What’s the Best CPU For Gaming?

If you’re going all-in on gaming, you’ll want a CPU with enough cores and clock speed to support modern games at high resolutions with demanding frame rates. But there are also plenty of other CPU-intensive tasks to think about, like encoding videos or running complex software. That’s why it’s important to consider all of your options before settling on one processor.

If your primary concern is getting the best possible frame rates in games, you’ll likely end up with a top-tier Intel processor. But if you’re willing to take a bit of a hit in other areas, you can pick up a great AMD chip for a fraction of the price.

The six-core, 12-thread Ryzen 7 5800X3D wears its gaming predilections on its sleeve and offers the highest gaming performance of any processor we’ve ever tested. It can’t beat the mighty Core i9 13900K in pure benchmark shredding terms but it often matches that chip when it comes to gaming frame rates and is much less thirsty, too.

It’s not the most efficient chip, but it is the cheapest and will give you great gaming performance without requiring a huge investment in accommodations like a beefy cooler or a big power supply. It’s also a good choice if you’re planning a GPU-less, light-gaming build because the Ryzen 7 series can deliver impressive performance with integrated graphics alone. best cpu for gaming