(Typical mainstream Intel chips top out at 16 lanes.) They're more frequently found in older prebuilt budget desktops, and even in those systems are now fading out in favor of low-end Ryzen 3 CPUs. In recent years, chip sockets or chipsets are only compatible for a generation or two of CPU, and once that year or two passes, the next platform is no longer compatible with the ones that came before. The same applies to the Intel Core X-Series, as well as the AMD Threadripper line: It's a BYO cooler party in these cases. This is hard to do at 4K resolution (GPUs are generally handling the load here), but the CPU matters quite a bit more in performance if you play at 1080p or 1440p. In my early career, I worked as an editor of scholarly science books, and as an editor of "Dummies"-style computer guidebooks for Brady Books (now, BradyGames). With Intel Socket 1151, you'll want a Z390 or Z370 motherboard; with Socket 1200 or 1700, look for a Z490, Z590, or Z690 platform; and with Ryzen, look for an X570, X470, X370, B550, B450, or B350 board. This doubles the simultaneous processing potential, assuming that the software and operating system are written in a way that can leverage it. Under race conditions, I've built PCs from bare-board to bootup in under 5 minutes. The third-gen Threadrippers introduced a new platform with a socket called sTRX4 and a chipset dubbed TRX40. Let's take a quick look at some basic specs you need to understand before digging into Intel's and AMD's lines. There are edge cases on every line. Measured in gigahertz (GHz), these are two of the primary specs for any given CPU, but they require a bit of context. (Examples of this family: See our reviews of theCore i9-7980XE Extreme Edition,the Core i9-9980XE Extreme Edition, andthe Core i9-10980XE Extreme Edition.). Does the maximum number of cores matter more, or does clock speed? On the whole, we'd chalk up most gains from overclocking as modest at best for productivity users, and recommend leaving the practice to hobbyists and enthusiasts. Hardcore/professional content creation. It also doubles the memory channels from four to eight and works exclusively with error-correcting-code (ECC) memory, important for fields such as scientific simulations and high-end data analysis. Traditionally, Intel's mainstream CPUs have incorporated on-chip video acceleration under the name Intel HD Graphics, UHD Graphics, Iris Graphics, and now, Xe Graphics. Certain Intel and AMD CPUs support multithreading. (These were theCore i5-7640Xandthe Core i7-7740X.) This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. The oldest ones make use of a motherboard CPU socket called Socket 1151. Indeed, buying a desktop processor is akin to a wholeforestof decision trees. Basic productivity work. But if you're open to all of the current CPU platforms, you need to weigh the various AMD and Intel chip families. We've detailed the overclockability of each line below, but in sum: Intel Core X-Series, AMD Ryzen, and AMD Ryzen Threadripper chips are unlocked, while Intel's mainstream Cores are a mix, but mostly locked. The Z chipsets are meant for overclockers and tweakers (paired with an unlocked CPU), the H370 is for mainstream users not intending to overclock, the B360 and B365 are more budget-level chipsets (generally found on boards with fewer features and ports), and the H310 is the most stripped-down of all. It's rumored that we may see a launch of HEDT chips in Intel's 12th Gen stack, though any specifics on when they'll be available to at the consumer level are still just that: rumors. Intel's Core i7-9700K (on old Socket 1151), or the Core i7-10700K and Core i7-11700K (on Socket 1200) are favorites of many serious gamers, with the Core i9 equivalents in each case therealluxury picks. The only exception that calls for liquid cooling by default is the AMD Ryzen Threadripper. These are affordable choices for shoppers who want to avoid buying a dedicated graphics card. Still awake? For example, the Ryzen 5000 Series stepped things back a bit from the 3000 Series, with the Ryzen 5 5600X including the Wraith Prism but the Ryzen 7 5800X, Ryzen 9 5900X, and Ryzen 9 5950X all shipping with no coolers in the box. The 12th Gen Intel Alder Lake chips are nice surprises here, too, but again: Know you'll pay for new RAM and motherboard hardware. PCMag, PCMag.com and PC Magazine are among the federally registered trademarks of Ziff Davis and may not be used by third parties without explicit permission. I also served, briefly, as the editor in chief of the well-known hardcore tech site Tom's Hardware. If you're looking for a new cooler