Whether you're a professional gamer or simply love playing games, having a high-performance gaming CPU is essential for a smooth gaming experience. We have compiled a list of the top gaming CPUs that are designed to deliver exceptional speed, efficiency, and performance. These powerful processors will elevate your gaming experience to new heights, allowing you to dominate the virtual realm with ease.
What does the CPU do?
The CPU job is to feed frames to the graphics card that creates the visual we see on the screen.
How many cores are necessary?
Games are still mostly relying on frequency and rarely utilize more than 4-6 CPU cores.
Why is the CPU important?
Feeding high refresh-rate monitors with more than 240 fps requires a high frequency that Intel can provide.
Intel or AMD?
This is the most controversial topic right now since AMD made such a massive impact during 2020.
The AMD Ryzen CPUs are undoubtedly more advanced and have the best multi-threaded performance, along with power efficiency.
To create their CPUs with a large core count, they have bridged chips together using various methods which will add latency.
Intel is the most established manufacturer and has the best support from Microsoft and Windows.
Is high Clock Frequency important?
A too slow CPU will result in choppy gameplay or stutter. This is called frame pacing or frame timing.
The more FPS you strive for (e.g. 240Hz), higher demands will be placed on the CPUn.
For gaming, therefore, a high cook rate (Ghz) is by far the most important aspect.
What's the best CPU for gaming?
- K-model CPUs have higher clock speeds and are recommended for high FPS gameplay.
- Intel currently has the highest frequency
- Intel has the best support from Microsoft and Windows.
i5,i7,i9
- i9 is best (You can always deactivate Hyperthreading)
- i7 is usually a damaged CPU with inactivated cores/HT which may introduce latency.
CPU demanding games
Open world, MMO, Real-time Strategy and Battle Royale games with large open areas, multiple players require a lot of computer power.
Strategy games and MMO's require a lot of calculations for devices and others play where they are on the map ex. Higher CPU requirements.
The same goes for Battle Royal as Fortnite, PUBG.
What is Hyper-Threading?
CPU hyper-threading is a technology that allows a single CPU, or central processing unit, to effectively operate as two separate CPUs.
This allows the CPU to perform more tasks simultaneously and can improve overall system performance.
Hyper-threading is a form of simultaneous multithreading technology, which means that it allows multiple threads of execution to run simultaneously on a single physical CPU core.
This can help to improve the efficiency of the CPU and make better use of its resources, allowing it to handle more tasks at once.
Is Hyper-Threading important?
- Disable Hyper-Threading for 6-core CPUs as it may add latency.
- Hyper-Threading is also a security hazard and is constantly patched which will reduce performance over time.
- Introduces security issues.
- Adds heat to the CPU which may limit the Frequency.
- Most likely to add a premium to the purchase.
Should you overclock the CPU?
Core-Boost automatically increases GHz under strenuous loads, which means that you hardly need to overclock.
Conclusion
In addition to clock speeds and core count, other factors to consider when choosing a gaming CPU include cache size, architecture, and compatibility with the graphics card. It's also important to consider future-proofing, as newer games may require more powerful CPUs. Ultimately, it's a balance between budget and performance requirements that will determine the best gaming CPU for an individual.