Best CPU For Gaming: The Best CPU For Gaming In 2022
The best CPU for gaming is the silicon brain of your gaming PC. Its intuitive smarts will give you that expensive new graphics card you've got to work at its full potential. Powerful performance at a reasonable price is what you want, with plenty of cores for content creation, streaming, productivity, and whatever else you use your PC to do.
The new Intel Rocket Lake chips are out now, and while the best CPU of the 11th generation, the Core i9 11900K, is a bit of a mess, the Core i5 11600K offers excellent value for money today. AMD is still the king of all its surveys, however, with its excellent Zen 3 chips, the particularly stunning Ryzen 9 5900X, our absolute favorite processor today.
There's a little problem with the CPU market right now: stock levels. Just as graphics cards from Nvidia and AMD sold out in seconds, so too did AMD's Ryzen 5000 series processors. They are wonderful chips, but actually getting your hands on one can be a struggle. The Ryzen 5 5600X and Ryzen 7 5800X are in better shape in terms of stock, but the 12-core 5900X is still disappointingly tough. Don't give up hope, though, as stocks have been known to return, if only for a moment.
AMD is looking to expand its manufacturing with some new B2 stepping chips, although we have no word on when this might impact the market.
Once you've decided which CPU you want to machine, the next question is what kind of motherboard you should choose. The new Ryzen 5000 chips still use the AM4 socket and are compatible with X570, B550, and A520 motherboards (oh, and B450 and X470 motherboards). Intel's Comet Lake chips use the LGA 1200 socket, and Rocket Lake has introduced new 500-series boards. Unless you're desperate for the weird PCIe 4.0 solution the new Intel chips offer we'll probably still go with the Z490 or cheaper B460 motherboards for Intel at this point. Thankfully, our picks for the best gaming motherboards are compatible with the CPUs on this list.
Top 5 Best CPU For Gaming
1. AMD Ryzen 9 5900X ( Best CPU For Gaming )
2. Intel Core i5 11600K ( Best CPU For Gaming )
3. AMD Ryzen 5 5600X ( Best CPU For Gaming )
4. AMD Ryzen 7 5800X ( Best CPU For Gaming )
5. Intel Core i9 10900K ( Best CPU For Gaming )
All the space CPUs selected here have been selected based on their best performance and their ratings and these are the best popular on Amazon. You Can Buy Now From Amazon
1. AMD Ryzen 9 5900X ( Best CPU For Gaming )
The best CPU for gaming right now
REASONS TO BUY
- The best CPU for gaming
- Awesome performance throughout
- Fast and efficient architecture
REASONS TO AVOID
- Often out of stock
AMD's Zen architecture has improved with each generation, but the fact that AMD managed to improve 19 percent IPC with the Zen 3 isn't staggering. What's important to us as gamers is that this improvement means that AMD can now stand toe-to-toe with Intel in terms of gaming. To be honest, there is so little between these two now that anyone claiming otherwise is under delusions.
Whatever resolution you're gaming at, this processor can handle it and feed your graphics card of choice with plenty of juicy frames. The fact that it's a 12-core, 24-thread monster means it can withstand anything you throw at it. So if you have a dream to do 3D rendering, video editing, or any other serious task, you'll know you have the raw Grunt to handle it. The fact that it won't hold you back when gaming makes it even sweeter.
The only real downside is the pricing and downsides of the Wraith cooler - don't forget to factor in when you buy. You do get what you pay for, however, and this is a phenomenal chip for gaming and anything else you want to do.
If you're in the market for real power, you can move up to the Ryzen 9 5950X, which gives you 16 cores and 32 threads. However, it costs $250 more, and for gaming purposes and even most content creation tasks, the 5900X is more than enough.
2. Intel Core i5 11600K ( Best CPU For Gaming )
Intel's best gaming CPU is a great value proposition
REASONS TO BUY
- Undercuts 5600X on price
- High-end gaming performance
- Solid multithreading chops
REASONS TO AVOID
- iGPU is still quite weak
The Core i5 11600K is my favorite chip of the new Rocket Lake generation, marking a nostalgic return to the old days of Intel CPU launches. The top processor was always a good Halo product, but the i5 was where the price/performance metrics really sold a new generation. OK, with the 11900K being a disappointing chip, it's probably not a total return to the old days, but the 11600K is still an excellent six-core, 12-thread gaming processor.
