As your demand for high-performance computing grows, finding the best CPU for your needs becomes essential.
When selecting a CPU, the most important characteristics are the clock speed (or frequency), number of cores and threads, and type of memory it supports. Additional considerations like integrated graphics and overclocking needs may also influence your selection.
This article will discuss these key CPU characteristics and, based on them, provide an overview of The Best CPUs
for general usage.
Factors to Consider When Choosing a CPU
Core Count
We found that, in general, more cores do provide better performance in professional tools and when running multiple applications simultaneously.
Increased core counts can improve the performance of games and professional tools that use them. Most modern games don't benefit from having more than 6–8 cores. Even general apps can benefit from many cores when numerous applications are open simultaneously. Web browsers don't significantly take advantage of multiple cores when loading a single page. However, more CPU cores can improve performance when running demanding web apps in multiple windows.
Intel's 12th generation and newer CPUs have performance cores (P-cores) and efficiency cores (E-cores). The P-cores are comparable to previous generation cores. E-cores are focused on adding additional threads in an energy-efficient manner. They take up much less room on the CPU and generate less heat. However, their smaller cache and minimal interconnect capabilities make them more appropriate for offloading background tasks. E-cores do not support hyper-threading.
CPU Clock Speeds
We've experienced that single-core performance is essential for some games, as many don't take full advantage of multiple cores. Similarly, we have experienced that professional tools depend on high single and multi-core boost frequencies to maximize their processing speed.
Boost frequencies are only achieved under ideal circumstances. However, with adequate cooling, you may be able to maintain speeds near the max boost frequency.
Higher vs. Lower Base Frequencies
We've found that lower base clock speeds result in lower power consumption.
A CPU's base frequency refers to the clock speed at which its cores run under normal operating conditions. However, the actual clock speed of the CPU can vary depending on the workload and the system power state.
A lower base frequency can lead to better power savings overall since the clock speed decreases when the load is low, resulting in lower power consumption. However, a CPU may run slower than the base frequency to conserve power or reduce heat generation. For example, modern CPUs use technologies like Intel SpeedStep or AMD Cool'n'Quiet to dynamically adjust the CPU's clock speed based on the system's workload and power state.
A CPU with a lower base frequency may generate less heat under normal operating conditions, enabling it to boost some cores to higher frequencies while remaining within its thermal limits. This lower base frequency results in better performance than a CPU with a higher base frequency, which may not be able to sustain its boost frequency for long periods due to thermal throttling. However, this is mostly only relevant if your system's cooling solution can only partially dissipate the heat produced by all cores being fully boosted.
DDR Support
You can exceed these stock speeds officially supported by CPUs when overclocking memory, such as with an XMP profile. Motherboard specifications will indicate their supported overclocked-memory speeds. To be able to overclock DDR memory, your motherboard chipset needs to support memory overclocking.
Faster PC memory can improve game and professional tool performance by reducing the time it takes to perform calculations and data operations.
We've experienced that using the quickest RAM may not have as much of an impact as upgrading your CPU and graphics card or adding more RAM.
Learn more about DDR in DDR4 vs. DDR5? Which You Should Buy.
Cache Size
A CPU's cache is a small amount of memory, close to the CPU cores, containing recently used data. An L3 cache capacity of at least 20 MB is ideal for games and professional tool performance.
Games and professional tool performance can improve as cache size increases, as it can reduce delays when retrieving commonly used assets from memory. While nearly any task will use a CPU's cache, our research indicates that a large cache becomes less impactful for general PC usage, such as browsing webpages.
Remember that cache sizes often increase with core counts, so if you want to increase your L3 cache, you may need to get a CPU with more cores.
Overclocking
Overclocking is mainly relevant for PC gamers who want to maximize their game framerates. CPU overclocking increases frequencies past their default limits. Excellent heat dissipation via fans or another solution is required to maintain system stability while overclocking. While we felt a sense of excitement and anticipation when we pushed the limits of our CPU's performance, it's essential to remember that overclocking comes with the risk of damaging your system components or voiding warranties.
Professional tools can benefit from overclocked frequencies. However, overclocking may introduce some possibility of system instability, which may be less acceptable in business scenarios. We've found out the hard way that losing work due to system instability is a pain.
The Best CPUs
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D:
Based on our evaluation of using AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X3D CPU for general apps, you can expect excellent app performance with a high-performance CPU cooler.
Based on our evaluation of using AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X3D CPU for gaming, you can expect excellent game performance with a high-performance CPU cooler.
