For most gamers, this processor will likely be more than enough to keep you satisfied. And, adding to its value, it only runs at 65 watts and comes with its own cooler to keep those temperatures in check.
This CPU has enough might to handle the average gamers needs and can definitely hold up if you're in a GPU-bound scenario. Better still, if you're having trouble getting your hands on a new graphics card, this chip's onboard graphics will let you get your computer up and running even without dedicated graphics. Meanwhile, the seven Radeon Graphics cores can muster some modest p gaming performance.
It's — who still wants a high-end CPU with a paltry core count in the single digits? With the Ryzen 9 X, you can scoot right into the double digits with 12 cores and 24 threads.
This CPU will blast through whatever work you throw at it so you can move right along to gaming. It's unlikely you'll find a game that this CPU can't handle with ease, even if you're playing at p to push the processor to its limits while gaming at high frame rates.
This processor also nets you access to PCIe 4. If you don't want to bet the performance of your gaming rig on a budget CPU, the Intel Core iK can meet you in the middle. This chip also comes with integrated graphics that can help you get your next PC build set up even if you don't have the graphics card yet.
With six cores and 12 threads capable of running at up to 4. And, if you're finding the CPU is holding you back, you can try to eke even more power out of it as it is an overclockable model. Just make sure you get an adequate CPU cooler if you plan to push the overclocks. Though this one stays at the same 65W TDP as its smaller sibling, AMD has packed in eight cores with multi-threading, and the processor can hit boost clocks up to 4.
This chip also comes with a little extra oomph in the graphics department thanks to an extra graphics core, bringing the total to eight Radeon Graphics cores.
Now, that's officially mainstream — or enthusiast anyway. Plus, it keeps those cores fed with information thanks to a hefty 64MB L3 cache. With this many cores, you'll have no problem recording and streaming your gameplay. And, when it comes to editing, the Ryzen 9 X won't miss a beat. You won't even need an exotic cooler for this chip, as it only has a W TDP. These will be coming in the form of the mid-range Ryzen 5 G and the higher-end Ryzen 7 G. For PC builders on a budget, these could be very promising products.
And, with their integrated graphics, they can help you get gaming while avoiding the graphics card shortage that has plagued the market for the better part of a year now. So, these could be a solid bet for esports fans. HEDT processors are less prevalent and are easy enough to spot. The next thing you should be mindful of is how many cores a processor has.
You'll find the Intel Core i5 K newly installed at the top of our list, and for very good reason—it offers awesome gaming performance at a great price point. Value for money is important, if only because it means you can spend more of your budget on other things like SSDs, better motherboards, more memory, or maybe, just maybe, a better graphics card at some point—if the silicon shortage ever ends.
Saving a few dollars here and there on the core components can lead to a much better overall gaming PC. That's something we can definitely get behind. This is made up of plenty of the latest games as well as 3D and video rendering workloads, just because we're all content creators and streamers now. Games are still the most important tests for us though, hopefully for obvious reasons.
Make sure you check our best gaming motherboard list if you are planning to do a brand new build. It's still a big pile of cash for a processor, but if you're a gamer that also has a creative bent, then this will pay for itself quickly enough.
That it's an awesome gaming chip as well is just the icing on the cake. This is a seriously impressive chip too—it runs circles around even the 11th Gen Core i9, so you don't want to spend too much on one of those while this chip is available. The only downside here is a higher platform cost, as only the more premium Z chipset is currently available to purchase.
That said, it's recently been replaced by the more capable Core i5 K, though you can't find that for anywhere near as cheap.
The bonus here is you can also save cash on a cheaper motherboard, so it's all-around a great pick for a budget PC. Intel's 12th Gen Alder Lake processors are a vital return to form for Intel. Its underlying hybrid design was seen as a gamble when it was first announced, with its combo of performance and efficient cores not obviously bringing much to the desktop experience. It's a gamble that has unquestionably paid off though, and the gaming performance offered by Intel's latest CPUs is nothing short of incredible.
The Core i5 K is the standout processor for gamers because it not only offers great gaming performance across the board, but it does so at a price point that isn't going to reduce you to tears. That it soundly beats the Core i9 K is just the icing on the cake. As this is a new platform, you will need to pick up a new motherboard and probably new memory while you're at it—Alder Lake supports DDR5 as well as DDR4.
That means the initial outlay may be a bit more than you planned, but the performance is worth it, and it isn't a power-draining beast either, so you won't need an outlandish cooler to get the most from it.
Throw in future-looking support for PCIe 5. Long live the king. Read our full Intel Core i5 K review. That the Core i5 K takes the top spot is hard to argue with—awesome performance at a good price will do that—but Intel's top chip hitting the second spot may be a little more surprising. The reasoning here is that the vast majority of gamers should get the Core i5, leaving this second spot covering those that need even more performance.
If you're building a high-end PC not just for high-end, 4K gaming, but for more serious pursuits like 3D rendering and video editing, then this is the chip for you.
It's a powerhouse, no question about it, but one that really needs a system built around it to make it shine—you'll need a beefy PSU to get that absolute best from it, and a serious cooler wouldn't hurt either.