It's also incredibly affordable, with a price tag well below the Ryzen 5 5600X and performance figures that have business going on with AMD's otherwise excellent Zen 3 chip. The Cypress Cove 14nm backport may have made it power-hungry, but that doesn't stop it from being a great gaming CPU and one that delivers a lot of processor silicon for a lot of cash.
and supports PCIe 4.0 on Intel 500-series motherboards. However, this is of questionable benefit at this point in time as our tests haven't gone well with supported PCIe 4.0 SSDs so far. That will hopefully change, but even so, it's still one of the cheapest gaming CPUs out there.
3. AMD Ryzen 5 5600X ( Best CPU For Gaming )
AMD's top affordable, and available, Zen 3 CPU today
REASONS TO BUY
- Awesome gaming performance
- Great value for money
- Decent overclocking potential
- Wraith Stealth included
REASONS TO AVOID
- $50 more than 3600X
- ... 3600X came with a better cooler
When it comes to gaming, what's great about the 5900X also holds true for this more affordable Zen 3 chip. There's nothing in-between with any of the Ryzen 5000 chips in the game, which means you'll hit the same frame rates with this chip as you would our number one pick. Which is incredible when you think about it - top-tier performance from the most affordable Zen 3 CPUs? We'll say yes to it every single day.
It has half the core count of that top chip, as it does with 6 cores and 12 threads. It's only an issue with those more serious workloads, and it's more than enough for the more reasonable stuff. You could argue that gaming could go beyond the 12-threads we have here, but there's no evidence that's the case as of now, and even though next-gen consoles may rock 8-core and 16-threads Have you been
The Ryzen 5 5600X also follows the trend of the Ryzen 5000 family by shipping with the Wraith Stealth cooler, so you don't need to spend the extra money on a third-party chiller. You don't need to, but if you do, you'll be hitting higher clocks for longer and also open up to the wonderful world of overclocking that can make it worthwhile. It's a nice little overclocker, and though it won't affect gaming much, it will help in other areas well.
4. AMD Ryzen 7 5800X ( Best CPU For Gaming )
A great mid-range chip for serious work and gaming
REASONS TO BUY
- The same great Zen 3 architecture
- Awesome gaming performance
- PCIe 4.0 support
REASONS TO AVOID
- Can fall behind Intel in gaming at this price
If the Intel Core i7 didn't exist in the world, it would be an incredible chip and make it to our top three recommendations, no sweat. It's great for gaming, producing the same figures that can be seen for the 5900X and 5600X. Still, it appears to have hit the sweet spot in terms of configuration, with its eight cores and 16 threads certainly making it look right for the future, considering what the Xbox Series X and Playstation 5 are doing amazingly well...
Unfortunately for AMD, Intel is present, and Blue Company's Core i7 10700K matches up to a lot more important metrics, but this chip has to beat in one major way — value for money. It's fast at serious tasks, and if you keep an eye on it, buy it and don't give it a second thought. But if you're primarily looking at gaming, Intel does a lot of the same but costs less. And it's hard for AMD to get away with it.
Competition aside, this Zen 3 is still rolling out its stuff, and it does impressively well. Throw in support for PCIe 4.0 as well, and it's a forward-looking chip that will last you years.
5. Intel Core i9 10900K ( Best CPU For Gaming )
The Comet Lake flagship is still a powerful option
REASONS TO BUY
- Fastest gaming performance
- Overclocking potential
REASONS TO AVOID
- Older Comet Lake architecture
Intel's top Comet Lake gaming chip, the Core i9 10900K, lost a lot of what makes it special with the release of the Zen 3. When the 10900K was unveiled, it came with assurances that it was the fastest gaming processor in the world, but that's not a claim it can really hold anymore, with plenty of games outpacing AMD's Ryzen 5900X. Brings victory. It's still a cracking gaming chip, don't get us wrong, but it does business at best, and once it's gone, it lost a lot of its luster.
Intel has the latest release which it doesn't supervise. The Rocket Lake i9 11900K is almost as powerful overall, but it's more expensive and still misses out on the multi-threaded side.
10900K is still high for most cases, except for possibly very, very high end and serious workloads; AMD chips make more sense, but this CPU still has a quirky allure. You probably don't need it, but if you build a machine around it, you know it won't be the chip that's stopping you.
The Core i9 10900K is the first time Intel has managed to squeeze 10 processing cores into its mainstream lineup. Given that it's capable of hitting 5.3GHz (albeit briefly), it certainly represents an impressive outing for the 14nm technology that Intel has been associated with for so long. Gaming still benefits from higher clock speeds, and it still delivers; It doesn't make much sense considering the competition.
To go with this chip you'll need to invest in a Z490 motherboard and some serious cooling (a decent PSU won't be bad either). Don't be fooled by that reasonable 95W TDP, as it will go beyond that, especially if you're looking to discover its overclocking chops.
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