to pair up with a new CPU, an important spec to be aware of is the chip's thermal design power (TDP) rating. Also on Socket 1200, newer 11th Generation "Rocket Lake" chips arrived this past March, to mixed reviews. Doubles most integrated-graphics results of equivalent 10th Generation Intel chips, Decent frame rates with a discrete video card, Aggressive pricing versus AMD's equivalent Ryzens. Core X is a platform to consider if you're looking at an SLI or CrossFire multiple-video-card gaming rig (less relevant these days, with Nvidia winding down support for SLI or NVLink in most of its newest video cards) or a PCIe SSD array. We can't account for every aged or ancient socket that your PC upgrade might involvethere are just too manybut wecansay this: It's seldom worth upgrading a CPU on a dead-end socket unless you've gotten a stellar deal on the new chip, and you're making a clear jump forward in core/thread count, or raw clock speed at the same core/thread count, from the old chip to the new. Heed them. Casual content creators can get by with the CPUs we recommended for enthusiast gamers (the Core i9-11900K is 8C/16T, the Core i9-10900K is 10C/20T, and the Ryzen 7 3700X and 5800X are 8C/16T), with the Core i7-11700K (8C/16T) also quite viable. Picks:Intel Core i7-9700K,Intel Core i9-10900K,Core i7-11700K, Intel Core i5-12600K, Intel Core i9-12900K, AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, AMD Ryzen 5 5600X, AMD Ryzen 7 5800X. Unmatched performance in multithread-aware tests, with 32 cores and 64 addressable threads. That said, more cores are generally better, within reason. Also consider the slightly cheaper non-"K" variants if you don't plan to overclock. The performance pecking order within each Intel chip generation climbs from Celeron (generally slowest) to Pentium, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, and finally Core i9 CPUs, the last introduced to Intel's consumer desktop line with its 9th Generation family. It evolved from Intel's traditionally distinct high-end CPU platform for content creators and extreme performance/gaming hounds, nowadays dubbed the HEDT (for high-end desktop) market. The latest 10th Generation, top-end Intel Core X-Series chips top out around $1,000, while the latest non-Pro Threadrippers are in the $1,200 to $2,000 range, with the extra-double-elite 64-core Threadripper 3990X, as mentioned, priced at $3,990. We extended that range to $700 because even a few Ryzen Threadrippers are within reach if you opt for certain first- or second-gen chips. The Core X-Series CPUs currently run on a socket dubbed LGA 2066. AMD's mainstream Ryzen processors are, on the whole, excellent values for everyday users and quite a few power users. Threadripper! Are you gaming? Your CPU choices, by definition, will be limited by your motherboard. Once you've made those investments, you're often better off just getting a faster CPU in the first place. And their bundled cooling solutions (when included, anyway) are attractive, adequate to running at stock speeds, and good values. Boost clock is not always evenly spread across all cores, especially in the case of Intel's newest 12th Gen chips, which are split between the two separate core types we mentioned earlier. Note that some cooler manufacturers will express this support simply in terms of specific CPUs or lines, others as a maximum TDP rating. The "Extreme Edition" label usually denotes the top chip in a given Core X-Series generation. (Note: This guide is decidedly about CPUs for desktop PCs. If you're willing to swap out the motherboard to step up to a newer or more powerful class of processor, that project becomes, in effect, building your own PC. (Ryzen 4000 desktop processors were sold only to OEMs, not end-user PC builders, with just a few very recent exceptions.) Up to 256GB of memory, in quad channel, supported on TRX40 mainboards. AMD's 32-core Ryzen Threadripper 3970X performs so far ahead of the curve that it practically creates a new class of consumer-accessible CPU. They have been discontinued, and you should avoid them. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. (Many lesser 12th Gen CPUs will ship with the company's new Laminar stock coolers, and should be fine with those if you're not overclocking.). Don't worry, this won't be on the test! Consider an Intel Core i3 or Core i5 processor on Socket 1200 or 1700, or an AMD Ryzen 3 or Ryzen 5 on Socket AM4. Strong performance in content creation and productivity tasks, Overclocking didn't translate to actual major performance gains. All AMD Ryzen, Ryzen Threadripper, and Intel Core X-Series chips can be overclocked, as can all X399 and X299 chipset motherboards. Here, too, previous-gen (Socket TR4, on the X399 chipset) Threadrippers remain great values despite the sunsetting of their platform. AMD's Zen 3-based Ryzen 9 5900X is the new pace-setter, topping Intel's Core i9-10900K on all the fronts that matter. All these questions are crucial in landing the right chip, and what that means: No single CPU is the absolute best across the board for all users, assuming money matters. Should you go with air cooling or liquid cooling? Gaming performance now at parity with, or better than, Intel Core i9, Record-setting content-creation results in its price bracket. Their actual die size is larger than the mainstream Cores, and their slightly higher wattages demand more robust cooling solutions. The top-end model at the moment is the 18-core/36-threadCore i9-10980XE Extreme Edition, as no HEDT options were launched as a part of 11th or 12th Gen. I'm a lifetime New Yorker, a graduate of New York University's journalism program, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Expect to pay roughly $100 to $250 for a Ryzen G processor. Ryzen? Googling the name of your current processor and selecting the spec page on AMD's or Intel's site will divulge what "socket" the CPU is on Again, we reiterate: This is a rough guide! The issue of lane count matters in extreme PC builds that involve multiple graphics cards in PCI Express x16 slots sharing internal electrical lanes with several PCI Express SSDs and other such devices on the bus; you need enough lanes to accommodate your hardware. You'll need to be sure you have a robust cooling solution to handle the extra heat, as well a motherboard and CPU that are suited to the task, since not all chips are unlocked and not all motherboards support overclocking. Underperforms less-expensive AMD Ryzen competitor on many performance benchmarks. Why? (These kinds of on-die graphics solutions are also referred to as "integrated graphics processors," or IGPs.) AMD's chipsets for the current Ryzens are the X570/X470/X370 (high-end silicon designed for overclockers, the equivalent of Intel's Z-series chipsets); the B550/B450/B350 (the mainstream models); and the A520/A320 (resolutely budget-minded boards). Support for ECC memory with certain mainboards. Read Great Stories Offline on Your Favorite, Intel Core i7-12700KF 12-Core Unlocked Desktop Processor, Intel Core i5-10400 6-Core Unlocked Desktop Processor, AMD Ryzen 5 5500 6-Core Unlocked Desktop Processor, AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 6-Core Unlocked Desktop Processor, PC Magazine Digital Edition (Opens in a new window), How to Free Up Space on Your iPhone or iPad, How to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Bill, How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Files, How to Record the Screen on Your Windows PC or Mac, Read Our AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X Review, Read Our Intel Core i9-10980XE Extreme Edition Review, How to Choose the Right RAM for Your Desktop or Laptop PC in 2021, How to Choose the Best Laptop Processor in 2022, New Graphics Card Too Expensive? We emphasize the word "physically" because chips from these generations willfitin any Socket 1151 motherboard, but not every 1151-class chip willworkwith every motherboard. Most are CPUs only, obliging you to invest in a discrete graphics card. For example, 9th Generation CPUs like the IntelCore i9-9900Kwon't work with the earliest Socket 1151 boards; you'll need one that supports the more recent Z390 chipset. Picks:Intel Core i9-10980X Extreme Edition, Intel Xeon W-2295,AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2970WX,AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X,AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X. LOCKED VERSUS UNLOCKED. Turning to AMD, the A series has long been the company's low-cost CPU line that features decent integrated graphics. (Of course, if your older system is still on DDR3 memory, you'll need new RAM, too; both Intel and AMD use DDR4 on their current consumer platforms, while Intel's 12th Generation Core CPUs and Z690 motherboards are the first to feature support for DDR5. be compatible with the CPU socket type you're installing it on, and (b.) In this space, it's all about how true the statement "My time is money" is and how multithreaded your go-to applications are. If, say, you're replacing a Core i3 by getting an Intel Core i7-10700K off Craigslist in exchange for $50 and a six-pack of Samuel Adams, by all means go for it. During that time, I've built and torn down enough desktop