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One of the most hotly contested titles in the industry is “best CPU for Gaming.” This title changes hands with each new generation of processors. When looking for the best CPU for gaming, you’ll want to find a good balance between performance, features, and your PC’s budget. You can also see how these processors compare to each other in our CPU benchmarks hierarchy.
For more information on how to choose the best processor for your gaming computer, check out our 2023 CPU Buying Guide. And if you’re not sure which CPU maker to choose, our AMD vs. Intel article goes into detail about the two and picks a winner. Even though they don’t get as much attention as GPUs, the best CPUs for gaming are an important part of building the dream gaming PC.
Best CPU for Gaming
Intel Core i5-13400
Features
The 10-core, 16-thread Raptor Lake Core i5-13400, which costs $221, and the graphics-less Core i5-13400F, which costs $196, build on the gaming performance of the previous-generation model, which has been the go-to mid-range gaming chip for a long time. However, the addition of four e-cores improves performance in threaded productivity workloads.
The 13400 is the best chip for mid-range gaming PCs because it supports DDR4 memory. This makes it the best value in the $200 price range. The chip has six P-cores that support hyper-threading and run at a base clock speed of 2.5 GHz and a boost clock speed of 4.6 GHz. The maximum speed of the four e-cores for threaded tasks is 3.3 GHz.
Pros
- Platform pricing due to DDR4 support
- PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 memory
- Supports memory overclocking
- Adequate boxed cooler
Cons
- Requires LGA1700 motherboard
- Not fully overclockable
AMD Ryzen 5 7600
Features
The Ryzen 5 7600 competes with the Core i5-13400F, which costs $196 and is a strong competitor in terms of price. However, if you want to use DDR5 memory, the Ryzen 5 7600 is a good choice. Even though the Ryzen 5 7600 is 7% faster in games at stock and overclocked settings than the Core i5-13400F, the price difference between these two chips isn’t as big as it seems.
That’s mostly because Ryzen only works with expensive DDR5 memory and AMD’s B-series motherboards are usually more expensive, both of which make your build much more expensive. So, the Ryzen 5 7600 can’t compete with the value of a DDR4-powered Core i5-13400F system. You’ll pay 35% more for the Ryzen system and about 25% more per frame to get a 7% boost in 1080p gaming performance.
Pros
- Overclockable
- iGPU
- Bundled cooler
Cons
- Requires AM5 motherboard
Intel Core i5 13600K
Features
The Intel Core i5 13600K is another powerful mid-range chip from Intel. Even though this Raptor Lake chip is cheaper, you can expect a big boost in the number of cores. This is the chip that most gamers should look at first for their next gaming PC because it is well-tuned for high frame rates. The Core i5 13600K is a 14-core processor with a total of 20 threads, made up of six Hyper-Threaded Performance-cores (P-cores) and eight Efficient-cores (E-cores).
This chip has four more E-cores than its predecessor, the Core i5 12600K, but don’t be fooled by the E-cores’ small name and size on the silicon. With those four extra cores, the performance of multiple threads goes up by a lot. The Core i5 13600K’s Cinebench score for a single thread? The same as a Core i9 12900K in every way.
Pros
- Basically a Core i9
- Fairly efficient
- Cheaper 600-series platform available
Cons
- Slower than last-gen in some games
Intel Core i9 13900K
Features
The Core i9 13900K from Intel is amazing at what it does, which is pretty much everything. Gaming? Yes, it can work well with the latest GPUs and high frame rates. Multitasking? Easy, yes. With 24 cores, it can handle a lot of things happening at the same time. Work that requires a lot of creativity? Yes, it doesn’t even break a sweat. With the Core i9 13900K, Intel’s hybrid architecture has really come into its own.
You can probably throw it at any problem and it will solve it in record time. The Core i9 13900K is so fast that it makes the old HEDT chips look slow. In Cinebench R23, the Core i9 13900K from Intel is almost 10,000 points ahead of the Core i9 12900K. The Core i9 13900K is 60% faster than the Alder Lake chip in the Blender Junk Shop test.
Pros
- Super quick and responsive
- Cheaper 600-series platform available
Cons
- Power hungry
Intel Core i5-12600K
Features
The new 12th generation Intel i5 Alder Lake processor does what people thought Rocket Lake would do earlier this year. It also beats the AMD Ryzen 5000 series in terms of price-to-performance, which is hard to argue with. If you compare the Intel Core i5-12600K to the less popular Intel Core i9-11900K, you’ll find that the 12600K is better and costs a lot less.
Even though its performance has been well-documented, it doesn’t make the top spot in our roundup for one simple reason: it doesn’t run every game yet. Digital rights management (DRM) is the problem with some newer games, like Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and Immortals: Fenyx Rising. This means that some games won’t even start, and others might not work with Windows 10.
Pros
- Faster than 11th gen i9 CPUs
- Outperforms most of the Ryzen 5000 line
Cons
- Has trouble running some PC games
- Compatibility issues with Windows 10
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
Features
The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X is the first of a new generation of CPUs and GPUs that will come out in the coming months. But this isn’t the best gaming CPU we were hoping for, even though it has a lot of new features, a whole new AM5 motherboard platform, and a shiny new heatspreader design. We mean, we like it.
And it definitely beats the 16-core Ryzen 9 5950X from the Zen 3 generation. However, this Zen 4 chip has to deal with Alder Lake and Raptor Lake, which are new CPU architectures from Intel. Now that the Core i9 13900K has so many cores, it’s getting very close to the Ryzen 7 7950X’s territory for high core counts.
Pros
- Eco Mode bangs
- 5.9GHz?!
Cons
- Do you need a 16-core CPU?
FAQs
Which is the best gaming CPU?
The Core i9-13900K is Intel’s fastest gaming processor. It’s not quite as fast as AMD’s Ryzen 9 5900X3D, but it’s faster than the other chips in the Ryzen 7000 family and has a more balanced performance profile.
Which CPU is the most powerful?
In 2021, the Ryzen ThreadRipper 3990X for desktop PCs from AMD, which has 64 cores and 128 threads, is thought to be the world’s fastest CPU. The CPU has a base clock of 2.9 GHz and a max boost clock of 4.3 GHz, which makes it easy to switch between tasks and quick to load.
Which is the No 1 gaming PC in the world?
Gaming Desktop PC from DELL, the Optiplex Tower. Alienware R10 Gaming Desktop. Corsair ONE i200 LE Compact PC. Maingear Vybe Gaming Desktops.
Do gamers prefer Ryzen or Intel?
To sum up, Intel is still the leader in CPUs because it has the best mix of price and performance. Intel CPUs are the best choice for gamers because they have the fastest single-thread clock speeds. AMD is getting more and more competitive, and their new Ryzen 9 chip is the most powerful CPU made for consumers.