Best gaming CPU 2026

AMD has done it again with the Ryzen 7 9850X3D. A year or so after the 9800X3D stormed to the top of the gaming charts as the best gaming CPU around, the 9850X3D adds 400MHz of clock speed to push a few percentage points ahead, crowning it the new champion. If you’re simply after the best of the best, this is it.

What’s more, while the advantage of this chip over the 9800X3D is small, so is the price difference. At MSRP, you’re only paying $20 extra to get the very best, at least on paper.

That said, this is still an expensive chip for only eight cores. You can grab the eight-core 9700X for $200 less. However, that chip is noticeably not as fast in games, even it can hold a candle to the 9850X3D in other tasks. That’s just how powerful the 3D V-Cache tech in this X3D chip actually is.

The other factor to consider is if you really need the very best. While at MSRP the 9800X3D is only $20 cheaper than the 9850X3D, it’s already seeing small discounts that are dropping its price to $449, which is a $50 saving. If you just want a really fast gaming CPU and don’t need the bragging rights of being the absolute best, that’s the chip we’d get.

Read our AMD Ryzen 7 9850XD review for more information.

The second-best gaming CPU right now is the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D. This eight-core CPU isn’t cheap, but it can be had for as much as $50 less than the 9850X3D while only giving up a few percent in game performance.

In our tests, this CPU had been top of our charts until the 9850X3D came along, producing the fastest frame rates in the likes of Cyberpunk 2077 and Far Cry 6, with it being noticeably quicker than its predecessor, the 7800X3D, in non-gaming applications too.

The secret to the success of this CPU and its successor is its use of 2nd-gen AMD 3D V-cache, which is a large 64MB slice of silicon that sits under the CPU cores, providing a big boost in cache that saves your CPU from having to access slower RAM for its data.

This cache massively improves gaming performance, and the fact that it’s underneath the CPU cores on the 9800X3D and 9850X3D (as opposed to on top of them as in the 7800X3D) means your CPU cooler now directly cools the cores, rather than cooling the cache first. This not only means cooler operating temperatures than the 7800X3D, but it has also enabled AMD to up the clock speeds, with a top boost clock of 5.2GHz.

Add in AMD’s latest efficient Zen 5 architecture, and you have a formidable gaming CPU, as well as a chip that can handle multi-threaded software without breaking a sweat. It doesn’t have loads of CPU cores for really heavy-duty workstation-type applications (look to the 9950X or 7950X for that), but it has enough for most people’s needs, and it’s a fantastic chip for gaming.

Crucially, while the 9800X3D is still a fairly pricey eight-core CPU, it’s a reasonable chunk cheaper than the 9850X3D, so it’s the better bet for most gamers, unless you absolutely want the best for the sake of it.

Read our AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D review.

The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D has been superseded by the superior 9800X3D and 9850X3D, but there are still reasons to consider buying the previous champion, particularly if you can’t quite afford the new chip. Grab the 7800X3D, and you’ll save yourself as much as $100 while only dropping a little performance, while still having the option to upgrade to a 9850X3D later.

Like the 9850X3D, it’s the 96MB of L3 cache inside the 7800X3D that does wonders for frame rates, ensuring that you’re getting all the pixel-pushing juice out of your graphics card. Its effects are most keenly felt at resolutions like 1080p, making it an ideal choice for competitive gamers. This also means that if you mostly play at higher resolutions where your GPU is the limit, only occasionally playing at high frame rates at 1080p, you will hardly ever notice the difference in game performance compared to a 9800X3D or 9850X3D.

Elsewhere, this chip isn’t as competitive as the 9850X3D for non-gaming tasks, but it’s still more than ample for most people’s needs. Plus, the AM5 motherboard it uses will not only let you drop in a 9850X3D as an upgrade – or let you switch to a 16-core AMD chip such as the 9950X3D – but will even support future AMD CPUs, as the company has committed to using AM5 for at least another generation of chips.

Read our AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D review.

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X is the ideal choice for anyone planning to build a new gaming PC on a tight budget, thanks to its solid gaming performance and sub-$200 price.

