Looking for the best CPU for gaming?
If yes, then you have appeared at the right place. Grabbing the best one at affordable prices has become a big deal in today’s time. But what if we say that we can provide you with a list of best CPU for gamers and that too affordable one?
If you are a gamer, then you might understand that CPU is the heart of a PC. Whole performance of the PC build depends upon the characteristics of the CPU. Nvidia and AMD are the two well-known brands which have totally overtook the CPU landscape.
The latest and most powerful CPU has been launched by AMD. It has been named as AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX. You must be wondering what makes it so powerful. For making it the best CPU for gaming, it has been packed up with 32 cores and 64 threads. With these powerful resources, it has a quite high price tag of $2000. Therefore if the budget is not a problem, then you can surely go for this.
Most of the popular games which run high-quality graphics mainly look for 4 cores/4 threads CPU. But the games which have been launching in this modern world are even targeting the 6 and 8 cores CPU. Therefore, before buying the best CPU for gaming, consider the cores too.
The availability of so many gaming CPU’s has created a lot of options to choose from. This even creates a lot of hype in the gamers leading to confusions too. Therefore, for the betterment of your people, we have created a list of best CPU for gamers which are packed with best processors for gaming.
Table of Contents
Best CPU For Gaming
Table of Contents
A processor which performs best in all fields is considered to be the best one. Intel Core i9-9900K is one of them. Intel always boasts a lot about it. It guarantees that this CPU has the highest clockspeed when compared to others. Moreover, if you go for this one, then you will get access to the excellent per-core performance helping in smooth gaming.
To make it more high end you have to purchase an aftermarket cooler. The extra cores present in Intel Core i9-9900K allows it to take high power which makes quite hotter than previous versions. Therefore an aftermarket cooler is a necessity. The price of Intel Core i9-9900K is kept to be $530.
Key Features:
- 8 cores, 16 threads
- Base Clock: 3.6 GHz
- Turbo Clock: 5.0 GHz
- L3 Cache: 16 MB
- TDP: 95W
- Overclocking: Between 4.5-5.0 GHz
- PCIe 3.0 lanes: 16
Pros:
- Considered to be one of the fastest CPU for CPU intensive games.
- Sufficient cores to manage the overall performance.
Cons:
- It isn’t equipped with a cooler and requires an aftermarket one.
- Limited overclocking headroom & more.
Intel Core i7-9700K is considered to be the second best CPU for gamers.
Most of the features are same as of the above one. While playing high-end games, it performs like the high costing i9 chips and even costs $100-$150 less than them. This is the first gaming CPU which has launched without packing it with Hyper-Threading. When seen overall, it is considered to be the most affordable and best CPU for gamers.
When compared to Core i7-8700K, Core i7-9700K has been packed up with 33 percent more advanced cores. As I told above that it doesn’t come with Hyper-Threading, therefore it doesn’t heat up to the level as the i9 does. The price of Intel Core i7-8700K has been kept as $370.
Key Features:
- 8 cores & 8 threads
- Base Clock: 3.6 GHz & Turbo Clock: 4.9 GHz
- Overclocking: 4.9-5.1 GHz
- TDP: 95W
- L3 Cache: 12 MB
- PCIe 3.0 lanes: 16
Pros:
- Awesome gaming performance.
- Eight super speed cores.
Cons:
- Marginal Overclocking.
- No Hyper-Threading.
Intel Core i7-8700K is considered to be the king of previous generation CPU’s. Neither it is a bad choice for now. It was said to be one of the best gaming CPU of last year. It has been powered up using 6 cores which makes it sufficient to give a good performance.
The best thing about Intel Core i7-8700K is that is less expensive than the Intel Core i7-9700K but they work on some motherboards. Therefore performance barely matters between both of them. Best deal on this one is that you save around $50 if you grab this one. It has been priced at $410.
Key Features:
- 6 cores & 12 threads
- Base Clock: 3.7 GHz & Turbo Clock: 4.7 GHz
- Overclocking: 4.9-5.0 GHz
- TDP: 95W
- L3 Cache: 12 MB
- PCIe 3.0 lanes: 16
Pros:
- Superfast CPU for gaming.
- A good amount of cores for overall performances.
Cons:
- It isn’t equipped with a cooler and requires an aftermarket one.
- Limited overclocking headroom.
The 8th gen coffee Lake processors of Intel has brought a big change. Previously Core i5 CPU’s used to come with 4 cores, but the advancement in technology has packed them with 6 cores. This has resulted in a great performance at affordable prices.
