For High-End Creative/Engineering Workstations	For Nicer Business PCs
Motherboard Availability			Limited	Limited
Launch Date	Q2 2020	Q2 2020	Q2 2020	Q2 2020
CPU Overclocking	Yes	No	No	No
Memory Overclocking	Yes	No	Yes	No
PCIe 3.0 Slots via Processor	One x16 or One x8 + Two x4	One x16	One x16 or One x8 + Two x4	One x16 or One x8 + Two x4
PCIe 3.0 Lanes via Chipset	24	20	24	24
Integrated Wireless	Wi-Fi 6 AX201	Wi-Fi 6 AX201	Wi-Fi 6 AX201	Wi-Fi 6 AX201
USB 3.2 Gen 2x1 (10 Gbps)	Up to 6	Up to 4	Up to 8	Up to 6
USB 3.2 Gen 1x1 (5 Gbps)	Up to 10	Up to 8	Up to 10	Up to 10
USB 2.0 Ports	14	14	14	14
SATA 3.0 Ports	6	6	8	6
PCIe RAID	0, 1, 5, 10	0, 1, 5, 10	0, 1, 5, 10	0, 1, 5, 10
SATA RAID	0, 1, 5, 10	0, 1, 5, 10	0, 1, 5, 10	0, 1, 5, 10

• Find Z490 Chipset 10th Gen Motherboards on Amazon (affiliate link).

• Find H470 Chipset 10th Gen Motherboards on Amazon (affiliate link).

Dell OptiPlex 5000 5090 Desktop Computer - Intel Core i5 11th Gen i5-11500T Check Price on Amazon Amazon Affiliate Link

• Our recommended feature-rich motherboard to pair with the Core i5-11500T is ASUS's ROG Maximus XIII Hero: ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Hero Check Price on Amazon Amazon Affiliate Link
  • Four NVMe M.2 slots, which is great! (two @ PCIe 4.0 speeds, two @ PCIe 3.0 speeds).
  • This board includes various headers for accessories, including 3 ARGB headers for lighting control and separate liquid pump header.
  • Audio noise canceling and an optical audio output port
  • Z590 chipset supports overclocking for K-prefixed CPUs.
  • PCIe 4.0 support
  • Wi-Fi 6E makes it easy to reach the fastest speeds and future-proof your Wi-Fi system.
  • Bluetooth 5.2 is great for streaming music to Bluetooth headphones.
  • Two 2.5 Gb Ethernet ports are faster than most Internet speeds with room to spare for file transfers.
  • USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 offers 20 Gbps USB speeds!
  • Check the latest price of the ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Hero on Amazon (affiliate link).

• Our recommended value motherboard to pair with the Core i5-11500T is the ASUS TUF Gaming Z590-Plus WiFi motherboard: ASUS TUF Gaming Z590-Plus WiFi Check Price on Amazon Amazon Affiliate Link
  • Three NVMe M.2 slots, which is excellent (one @ PCIe 4.0 speeds, two @ PCIe 3.0 speeds).
  • PCIe 4.0 support
  • Wi-Fi 6 makes it easy to reach the fastest speeds and future-proof your Wi-Fi system.
  • One 2.5 Gb Ethernet port, which is faster than most Internet speeds with room to spare for file transfers.
  • USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 offers 20 Gbps USB speeds!
  • Check the latest price of the ASUS TUF Gaming Z590-Plus WiFi on Amazon (affiliate link).

Locked Intel CPUs may come with a stock CPU cooler. These CPU models do not have a "K" in the name. While stock coolers will prevent your CPU from overheating, your CPU will throttle its performance during games and other intensive tasks. Higher TDP coolers will keep your CPU at turbo speeds for longer durations. Stock coolers are often quite loud at their maximum speed.

