How to choose a CPU?

Whether you’re building or upgrading a PC, the processor matters a lot. We'll help you choose the right one for your needs.

The CPU matters a lot, whether you’re upgrading your existing system or building a new PC. Higher clock speeds and core counts can make a major difference in overall performance, providing a snappier system, smoother gameplay and faster completion of intensive tasks such as video editing and transcoding. Plus, the CPU you choose will also dictate your motherboard options, as each processor only works with a specific CPU socket and set of chipsets.

Also, like most aspects of consumer tech, you'll have to decide to buy the best processor that's available right now, or wait to see what next-generation chips bring to the table. Now that AMD's Ryzen 3000 CPUs have arrived, we're hard at work testing every model, although the Ryzen 7 3700x and Ryzen 5 3600 have impressed us so far. The 16-core Ryzen 9 3950X brings even more performance to the "mainstream" CPU market, easily impressing us more than the Core i9-9900KS.

More recently, in an attempt to investigate Intel's latest mid-to-low-end processors, we tested the company's Core i3-9350KF. It performs well in gaming when paired with a dedicated graphics card. But with four cores and no Hyper-threading, the addition of Turbo Boost 2.0 isn't enough for us to recommend the CPU to anyone. It seems Intel is struggling both on the high end and the low end at the moment.

You can't lose with AMD or Intel: For mainstream users, so long as you’re considering current-generation parts (AMD Ryzen 3000 or Intel 9th Generation Core), this debate is basically a wash, with Intel doing slightly better on 1080p gaming on some titles (owing primarily to higher clocks) and AMD handling tasks like video editing faster. That said, at many price points, so long as you don't care only about gaming, AMD delivers more cores and general performance (plus PCIe 4.0 on its latest chips), at a better value.

Clock speed is more important than core number: Higher clock speeds translate to snappier performance in simple, common tasks such as gaming, while more cores will help you get through time-consuming workloads faster.

Get the latest gen: You won't save much money in the long run by going with an older, previous-generation chip unless that previous-generation chip is a Ryzen that hasn't been replaced by a current 3000-series part.

Budget for a full system: Don't pair a strong CPU with weak storage, RAM and graphics.

Overclocking isn’t for everyone: For most people, it makes more sense to spend extra cash on buying a higher-end chip.