128 MB of L3 cache is excellent for performance
16 cores allow for excellent performance
4.3 GHz base frequency
5.7 GHz single-core max boost frequency is excellent for performance (requires a high-end cooler)
DDR5 support with a max stock speed of 5600 MHz can be excellent for performance
Overclocking support can be excellent for performance (requires a high-end cooler)
PCIe 5.0 support can be excellent for performance (with the fastest SSDs and GPUs)
Check out our recommended Motherboards
, CPU Coolers, Power Supplies, and RAM to pair with the 9950X3D.You can learn more about the 9950X3D in our article, Is the Ryzen 9 9950X3D CPU Good for Gaming?
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X:
Based on our evaluation of using AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X CPU for general apps, you can expect excellent app performance with a high-performance CPU cooler.
Based on our evaluation of using AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X CPU for gaming, you can expect excellent game performance with a high-performance CPU cooler.
64 MB of L3 cache is excellent for performance
16 cores allow for excellent performance
4.3 GHz base frequency
5.7 GHz single-core max boost frequency is excellent for performance (requires a high-end cooler)
DDR5 support with a max stock speed of 5600 MHz can be excellent for performance
Overclocking support can be excellent for performance (requires a high-end cooler)
PCIe 5.0 support can be excellent for performance (with the fastest SSDs and GPUs)
Check out our recommended Motherboards
, CPU Coolers, Power Supplies, and RAM to pair with the 9950X.You can learn more about the 9950X in our article, Is the Ryzen 9 9950X CPU Good for Gaming?
AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D:
Based on our evaluation of using AMD's Ryzen 9 9900X3D CPU for general apps, you can expect excellent app performance with a high-performance CPU cooler.
Based on our evaluation of using AMD's Ryzen 9 9900X3D CPU for gaming, you can expect excellent game performance with a high-performance CPU cooler.
128 MB of L3 cache is excellent for performance
12 cores allow for excellent performance
4.4 GHz base frequency
5.5 GHz single-core max boost frequency is excellent for performance (requires a high-end cooler)
DDR5 support with a max stock speed of 5600 MHz can be excellent for performance
Overclocking support can be excellent for performance (requires a high-end cooler)
PCIe 5.0 support can be excellent for performance (with the fastest SSDs and GPUs)
Check out our recommended Motherboards
, CPU Coolers, Power Supplies, and RAM to pair with the 9900X3D.You can learn more about the 9900X3D in our article, Is the Ryzen 9 9900X3D CPU Good for Gaming?
AMD Ryzen 9 9900X:
Based on our evaluation of using AMD's Ryzen 9 9900X CPU for general apps, you can expect excellent app performance with a high-performance CPU cooler.
Based on our evaluation of using AMD's Ryzen 9 9900X CPU for gaming, you can expect excellent game performance with a high-performance CPU cooler.
64 MB of L3 cache is excellent for performance
12 cores allow for excellent performance
4.4 GHz base frequency
5.6 GHz single-core max boost frequency is excellent for performance (requires a high-end cooler)
DDR5 support with a max stock speed of 5600 MHz can be excellent for performance
Overclocking support can be excellent for performance (requires a high-end cooler)
PCIe 5.0 support can be excellent for performance (with the fastest SSDs and GPUs)
Check out our recommended Motherboards
, CPU Coolers, Power Supplies, and RAM to pair with the 9900X.You can learn more about the 9900X in our article, Is the Ryzen 9 9900X CPU Good for Gaming?
AMD Ryzen 9 9800X3D:
Based on our evaluation of using AMD's Ryzen 9 9800X3D CPU for general apps, you can expect excellent app performance with a high-performance CPU cooler.
Based on our evaluation of using AMD's Ryzen 9 9800X3D CPU for gaming, you can expect excellent game performance with a high-performance CPU cooler.
96 MB of L3 cache is excellent for performance
8 cores allow for excellent performance
4.7 GHz base frequency
5.2 GHz single-core max boost frequency is excellent for performance (requires a high-end cooler)
DDR5 support with a max stock speed of 5600 MHz can be excellent for performance
Overclocking support can be excellent for performance (requires a high-end cooler)
PCIe 5.0 support can be excellent for performance (with the fastest SSDs and GPUs)
Check out our recommended Motherboards
, CPU Coolers, Power Supplies, and RAM to pair with the 9800X3D.You can learn more about the 9800X3D in our article, Is the Ryzen 9 9800X3D CPU Good for Gaming?