PCs to equip a city block's worth of internet cafes. Expect to pay roughly $150 to $200, possibly a bit less if you opt for a previous-gen chip. (Spoiler:For consumers, Intel Core i9-10980XE Extreme EditionorAMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X, priced at one or four grand respectively. Tagged with a "G" at the end (for "graphics"), these processors (the first of which debuted in 2018) are excellent values for budget systems emphasizing productivity apps and light gaming. Solid comparative gaming results at 1080p, Gives budget-strapped creators new options. The AMD X399/TR4 platform is a dead end, but the value proposition of those chips is still very good. As with the mainstream Intel lines, you'll want to match up your motherboard chipset with your usage case. If you're looking at Intel's mainstream CPUs on Socket 1151 or 1200, most come with Intel's capable, recently upgraded stock air cooler. All chips in the "Rocket Lake" lineup are compatible with LGA 1200 chipsets, split between Z590 (high-end), B560 (mainstream), H570 (mainstream), and H510 (budget). (The heat output you'll need to dissipate will be greater than the chip's rating.). As with core count, these numbers are telling only within a given processor family; a 3.5GHz Intel Core X-Series chip and a 4GHz AMD Ryzen mainstream chip are not directly comparable on the basis of clocks alone. Still, not all old chips run on the newest boards and vice versa; check motherboard details for exact CPU support. Trying to figure out the best CPU for your next PC upgrade or DIY build? Unlike Intel and its mainly more modest IGPs, AMD targets the best of its CPU/GPU combo chips (some of which fall under the Ryzen family; we'll get to them in the next section) as budget-friendly solutions for casual gamers. For example, the Z390, Z370, B365, B360, H370, and H310 chipsets all are relevant for the 8th and 9th generations of Intel CPUs, but you'll want to check the compatibility lists. Chips like theCore i7-6950X Extreme Editionare the forebears of the Core X-Series. In most cases, you're better off opting for one of the budget Ryzen CPUs discussed below (namely the "Raven Ridge" or "Picasso" G chips, assuming you want to get by without a video card). Answering this question will set you on a narrow path or a broad one. More about overclocking, again, near the end of this guide. Here, you want to be sure that your CPU isn't bottlenecking your GPU. This is where formal benchmarking and labs-based reviews like ours come to the fore. Eight P-cores threaded twice, combined with eight single-thread E-cores equals 24 threads. Enthusiast, high-refresh-rate gaming. Discrete-graphics-card gaming on a budget. At this writing, several generations of Intel's mainstream Celeron, Pentium, and Core i3/i5/i7/i9 processors share the market. support at a minimum the TDP rating of the chip. At CES 2021, however, AMD announced that Threadripper Pro CPUs would be made available to end users, with pricing disclosed in late January of that year. In his free time, youll find him shredding the local mountain on his snowboard, or using his now-defunct culinary degree to whip up a dish in the kitchen for friends. The end-of-life 6th Gen ("Skylake") processors also live on this socket. The Core i9-12900K is Intel's first truly innovative high-end desktop CPU in years, showing great potential in its performance/efficiency mixed-core design and support for DDR5 memory. These graphics-less chips are set apart by the suffix "F." For example, the Core i9-12900KF is a CPU only, with no integrated graphics. At this writing, prices started at around $250 for the lowest-end X399 boards and $400 for the cheapest TRX40 ones. The chipsets relevant to this line use the same Z/B/H scheme: Z490 (high end), B460 (mainstream), and H410 (budget). (Late-model mainstream AMD CPUs, on the company's AM4 socket, have broken that cycle for the moment.) Threadripper? One of the key distinctions between these chips and Intel's mainstream Core products, apart from their usually higher core and thread count, is their support for a greater number of CPU-bound PCI Express lanes. Intel's lower-end Xeon workstation CPUs also come into play if you're running apps with independent software vendor (ISV) certifications and a need for ECC memory, but if you need those things, you should follow software makers' recommendations carefully. Liquid cooling has an exotic cachet for many users, but today's all-in-one (AIO) liquid coolers from Cooler Master, Corsair, Deepcool, NZXT, and others have made water-cooling your PC as safe and easy as installing a case