As we gear up for the launch of AMD’s Ryzen 3000 CPUs on July seventh, I believed it was excessive time to check out all one of the best gaming CPUs they’ll be going up towards. We typically don’t take into consideration our CPU as being a significant gaming element, however as you’ll see from my check outcomes beneath, discovering the appropriate processor could make a surprisingly massive distinction to your PC’s total gaming efficiency.
To support us in our quest to search out one of the best gaming CPU, I’ve examined as many Intel Coffee Lake and AMD Ryzen processors as I’ve been capable of get my fingers on, proper down from entry-level Core i3 and Ryzen 5 CPUs all the best way as much as the most costly Core i9s and Ryzen 7s. It’s under no circumstances a whole listing of each CPU on the market in the present day, however I’ll be updating this text regularly as I get extra in for testing and, in fact, as soon as we’ve seen what AMD’s high-end Ryzen 3000 CPUs can do as nicely. Whatever your finances, we’ve acquired a greatest gaming CPU suggestion for you.
Best gaming CPU 2019 information:
Before we start, it’s value mentioning that making an attempt to check a CPU’s gaming efficiency remains to be fairly a difficult factor to do nicely. A whole lot of PC benchmarks both don’t check your CPU correctly, or just aren’t very correct within the first place. After all, most are designed to check your GPU, not your CPU.
Fortunately, we’re beginning to see extra benchmarks that do run full game logic, thus making them higher instruments for assessing a CPU’s gaming chops. These embrace Forza Horizon 4, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, all of which I’ve utilized in my testing, and I’ve additionally included Total War: Warhammer II in my benchmark outcomes as nicely, as this has historically all the time been a really CPU-heavy game.
There are different components that have an effect on gaming efficiency as nicely, akin to your graphics card, the kind of RAM you’ve acquired, and even what sort of storage you’ve put in your games on.
For our graphics card, I’ve chosen the Founders Edition of Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 2080 Ti. While extremely costly and doubtless by no means what lots of you might be really going to have in your gaming PCs, it’s the quickest graphics card you should purchase in the present day and is due to this fact least prone to run into any bottlenecks throughout testing. I’ve additionally used the identical storage for my Intel and AMD testing rigs, and the identical RAM. The solely issues that differ are the coolers and the motherboards (though even right here I’ve tried to choose elements which are kind of akin to try to preserve issues good and honest).
I’ve additionally targeted much more on gaming efficiency in my testing than I’ve on, say, software efficiency or media creation fine details as a result of, nicely, I’m not likely eager about that. I’ve included some cursory Cinebench R20 outcomes to provide us a tough thought of how every CPU stacks up for single and multicore desktop duties, however actually, my essential objective right here is to work out what CPU is one of the best for gaming and gaming alone. So let’s get to it.
Best finances gaming CPU: Ryzen 5 2600
AMD’s Ryzen 5 2600 CPU could also be a bit lengthy within the tooth now, what with it being one in every of their 2nd Gen Ryzen chips relatively than one in every of their new third Gen 3000 sequence, however at this value, the Ryzen 5 2600 is an absolute steal.
Not solely is it a lot quicker than the similarly-priced Intel Core i3-8100, however its gaming efficiency can also be just about on par with the extra upmarket Intel Core i3-8350K, the latter of which is each dearer than the Ryzen 5 2600 and doesn’t include a cooler within the field.
The Core i3-8350Okay nonetheless has the sting in some games, reality be advised, however once you consider its additional value and the extra expense of a cooler, it merely isn’t nearly as good worth for cash as its Ryzen rival. In my eyes, the Ryzen 5 2600 can also be a a lot better purchase than its Ryzen 5 2600X sibling, too. The 2600X may need higher multicore efficiency for inventive purposes and the like, however its gaming prowess is surprisingly just like the common 2600, so that you’re not likely going to really feel the good thing about its X-rated sibling until you’re additionally going to be utilizing your PC for many photograph and video enhancing. As a end result, when you’re searching for one of the best gaming CPU for below £150 / $150, the Ryzen 5 2600 ought to undoubtedly be on the prime of your listing.
