You could pay $700 for the best CPU on the market, or you could get the best gaming performance you need from the Ryzen 7 9800X3D without shelling out an extra couple hundred bucks. Released last November, this processor is the top-of-the-line when it comes to gaming.

That's the AMD touch—your extra cash does get you somewhere. You're looking for the best in performance right here. If you want the highest possible frame rates from the newest AAA titles like Baldur's Gate 3, DOOM: The Dark Ages, and Elden Ring Nightreign, this is the component you start building around.

Unless your job requires sorting through massive files or doing tons of 3D rendering, this AMD chip will also make your PC an excellent productivity machine. It's extremely powerful and, compared with previous Ryzen 7 generations, very good at conserving energy and throttling power consumption without slowing you down. And the 96 Mb 3D V-cache won't just boost your game frames significantly; it will speed up your whole computer.

As with any powerful CPU, you will need an air fan or a liquid cooler to make sure this chip stays in a safe heat range. That's a cost worth factoring into your budget as well.

If Intel is more your speed, cool, I get it. In recent years, Intel has continued to undercut AMD on price with every new generation of chips. When it comes to value and compatibility, this chip from Intel—compatible with both its 600 and 700 Series motherboards—is hard to beat. You'll still have the power to easily run the most demanding game if the rest of your build matches up, which I mention only because this CPU does come with integrated graphics on board, meaning you don't necessarily need to buy a separate GPU to run games.

In our experience, there is a huge difference between the graphics and performance you'll get out of Intel's onboard (think Fortnite at medium settings) versus having a dedicated GPU (Elden Ring maxed out). It's just kind of night and day, but if you are building as you go, it at least lets you play something until your graphics card shows up.

Where this CPU falls short of AMD is in power consumption. The thing runs hot, and a heavy-duty air cooler or even liquid cooling is recommended. Compared with an equivalent Ryzen 7 chip, it also will consume way more power, especially when gaming or using editing programs.

When the 9600x came out in 2024, it was praised for its power, efficiency, and good thermals but dinged by many for its pricing. At the time of this writing, you can pick one up for $156 on Amazon. Simply put, it's currently one of the best deals in gaming.

I could make your eyes glaze over with more specs, but I'll save you the retinal-exam fees. When it comes to running all the games I've mentioned above like Baldur's Gate 3 and Elden Ring, the Ryzen 5 9600X is only one or two steps down from the Ryzen 7 9800X3D. It will still give you smooth frame rates at the highest graphic settings for most titles. And it does so while sucking less power than pretty much any chip from before 2024. That's still high-end in our book, and for entry-level prices this is a hard CPU deal to beat.

Whether you are looking for a quick, cheap Intel upgrade or just feel that saving money is more important than seeking 120 frames per second out of your games, this is the CPU for you. It's also a great starter chip, giving you plenty of room to grow and upgrade later.

You can't quite overclock this sucker to squeeze out that last bit of power like you can with AMD processors. Instead, Intel's Turbo Boost lets you pump out clock speeds topping out around 4.40 GHz. This can make it a great CPU for gaming, and even when you're streaming or multitasking in other windows, performance doesn't take much of a noticeable hit. Through it all, the CPU remains cool and efficient.

When this processor came out in 2022, it was giving unbelievable performance for the dollar amount, and in the time since it's only got cheaper. Only downside is, at this point, it's a bit outdated, so you may need to upgrade again sooner than if you'd gone with one of the other options.

When looking for a new processor as either an upgrade or the powerhouse of a brand-new PC, there are some key factors to consider. These can get a bit jargon-y, so we've laid everything out below in plain English. These are the basics worth knowing but nowhere near an in-depth explainer. The intention is to help you through the article, not make you a CPU expert.

Think of cores as processing units. The number of cores determine how many processing units a CPU has. In gaming, you usually don't need more than an eight-core, 16-thread CPU, but many of the best gaming processors exceed that.

CPU clock speed measures power. Clock speed is measured in gigahertz (GHz). In general, CPUs with higher clock speeds can run games more smoothly at higher frame rates. Some processors allow you to overclock them to get more power out of your current CPU.

The first thing you probably want to do when shopping for a new processor is check which CPUs are compatible with your motherboard. Intel and AMD both have this information listed on their websites.

The same goes for RAM. Not all CPUs support every RAM format. Check which generations of DDR your processor supports to see if that matches your current (or future) RAM situation.

This is essentially how much onboard memory your CPU has. Higher L3 cache memory will often lead to more consistent and stable frame rates while gaming.

Here at Esquire, we take a generalist approach to product testing. We've gamed on PCs, and we've got a network of contacts and Internet friends who have done the same. Instead of running a bunch of stupid tests, we just ask smart people: What is your favorite CPU? What gets the best out of your setup with the least damage done to your bank account? These four processors are the answer.

Again, the answer depends on what you've already been using and which compatible motherboard you have. If you are starting from scratch, though, there are equally valid reasons to go with either brand. Many gamers currently prefer AMD. It is admittedly the company that gives the most options and allows you to more easily and freely customize and upgrade its components. On the other hand, Intel products tend to currently be more affordable, and many of the CPUs have onboard integrated graphics.

This is typically more of a GPU questions, but some CPUs (like that Intel we touched on) come with integrated graphics. That means that, to some degree, the CPU can also act as a graphics card (or GPU) and play games without the requirement of another part. PC gamers tend to prefer discrete graphics cards because they are the only way to access the highest of high-end graphics options. They also give you more flexibility with your build, letting you update without switching out your CPU. Integrated graphics can be pretty good in a laptop or a device like the ROG Flow, but in PCs, you should probably go with a discrete GPU.

Without getting into exactly how it's done, overclocking allows you you to eke an extra couple GHz of power out of your CPU. This comes with the trade-off of pushing your processor to its absolute limit, which will result in excess heat and noise. You will need an extra liquid cooler to offset this. In my opinion, overclocking is often not worth it to get slightly better performance out of an already great CPU. Once set up, it is a configuration that you can turn on and off

overclocking?

Modern Intel CPUs come with their own built-in feature that replaces overclocking with a friendlier, more automated experience. When activated, it will increase power on a per-core basis to whichever level it assess to be correct, whereas overclocking boosts all your cores at once to a level set by the user.

Here at Esquire, we've been testing and reviewing the latest and greatest products, gadgets, and tech for years. From controllers to portable monitors and gaming laptops, I've personally tested and reviewed some of the best PC gaming tech around. When it comes to gaming gear, I've tested the best of the best—and some of the worst of the mediocre for good measure. If I wouldn't recommend it to a friend or loved one, I wouldn't even think about recommending it to our discerning (and vocal) readers.