fan. The best way to look at a CPU buy is to take the considerations in a logical order, which will narrow the field as you make your choices. To gain support for more than 44 lanes, needs new motherboard. These boards and chips hit the market in mid-2020. These lanes are the internal electrical data pathways employed by video cards, PCI Express solid-state drives, and other PCIe internal cards. From the point of view of system upgraders or builders, however, the AMD A series chips have only minimal appeal these days and they are well on their way out except in remaindered and refurb systems. Core i9? It's the same chip as the Core i9-12900K, just without the IGP silicon. (Better leave breadcrumbs.). I have been a technology journalist for almost 30 years and have covered just about every kind of computer gearfrom the 386SX to 64-core processorsin my long tenure as an editor, a writer, and an advice columnist. The base clock is a multiple of the system's low-level clock and the CPU multiplier (which may be manually tweakable; more about that in a moment) and is the default speed at which the chip cores run. If the software you use is multithreaded (this especially applies to modern content-creation and image- and video-editing packages), more cores will help. As with the Intel Core X-Series, AMD X399- and TRX40-based boards are geared to extreme power users and enthusiasts. This loose equation has gotten more nuanced, however, with the launch of Intel's 12th Generation "Alder Lake" processors, and more specifically the introduction of what the company is calling its "Performance Cores" (P-cores), and "Efficiency Cores," or E-cores. What that means: Unless you're upgrading from a low-end chip early in a platform's lifecycle to a high-end CPU at the very end, you're not likely to gain too much from an in-place CPU upgrade on a dead-end platform. Overclocking can void your CPU's warranty, and there's no guarantee that you'll gain much from it. Here, we're assuming that "My time is money" is indeed your mantra, and your daily applications are well-optimized for all the cores and threads they can get. For the current generation, check out the Ryzen 5 5600X,the Ryzen 7 5700G, the Ryzen 7 5800X,the Ryzen 9 5900X, andthe Ryzen 9 5950X.). Among mainstream Intel Core Socket 1151, 1200, and 1700 processors, look for models with a "K" (unlocked) or "KF" (unlocked with no integrated graphics) suffix. Otherwise we would recommend investing in a liquid cooler that's at least 240mm to use with Intel's latest top-end 12th Gen processors; with a 360mm AIO system attached, we still recorded temperatures above the norm during our stress test of the Core i9-12900K. With few improvements over its predecessor and performance, in many cases, behind a less-expensive AMD Ryzen alternative, Intel's Core i9-10980XE is an enthusiast-class CPU that can't quite live up to the "Extreme" in its name. CORE COUNT. Note that Intel, with its 9th Generation mainstream Core CPUs for desktops, pushed HT further up its stack than ever before. Chances are, any cooler you owned before won't work with Threadripper's larger TR4 or sTRX4 sockets and huge chip dies, and the few air-cooling solutions available for Threadripper are, as we said, colossal. With its "Raven Ridge" series of Ryzen chips (plus a few Athlon-branded CPUs), AMD integrated a form of its Vega graphics onto the CPU die. ), (Examples of this family: See our reviews ofthe Core i9-10900K, the Core i5-11600K, and the Core i9-11900K, the Core i5-12600K, and the Core i9-12900K.). X570, meanwhile, debuted with third-generation Ryzen in 2019 and brings support for PCI Express 4.0, which is for now mostly of interest to shoppers looking to install the fastest possible PCI Express 4.0 SSDs or those looking to use the new "resizable BAR" feature steadily making its way to AMD and Nvidia GPUs. How to Squeeze More Performance From Your GPU, several distinct air coolers in the AMD Wraith family, PC Cooling 101: How to Buy the Right Air or Water Cooler for Your Desktop CPU, The Best Laptops for College Students in 2022, The Best Gaming Monitors for Xbox in 2022, The Best Gaming Monitors for PlayStation 5. It requires a unique chipset, the WRX80. You'll also need to factor in the onboardchipset, the motherboard's governing silicon. You'll want to check out our individual reviews and compare scores on tests like Cinebench and Handbrake for a relative idea of different processors' performance. You don't necessarily need a liquid cooler, but you'll want to be sure that any cooler you get has some extra TDP-support overhead if you intend to try overclocking. That's