The fact that there is plenty of overclocking headroom will allow you to push it to a whole new level as well. When it comes to gaming performance, this is the fastest chip out there, by a considerable margin. The problem is, you only get a few more frames per second over our top recommendation and you have to pay royally for the privelige.
And even when you're buying an 'ethusiast' class CPU, you still need to have an eye on overall value for money. Read our full Intel Core i9 K review.
There's very little between any of the Ryzen chips in games, which means you'll hit the same frame rates with this chip as you will the more expensive Ryzen 9 X. Which is incredible when you think about it—top-tier performance from the most affordable Zen 3 CPU? We'll say yes to that every single day.
This does have half the core count of the X, rolling in as it does with six cores and 12 threads. However, this is only an issue with those more serious workloads, which is more than sufficient for more reasonable stuff. You could argue that gaming could go beyond the threads we have here, but there's no evidence that is the case so far, and that's even though the next-gen consoles are rocking 8-cores and threads. The Ryzen 5 X also bucks the Ryzen family's trend by shipping with a Wraith Stealth cooler, so you don't have to drop extra money on a third-party chiller.
You don't need to, but if you do, you'll hit higher clocks for longer and also open up the wonderful world of overclocking, which could make it worthwhile. This is a decent little overclocker, and while it won't affect gaming much, it'll help in other areas nicely.
The key takeaway for us as gamers is that this improvement means AMD pushed Intel to improve, and improve it did with Alder Lake. Whatever resolution you are gaming at, this processor can handle it and keep your graphics card of choice fed with many juicy frames. The fact that this is a core, thread monster means that it can cope with anything else you throw at it as well.
So if you have dreams of 3D rendering, video editing, or any other serious tasks, you'll know that you have the raw grunt to handle it. That it won't hold you back when gaming makes it even sweeter. The only real downside is the pricing and the dropping of the Wraith cooler—don't forget to factor in when you buy.
You do get what you pay for, though, and this is a phenomenal chip for gaming and anything else you might want to do. If you're in the market for absolute power, you could step up to the Ryzen 9 X , which gives you 16 cores and 32 threads. Okay, with the K being a frustrating chip, maybe it's not a total return to the old days, but the K is still an outstanding six-core, thread gaming processor. It's also affordable too, with a price tag well underneath the Ryzen 5 X and performance figures that have it trading blows with AMD's otherwise excellent Zen 3 chip.
The Cypress Cove 14nm backport may have made it relatively power-hungry, but that doesn't stop it from being a great gaming CPU and one that delivers a lot of processor silicon for not a lot of cash.
And PCIe 4. Though that is of dubious benefit at the moment as our testing has not so far gone well with supported PCIe 4. That will hopefully change, but even so, this is still one of the best cheap gaming CPUs around. The Core i5 F is a surprisingly exciting option. It's slightly faster than the previous-gen Core i5 , but that F-suffix means it ditches the Intel integrated graphics completely.
Overall, it's an excellent budget-friendly choice that doesn't cost much more than a Core i3 part. There are other compromises, like the locked multiplier—no overclocking here. But you can save money and grab an H motherboard. At least you get a cooler in the box, something we'd like to see as an option with every CPU. Most boards will happily run the F at 3. Future games may start to push beyond its 6-core capabilities, but probably not before you're ready for an upgrade.
Right now, the i5 F is plenty fast and extremely affordable. If the Intel Core i7 K didn't exist, this would be an incredible chip and would have been higher up the recommendations, no sweat. It's excellent for gaming, producing the exact figures that can be seen for the X and X. Still, it also appears to hit the sweet spot in configuration terms, with its eight cores and 16 threads surely seeing it right for the future, seeing as that is what the Xbox Series X and Playstation 5 are rocking.
Unfortunately for AMD, Intel does exist, and the blue company's latest Core i7 trounces this in plenty of the more critical metrics but has this chip beat in one significant way—value for money. This can be faster in some tasks, and if that's what you've got an eye on, then buy this and don't give it a second thought.
But if you're mainly looking at gaming, Intel does better and costs less. And that's hard for AMD to get away from. Competition aside, this is still Zen 3 strutting its stuff, and it does that impressively well.
Throw in the support for PCIe 4. AMD's APUs are the best processors to drop into your rig if you're not going to use a discrete graphics card, but still want a modicum of gaming performance out of your system. That makes this a chip that's almost up there with the best of the Ryzen series CPUs in processing power, but with the graphical grunt to deliver p gaming on low settings in some seriously demanding titles.
At the same time, you wait for discrete graphics cards to be available and without compromising too heavily on your system performance in the meantime. The issue is that, as the G is a monolithic design rather than chiplet, there are some performance differences compared to the standard Ryzen 7 X, a straight eight-core, thread CPU without graphics. It also lacks PCIe 4. But it's still an excellent all-around AMD processor and a handy option when graphics cards are still so rare.
While gaming resolutions run from p to 4K, we largely test at p. We've also used high-end G.
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