It performs quite the same as the previous generation i7-7700K does. It has been found that the i9-9900K performs only 6% faster as compared to others. Intel Core i5-8400 is also a quite good performing CPU when compared to every Ryzen processors. It has been priced at $185.
Key Features:
- 6 cores & 6 threads
- Base Clock: 3.8 GHz & Turbo Clock: 4.0 GHz
- Overclocking: NO
- TDP: 65W
- L3 Cache: 9 MB
- PCIe 3.0 lanes: 16
Pros:
- Sufficiently fast if used with single GPU.
- It doesn’t require any aftermarket cooler.
Cons:
- An insignificant bottleneck for RTX 2080 Ti.
- No overclocking present.
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X is considered to be the best gaming CPU from AMD. Packed with 6 cores makes it so powerful that the performance given is beyond your thinking.
The best advantage with AMD Ryzen 5 2600X is that it has 16 PCIe lanes for graphics with 4 PCIe lanes. These 4 PCIe lanes are basically added for an M.2 NVMe slot. In addition, there are four more lanes connecting to the chipset. Its price has been set at $219.
Key Features:
- 6 cores & 12 threads
- Base Clock: 3.6 GHz & Turbo Clock: 4.2 GHz
- Overclocking: 4.1 GHz
- TDP: 65W
- L3 Cache: 16 MB
- PCIe 3.0 lanes: 20
Pros:
- Affordable price for a 6 core/12 thread gaming CPU.
- It is as fast as 2700X when compared in the gaming field.
Cons:
- Slightly slower than the Intel CPU’s.
- Decent overclocking potential.
If you are looking for a best AMD CPU in terms of overclocking, then this might be the best to be considered. If you do not have the need of overclocking and want to have a great stock experience, then considering Ryzen 7 2700X could be the best choice.
The only factor which you will not like is the price. It has a little bit higher price than the Ryzen 7 2700. Moreover, the pricing is also an affordable factor as it is priced at only $219.
Key features:
- 8 cores & 16 threads
- Base Clock: 3.2 GHz & Turbo Clock: 4.1 GHz
- Overclocking: 4.1 GHz
- TDP: 65W
- L3 Cache: 16 MB
- PCIe 3.0 lanes: 20
Pros:
- Gives outstanding performance.
- Affordable pricing for 8 cores.
Cons:
- Couldn’t perform like Intel in most of the high-end games.
- The appearance of Wraith spire often restricts the OC potential of the CPU.
The best thing about AMD Ryzen 3 2200G is that it has been packed with Vega 8 Graphics. This feature makes it one of the best and affordable gaming CPU to be considered. It is the most affordable CPU which performs outstandingly in both gaming and non-gaming field.
When compared to the Intel’s Pentium Gold G5400 it performs better while playing CPU intensive games. Moreover, it does perform quite better while multitasking too. It has been priced at $309.
Key features:
- 4 cores & 4 threads
- Base Clock: 3.5 GHz & Turbo Clock: 3.7 GHz
- Overclocking: 4.0 GHz
- TDP: 65W
- L3 Cache: 4 MB
- PCIe 3.0 lanes: 12
Pros:
- Amazing integrated graphics which provides smooth performance.
- Affordable price for the combo of CPU & GPU.
Cons:
- Considered to be slowest CPU in the field of modern CPU’s.
- Less fast than the dedicated GPU.
The main highlighted feature of this gaming CPU is that it has been packed with a large number of PCIe lanes. This makes it perform outstandingly in the field of gaming.
The best thing about Intel Core i9-7900X is that is as fast as the 8700K. And once it is overclocked, it performs 50 percent faster than 8700K in CPU related workloads. It has been priced at $990.
Key features:
- 10 cores & 20 threads
- Base Clock: 3.3 GHz & Turbo Clock: 4.5 GHz
- Overclocking: 4.7 GHz
- TDP: 65W
- L3 Cache: 13.75 MB
- PCIe 3.0 lanes: 44
Pros:
- Blazingly fast Multi-Threaded performance.
- When using in the gaming field, it performs as fast as i7-8700K.
Cons:
- Quite overpriced for the features provided.
- It often overheats and needs a good quality cooler for sure.
Conclusion
As 2020 has started, therefore the advancement in technology will surely occur. There will be more high-end games launched in 2020. Therefore, to have the best out of gaming experience get equipped with the latest things as much as you can. We hope that the list we provide above has surely led you to a good conclusion.
Moreover, the list of best CPU for gaming includes the CPU which have the best processors for gaming. This is all you need. Just pick one from the CPU’s displayed above and we bet you will never be disappointed. Check out more at Pcriver!