AMD Ryzen 9 9700X:
Based on our evaluation of using AMD's Ryzen 9 9700X CPU for general apps, you can expect excellent app performance with a high-performance CPU cooler.
Based on our evaluation of using AMD's Ryzen 9 9700X CPU for gaming, you can expect excellent game performance with a high-performance CPU cooler.
32 MB of L3 cache is excellent for performance
8 cores allow for excellent performance
3.8 GHz base frequency
5.5 GHz single-core max boost frequency is excellent for performance (requires a high-end cooler)
DDR5 support with a max stock speed of 5600 MHz can be excellent for performance
Overclocking support can be excellent for performance (requires a high-end cooler)
PCIe 5.0 support can be excellent for performance (with the fastest SSDs and GPUs)
Check out our recommended Motherboards
, CPU Coolers, Power Supplies, and RAM to pair with the 9700X.You can learn more about the 9700X in our article, Is the Ryzen 9 9700X CPU Good for Gaming?
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D:
Based on our evaluation of using AMD's Ryzen 9 7950X3D CPU for general apps, you can expect excellent app performance with a high-performance CPU cooler.
Based on our evaluation of using AMD's Ryzen 9 7950X3D CPU for gaming, you can expect excellent game performance with a high-performance CPU cooler.
128 MB of L3 cache is excellent for performance
16 cores allow for excellent performance
4.2 GHz base frequency
5.7 GHz single-core max boost frequency is excellent for performance (requires a high-end cooler)
DDR5 support with a max stock speed of 5200 MHz can be excellent for performance
Overclocking support can be excellent for performance (requires a high-end cooler)
PCIe 5.0 support can be excellent for performance (with the fastest SSDs and GPUs)
Check out our recommended Motherboards
, CPU Coolers, Power Supplies, and RAM to pair with the 7950X3D.You can learn more about the 7950X3D in our article, Is the Ryzen 9 7950X3D CPU Good for Gaming?
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X:
Based on our evaluation of using AMD's Ryzen 9 7950X CPU for general apps, you can expect excellent app performance with a high-performance CPU cooler.
Based on our evaluation of using AMD's Ryzen 9 7950X CPU for gaming, you can expect excellent game performance with a high-performance CPU cooler.
64 MB of L3 cache is excellent for performance
16 cores allow for excellent performance
4.5 GHz base frequency
5.7 GHz single-core max boost frequency is excellent for performance (requires a high-end cooler)
DDR5 support with a max stock speed of 5200 MHz can be excellent for performance
Overclocking support can be excellent for performance (requires a high-end cooler)
PCIe 5.0 support can be excellent for performance (with the fastest SSDs and GPUs)
Check out our recommended Motherboards
, CPU Coolers, Power Supplies, and RAM to pair with the 7950X.You can learn more about the 7950X in our article, Is the Ryzen 9 7950X CPU Good for Gaming?
AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D:
Based on our evaluation of using AMD's Ryzen 9 7900X3D CPU for general apps, you can expect excellent app performance with a high-performance CPU cooler.
Based on our evaluation of using AMD's Ryzen 9 7900X3D CPU for gaming, you can expect excellent game performance with a high-performance CPU cooler.
128 MB of L3 cache is excellent for performance
12 cores allow for excellent performance
4.4 GHz base frequency
5.6 GHz single-core max boost frequency is excellent for performance (requires a high-end cooler)
DDR5 support with a max stock speed of 5200 MHz can be excellent for performance
Overclocking support can be excellent for performance (requires a high-end cooler)
PCIe 5.0 support can be excellent for performance (with the fastest SSDs and GPUs)
Check out our recommended Motherboards
, CPU Coolers, Power Supplies, and RAM to pair with the 7900X3D.You can learn more about the 7900X3D in our article, Is the Ryzen 9 7900X3D CPU Good for Gaming?
AMD Ryzen 9 7900X:
Based on our evaluation of using AMD's Ryzen 9 7900X CPU for general apps, you can expect excellent app performance with a high-performance CPU cooler.
Based on our evaluation of using AMD's Ryzen 9 7900X CPU for gaming, you can expect excellent game performance with a high-performance CPU cooler.