because a motherboard upgrade requires at least partial system disassembly, and sometimes replacingfurtherparts to make the upgrade work. Note, however, that the number of PCI Express lanes supportedcanvary depending on the Core X-Series CPU and motherboard combination you choose. Your subscription has been confirmed. The real hearts of the Ryzen line, though (and what's brought AMD roaring back in the desktop market over the past few years), are the Ryzen 1000, 2000, 3000, and 5000 series CPUs, the first through fourth generations respectively. Dubbed "Comet Lake-S" and headed by the Core i9-10900K, this line has HT support up and down the stack. (They may be inflated a bit in price as you read this, given the scorchingly high price of separate graphics cards.) If you click an affiliate link and buy a product or service, we may be paid a fee by that merchant. For now, only Z690 motherboards are for sale, though signs point to more midrange and budget options on the horizon sometime in early 2022. AMD's exceptionally fast Ryzen 7 5700G is a integrated-graphics-equipped, eight-core workhorse CPU of major proportions, slaying gaming records with its Radeon silicon alone. In most cases with Intel boards, upgrading to another chip that works in the same socket as your current one will have limited upside. The cost of adoption is high for now. As we alluded to earlier, one thing to note with 9th Generation Intel mainstream CPUs is that only the highest-end ones support the doubling of processing threads via Hyper-Threading. Upgrading to any "Comet Lake" CPU (and its new platform) has its budget implications, but for a six-core chip with gaming chops, the Core i5-10400 is as good as it gets in Intel's 10th Generation stack. Works with mature X299 chipset ecosystem. The display of third-party trademarks and trade names on this site does not necessarily indicate any affiliation or the endorsement of PCMag. All retail third-gen AMD Ryzens (apart from the Ryzen 9 3950X and the Threadrippers) come with one ofseveral distinct air coolers in the AMD Wraith family(Opens in a new window): the Stealth, the Spire, or the Prism. The multiplier is locked down on other chips. (Overclocking suitability varies from chip sample to chip sample, what's known in enthusiast circles as the "silicon lottery.") They are broken into Ryzen 3, Ryzen 5, Ryzen 7, and (since the third gen) Ryzen 9 classes, similar to Intel's Core subgroups. You'll also want to make sure the cooler is adequate, per our advice above. Core X-Series and Ryzen Threadripper were made for this market. He brings his experience benchmarking and reviewing consumer gadgets and PC hardware such as laptops, pre-built gaming systems, monitors, storage, and networking equipment to the team. Like the Ryzens, the Threadripper chips have passed through three generations to date. If you're upgrading an existing desktop PC, your CPU upgrade options, by definition, will be limited: by the architecture, socket, and compatibility of the motherboard installed in the PC. Practically speaking, it's the same thing. Threadripper Pro supplies up to 128 PCI Express 4.0 lanes. Are you trying to maximize speed or value? Any cooler you are looking at should (a.) Alternatively, if it will let you get a better video card in this scenario, you can even opt for a slightly older 9th Generation Core i5 or third-gen Ryzen 5. Sign up for Lab Report to get the latest reviews and top product advice delivered right to your inbox. As mentioned, that changed with Intel's 10th Generation. An X470 chipset will give you access to slightly higher system-memory clocks than X370, as well as support for StoreMI, a flexible storage-management feature that lets you pair an SSD and a hard drive to facilitate keeping your most frequently accessed files and programs on the faster drive. Which of the two big chipmakers should you go with: AMD or Intel? The family nomenclature here is otherwise all Core i7 or Core i9, with, at this writing, only Core i9 chips in the "Cascade Lake-X" line. Are you upgrading, or building a whole new PC? Check. Third-gen chips and boards support the same 64 lanes of PCI Express bandwidth, but third-gen Threadrippers work only with third-gen motherboards and vice versa. The latest generations employ Socket 1700. (Properly written software can use more than one core to process parts of a task at a time.). Here's how to make sense of AMD's and Intel's lines, backed by dozens of our deep-dive reviews. TDP is relevant as a yardstick for the heat output that the cooler will have to handle. Memory support to 256GB with supporting motherboards.