• This Enermax liquid cooler has an excellent cooling capability with a 360-watt TDP (Thermal Design Power).
• Supports a variety of CPU sockets, including Intel LGA 2066, 2011-3, 2011, 1700, 1200, 1366, 1156, 1155, 1151, 1150 and AMD AM4, AM3+, AM3, AM2+, AM2, FM2+, FM2, FM1.
• Quiet operation at 14-27 dBA.
• Make sure your computer case dimensions support this, as it will take up a decent amount of space! Enermax Liqmax III 360 Check Price on Amazon Amazon Affiliate Link

• Dual 140 mm fans provide 220-watt TDP (183 NSPR) of cooling capability.
• Supports a variety of CPU sockets, including Intel LGA 1700, 1200, 1156, 1155, 1151, 1150, 2011, 2066 and AMD AM4, AM3, AM3+, AM2, AM2+, FM2, FM2+.
• Quiet operation at 24.6 dBA. Noctua NH-D15, Premium CPU Cooler Check Price on Amazon Amazon Affiliate Link

• This CPU cooler doesn't have any fancy LED lights, but the dual 120 mm fans do a great job of cooling LGA 1200 CPUs.
• Suppose you think this cooler will take up too much space. In that case, Thermaltake has a few single-fan TOUGHAIR variants which use different orientations.
• This CPU cooler has a 2000 RPM max speed for optimal cooling.
• 180-watt TDP (Thermal Design Power). Thermaltake TOUGHAIR 510 Check Price on Amazon Amazon Affiliate Link

Before purchasing memory, review your motherboard specification to verify which speeds are supported. For example, if a DDR4 motherboard stated that it supports "DDR4 3400(O.C.) / 3333(O.C.) / 3300(O.C.) / 3200 / 3000," that would mean that it could support DDR4-3400, DDR4-3333, and DDR4-3300 with memory overclocking, and DDR4-3200 and DDR4-3000 at stock speeds. Motherboard specifications also indicate the maximum capacity per stick of RAM (DIMM) and across all slots.

• At an effective frequency of 3200 MHz, this memory hits the fastest DDR4 speed supported by Intel's Core i5 11500T CPU without overclocking.
• The low-profile form factor ensures that the heat spreaders don't get in the way of other devices, including your CPU heatsink. Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (2X16GB) 3200MHz DDR4 Check Price on Amazon Amazon Affiliate Link

• This DDR4 memory is designed for overclocking to an effective frequency of 3600 MHz. Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (2x16GB) 3600MHz DDR4 Check Price on Amazon Amazon Affiliate Link
• Supports XMP 2.0.
• Compact heat spreaders avoid conflicting with a CPU cooler.

• Choosing the Best RAM for Intel's Core i5-11500T CPU
• Choosing the Best Motherboard for Intel's Core i5-11500T
• How Many Cores Do Intel Core i5-11500T CPUs Have?
• What Is the TDP of the Core i5-11500T CPU?

You can find detailed 11500T specifications on Intel's site.

Want to brush up on other new technologies to consider when building a computer? Check out these articles:

• Cases:
  • How to Choose the Best PC Case
• CPUs:
  • Which Intel and AMD CPUs Support PCIe 5.0?
  • Which Intel and AMD CPUs Support PCIe 4.0?
  • LGA 1700 CPU List
  • LGA 1200 CPU List
  • Look up an Intel or AMD CPU on TechReviewer for related recommendations:
• CPU Coolers:
  • What is the Best Type of CPU cooler for a Gaming PC?
  • How to Choose a CPU Cooler for Your PC
  • Best LGA 1700 CPU Cooler for Intel's 12th Gen Core Processors
  • Best AM4 CPU Cooler for AMD Processors
• Storage:
  • Can an SSD Improve PC Gaming Performance? and Does an SSD Increase FPS for PC Gaming?
  • Storage Type Comparison: M.2, U.2, NVMe, SATA, SSDs, HDDs
• Memory:
  • How to Choose the Best RAM for Your PC
  • How Much RAM Do You Need for Gaming? and Is 32 GB of RAM Worth It for Gaming?
  • DDR4 vs. DDR5? Which You Should Buy
  • Is DDR5 Worth It? The Benefits of DDR5 and What Is DDR5?
  • Which Intel and AMD CPUs Support DDR5?
• PCI-Express:
  • Is PCIe 5.0 Worth It?
• Motherboards:
  • Which Motherboards Support PCIe 5.0?
  • Which Motherboards Support PCIe 4.0?
  • Which Motherboard Should You Buy for Intel's 12th Gen CPUs?
• Graphics Cards:
  • Which Graphics Cards Support PCIe 4.0?
• Power Supplies:
  • How to Choose the Best Power Supply for a Gaming PC
  • How to Choose a PC Power Supply
• Keyboards:
  • Best Mechanical Keyboard for Gaming
• Monitors:
  • How to Choose a Gaming Monitor