Read extra in our AMD Ryzen 5 2600 review.
Best gaming CPU: Intel Core i5-9600Okay
With costs for Intel’s Core i5-8600K now having gone via the roof, it’s Intel’s Core i5-9600Okay that takes its place as our new go-to greatest gaming CPU. Sure, you’ll want to purchase your individual cooler with it, however as you’ll see from our benchmark outcomes beneath, the Core i5-9600Okay comfortably sees off competitors from each of AMD’s Ryzen 5 2600 / 2600X CPUs, in addition to their Ryzen 7 2700 / 2700X chips.
There’s nonetheless an argument for going with the cheaper Intel Core i5-8400, thoughts, as its gaming efficiency isn’t 1,000,000 miles behind the Core i5-9600Okay (plus you possibly can at the moment get it for lower than £200 / $200), however personally, I feel it’s value stretching to the i5-9600Okay in case your finances permits for it. Not solely is it quicker and higher for common desktop duties, however the i5-9600Okay is unlocked for overclocking, too – and you will get fairly nice speeds from it with simply a normal tower cooler, too. For instance, my BeQuiet BK009 Pure Rock cooler managed to push all of it the best way up to an enormous 4.9GHz earlier than my PC conked out, which is fairly darn helpful.
Admittedly, overclocking your CPU received’t make a huge distinction to your total gaming efficiency – my outcomes solely confirmed a median enchancment of 1 or two frames generally – however it’s going to give it a pleasant enhance to your on a regular basis desktop purposes.
Read extra in our Intel Core i5-9600K review.
Best premium gaming CPU: Intel Core i7-9700Okay
For one of the best gaming CPU cash should purchase, Intel’s Core i7-9700Okay is the best way to go. Sure, Intel’s Core i9-9900K would possibly technically be the quickest and bestest greatest gaming CPU cash should purchase, however once you take a look at the figures, I’m simply undecided it’s value spending one other hundred-odd quid on in contrast with the superb Core i7-9700Okay.
At least it’s not once you’ve solely acquired a normal tower cooler at your disposal, as a result of man alive do these CPUs get scorching. As such, I’d actually suggest getting a liquid cooler for this explicit chip, particularly when you’re hoping to overclock it. I used to be solely capable of get so far as 4.7GHz earlier than I began to see indicators of thermal throttling with my BeQuiet BK009 Pure Rock tower cooler, so a liquid cooler is an absolute should for overclockers right here.
That’s to not say the Core i7-9700Okay isn’t value shopping for when you don’t have a liquid cooler, although. As you’ll see from the graphs beneath, that is nonetheless one very nippy CPU certainly, providing substantial features throughout the board over its Core i7-8700 and Core i7-8700K predecessors in addition to its Ryzen 7 competitors. Its single core and multicore efficiency are additionally distinctive (even when AMD’s Ryzen 7 2700X nonetheless has the sting on multicore), and it provides a tangible step up from Intel’s Core i5-9600Okay.
Read extra in our Intel Core i7-9700K review.
Best gaming CPU 2019 benchmarks
So you’ve seen our prime picks for one of the best gaming CPUs you should purchase in the present day, however simply how a lot better are they than every thing else? Well, listed here are the outcomes. As you’ll see beneath, 1080p remains to be the decision the place you’ll see the largest features for CPU efficiency, as outcomes begin to get GPU-bound the additional we go up the decision scale – and that’s even with Nvidia’s RTX 2080 Ti inside our PC.
I additionally discovered that overclocking CPUs made virtually no distinction in anyway to a CPU’s gaming efficiency, so I haven’t included them. As talked about briefly above, more often than not I solely noticed a median enhance of 1-3fps in my gaming benchmarks, if that. Total War and Shadow of the Tomb Raider typically managed an additional handful of frames – the largest enhance I noticed was an additional 10fps in Total War at 1080p on the i5-9600Okay – however that was very a lot the exception relatively than the rule. As such, the outcomes beneath are all based mostly on every CPU working at their inventory, out of the field velocity, sans overclocking.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Total War: Warhammer II
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Forza Horizon 4
Cinebench R20 single core and multi core