64 MB of L3 cache is excellent for performance
12 cores allow for excellent performance
4.7 GHz base frequency
5.6 GHz single-core max boost frequency is excellent for performance (requires a high-end cooler)
DDR5 support with a max stock speed of 5200 MHz can be excellent for performance
Overclocking support can be excellent for performance (requires a high-end cooler)
PCIe 5.0 support can be excellent for performance (with the fastest SSDs and GPUs)
Check out our recommended Motherboards
, CPU Coolers, Power Supplies, and RAM to pair with the 7900X.You can learn more about the 7900X in our article, Is the Ryzen 9 7900X CPU Good for Gaming?
AMD Ryzen 9 7900:
Based on our evaluation of using AMD's Ryzen 9 7900 CPU for general apps, you can expect excellent app performance with a high-performance CPU cooler.
Based on our evaluation of using AMD's Ryzen 9 7900 CPU for gaming, you can expect excellent game performance with a high-performance CPU cooler.
64 MB of L3 cache is excellent for performance
12 cores allow for excellent performance
3.7 GHz base frequency
5.4 GHz single-core max boost frequency is excellent for performance (requires a high-end cooler)
DDR5 support with a max stock speed of 5200 MHz can be excellent for performance
Overclocking support can be excellent for performance (requires a high-end cooler)
PCIe 5.0 support can be excellent for performance (with the fastest SSDs and GPUs)
Check out our recommended Motherboards
, CPU Coolers, Power Supplies, and RAM to pair with the 7900.You can learn more about the 7900 in our article, Is the Ryzen 9 7900 CPU Good for Gaming?
AMD Ryzen 7 7700X:
Based on our evaluation of using AMD's Ryzen 7 7700X CPU for general apps, you can expect excellent app performance with a high-performance CPU cooler.
Based on our evaluation of using AMD's Ryzen 7 7700X CPU for gaming, you can expect excellent game performance with a high-performance CPU cooler.
32 MB of L3 cache is excellent for performance
8 cores allow for excellent performance
4.5 GHz base frequency
5.4 GHz single-core max boost frequency is excellent for performance (requires a high-end cooler)
DDR5 support with a max stock speed of 5200 MHz can be excellent for performance
Overclocking support can be excellent for performance (requires a high-end cooler)
PCIe 5.0 support can be excellent for performance (with the fastest SSDs and GPUs)
Check out our recommended Motherboards
, CPU Coolers, Power Supplies, and RAM to pair with the 7700X.You can learn more about the 7700X in our article, Is the Ryzen 7 7700X CPU Good for Gaming?
AMD Ryzen 7 7700:
Based on our evaluation of using AMD's Ryzen 7 7700 CPU for general apps, you can expect excellent app performance with a high-performance CPU cooler.
Based on our evaluation of using AMD's Ryzen 7 7700 CPU for gaming, you can expect excellent game performance with a high-performance CPU cooler.
32 MB of L3 cache is excellent for performance
8 cores allow for excellent performance
3.8 GHz base frequency
5.3 GHz single-core max boost frequency is excellent for performance (requires a high-end cooler)
DDR5 support with a max stock speed of 5200 MHz can be excellent for performance
Overclocking support can be excellent for performance (requires a high-end cooler)
PCIe 5.0 support can be excellent for performance (with the fastest SSDs and GPUs)
Check out our recommended Motherboards
, CPU Coolers, Power Supplies, and RAM to pair with the 7700.You can learn more about the 7700 in our article, Is the Ryzen 7 7700 CPU Good for Gaming?
Intel Core Ultra 9 285K:
Based on our evaluation of using Intel's Core Ultra 9 285K CPU for general apps, you can expect excellent app performance with a high-performance CPU cooler.
Based on our evaluation of using Intel's Core Ultra 9 285K CPU for gaming, you can expect excellent game performance with a high-performance CPU cooler.
36 MB of L3 cache is excellent for performance
8 Performance cores and 16 Efficiency cores allow for excellent performance
3.70 GHz P-core base frequency
5.70 GHz single-core max turbo boost frequency is excellent for performance (requires a high-end cooler)
5.50 GHz max turbo boost frequency of the Performance cores are excellent for performance (requires a high-end cooler)
DDR5 support with a max stock speed of 6400 MHz can be excellent for performance
Overclocking support can be excellent for performance (requires a high-end cooler)
PCIe 5.0 support can be excellent for performance (with the fastest SSDs and GPUs)
Check out our recommended Motherboards
, CPU Coolers, Power Supplies, and RAM to pair with the 285K.You can learn more about the 285K in our article, Is the Core Ultra 9 processor 285K Good for Gaming?