This Zen 5 processor may only have six cores, but that’s still plenty for most gaming scenarios, especially with the power of AMD’s latest architecture behind them. The only downside is that it’s not as quick as Intel’s equivalently priced chips, such as the Core i5 14600K, in multi-threaded software, though it is a better gaming chip.

All this and the chip sips power, making it economical to run and easy to cool. By default, it has a TDP of just 65W, making it easy to keep in check with a modest CPU cooler, but you can also unlock a 105W mode to give it a boost in multi-threading software.

What’s more, because this CPU uses AMD’s latest AM5 socket, you can buy a motherboard for it now that will also support later upgrades, as well as current CPUs such as the acclaimed 9850X3D.

Crucially, this chip no longer has a silly price. It originally launched at $279 in 2024, but it now costs under $200. That’s still a lot more than the Core i5 12400F, but it’s also a much more powerful gaming CPU, plus there’s plenty of life left in the Socket AM5 platform for future upgrades.

Read our AMD Ryzen 5 9600X review.

If you really want the CPU that can do it all, then AMD’s latest flagship, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, simply can’t be beaten. Its 16 Zen 5 cores rip through multi-threaded workloads with ease, even beating the 24-core Intel Core i9 14900K in Cinebench.

Best of all, you don’t compromise on gaming performance, as eight of this CPU’s cores are also equipped with a 64MB slice of AMD’s 3D V-cache, and the gaming performance is incredible. It’s basically a Ryzen 7 9800X3D, but with an extra eight cores for multi-threaded work.

Those extra eight (non-X3D) cores can also boost to 5.7GHz, which is 500MHz faster than the 9800X3D, and in our tests, that means it’s faster in both single and multi-threaded workloads than the eight-core chip. All this, and it also runs surprisingly cool, especially compared to Intel’s 14th-gen Raptor Lake chips.

There’s only one downer about this CPU, and that’s the stratospheric price of $699. Realistically, you can pick it up for around $670, but that’s still extremely expensive. If you only want a chip for gaming, then you’ll get much better value from the 9800X3D or 9850X3D, but if you want barnstorming gaming performance, with top-tier multi-threading pace for productivity, then this is absolutely the CPU to buy.

Read our full AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D review.

Sitting at the top of Intel’s gaming CPU stack is the Core i9 14900K, one of the few chips out there capable of hitting 6GHz clock speeds.

It packs the usual makeup of 24 cores and 32 threads that have defined every Core i9 for the past three generations. The only other LGA 1700 processor capable of competing is the Core i9 13900KS, but the 14900K is essentially identical to the more expensive CPU.

The Core i9 14900K is best suited for systems that serve both as a gaming rig and workstation, as its strengths are best realized in multi-core workloads. Just make sure you have a capable power supply and cooler to hand, as it’ll guzzle electricity like nobody’s business.

There is a word of warning with this CPU, though, which is that there have been problems with voltage fluctuations, causing crashes in games, and even permanently damaged CPUs. If you want to run this CPU, make sure you flash the BIOS in your motherboard so it has the latest microcode first.

Read our Intel Core i9 14900K review.

The 14600K is a super-capable mid-range chip that offers six of Intel’s performance cores coupled with eight efficiency core for a chip that boasts a total of 14 cores while costing under $190. That makes is a great multi-tasker.

What’s more, it’s gaming speed is decent too. While it falls behind the higher-clocked 14900K and AMD’s latest X3D chips, it’s still a fast CPU. What’s more, that K on the end of its name means you can overclock this chip easily, potentially getting free extra performance, if your CPU cooler has the capacity to cool it well.

For a brand new system, Intel’s LGA 1700 platform isn’t one we’d particularly recommend as it’s already now two generations old with no future CPU upgrade options. However, if you have an older LGA 1700 board or can find one cheap secondhand, the 14600K will be a great partner for it. And you can always upgrade to the likes of the 14700K or 14900K at a later date.

Read our Intel Core i5 14600K review.

If you want to get a decent gaming CPU on a tight budget, but also want a bit of a boost in multi-threaded work such as video encoding and rendering, the Core i5 13400F is a solid candidate. It features six of Intel’s latest Raptor Lake P-Cores and a 4.6GHz boost clock, making it slightly quicker than the 12400F for gaming, plus it has an added bonus over the 12400F.

Unlike its predecessor, the 13400F also has four of Intel’s low-power E-Cores under its heat spreader, giving you a total of ten cores, which gives it a notable boost in multi-threaded software. It’s an ideal choice for anyone who does more than just game with their system but doesn’t have a huge amount of money to spend.

Like the 12400F, this chip doesn’t have a K in its model name, which means it can’t officially be overclocked by changing the multiplier, and the F means it doesn’t have an integrated GPU either. However, the latter enables you to save some money if you’re buying a dedicated graphics card anyway.

You won’t need one of the best CPU cooler options to keep this CPU in check either, and if you buy the retail version you’ll even get an adequate Intel stock air cooler included in the box. For just $30 more than the 12400F, it’s a great upgrade.

Read our Intel Core i5 13400F review.

If you have some old PC gear and are looking for a cheap upgrade that will still get you solid gaming performance, the Intel Core i5 12400F is a great buy. At around $110, it’s one of the cheapest reasonably modern CPUs around and thanks to it being supported by quite old Intel motherboards and able to use old DDR4 RAM, there’s a chance you can reuse plenty of your old kit with it.

In particular, if you have an Intel LGA 1700 motherboard – or you can find a secondhand one for cheap – and you have 16GB or more of DDR4 RAM (any less than that and you’re better off buying new DDR5) this CPU will just drop in and get you six of Intel’s decently powerful, performance-oriented P-Cores. That’s two more than some of Intel’s more recent budget CPUs, and it’s these P-Cores that are what count for gaming.

Don’t be fooled by the older-looking ’12’ in this CPU’s model number either – the Alder Lake architecture used by this chip is very similar to the Raptor Lake architecture used in Intel’s latest 14th gen CPUs, and we’ve found it more than capable when it comes to gaming.

With its TDP of just 65W, this CPU also doesn’t need a massive AIO cooler to keep it in check – a budget air cooler will do the job fine. There are a few catches. One is that this ‘F’ model has no integrated GPU, but that’s not an issue for a gaming PC, as we’d recommend getting a separate graphics card anyway – only AMD has fast enough integrated GPUs for gaming. It also doesn’t have any of Intel’s E-Cores, which provide a boost in multi-threaded work, but these are largely irrelevant when it comes to performance in most games.

The peak clock speed of just 4.4GHz could also be higher, and this isn’t a K-series CPU either, so it’s not easy to overclock, but you can’t have everything at this price. This is the best option if you want a cheap easy upgrade, though for not much more there are better choices if you’re building a brand new system.

Read our Intel Core i5 12400F review

For those needing a single chip that can handle CPU and GPU duties, perhaps for building a small system, or if you’re just on a tight budget where spending another $200 on a graphics card just isn’t an option, look no further than the Ryzen 5 8600G. With six Zen 4 cores and a Radeon 760M integrated GPU, it’s a perky performer as a processor and stand-in graphics card.

The 8600G shines brightest in less demanding games, but it’s still capable of playing the likes of Cyberpunk 2077 at 30fps if you’re comfortable with playing at 1080p using low settings. It’s compatible with FidelityFX Super Resolution too, which can help boost frame rates further through upscaling and frame generation.

You’ll need to pair the 8600G with DDR5 RAM clocked at 6,000MHz or above to get the most performance out of its integrated graphics, which is a bit of a problem with current DDR5 RAM prices. While this does add to the total cost of putting together a system, though, you can use the same RAM if you upgrade your CPU in the future.

If you plan to upgrade to a dedicated graphics card in the not too distant future, the 8600G isn’t an ideal processor, as it’s not as fast as equivalently-priced CPUs without powerful integrated graphics and has a limited number of PCIe lanes. However, unless you’re upgrading to a particularly fast graphics card, chances are it will still be your GPU that holds back gaming performance, rather than this CPU.

Read our AMD Ryzen 5 8600G review.