The Best CPUs in 2023

The advent of Intel’s new 14th-generation CPUs builds on the success of its 13th-generation Raptor Lake-based CPUs with higher clocks and, in some cases, higher core counts in tow. Meanwhile, AMD clings firmly to its X3D CPU-induced wins in gaming, making it quite challenging for players to choose the best CPU for their PC rig.

While most modern CPUs are good at gaming with equal performance in most games in GPU-bound titles, some rise above the rest when the tables turn and CPU-intensive game engines come into play, such as with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, Valorant, and other Esports titles for example. At the same time, some of the fastest CPUs for gaming right now are built specifically to maximize their gaming performance versus productivity, making them a tad slower when it comes to productivity-related benchmarks that concentrate on the raw power of a CPU running optimized multithreaded workloads.

What To Consider When Picking a CPU

When it comes to picking a CPU, there are currently more choices than ever before with both Intel and AMD offering motherboards that have been out for over a year that work with 3 and 2 different CPU generations respectively (considering the X3D lineup a different CPU generation). This means that one needs to take a better look at what fits their needs, which could range from general-purpose uses to gaming to hardcore productivity-centric tools. The key metrics for identifying and picking a CPU based on performance that works for a given user includes but may not be limited to:

• Instructions Per Cycle (IPC)
• Clock Speeds
• Core Counts
• Memory & PCI-E Support
• Single Core Performance
• Efficiency/Power Consumption
• Cooling Requirements

Anyone looking for the best of both worlds can benefit from these top-tier CPUs, which include the best overall CPUs for productivity and gaming.

The Best CPUs in 2023

The best CPU overall is the Intel Core i5 13500. It carries a 14-core processor (6 P-Cores, 8 E-Cores) that is essentially a locked version of the higher-priced Intel Core i5 13600K (or higher clocked i5 14600K) that sports higher clocks in tow. Unlike its higher-end version, the 13500 comes with a stock cooler in the box that should save significant costs for users looking to game or be productive on a budget; the higher-end 13600K is not a cool customer in terms of power draw and thermal requirements.

The 13500 offers excellent single-core performance at 4.8GHz and acceptable multicore performance while adhering to a much stricter power limit regimen than the 13600K with the processor designed to operate around 65W during prolonged periods which makes it an excellent efficiency play.

It does offer an excellent price-performance ratio while edging out both, the last generation Intel Core i5 12600K processor and its direct AMD-based competitor, the Ryzen 7 7600X, in both gaming and productivity benchmarks. While the differences in performance are slight, they are present and given the tight price range all 3 processors compete in, the Intel Core i5 13500 is our winner for the best value Intel CPU.

For users looking specifically for gaming, the Intel Core i5 12600K/KF CPU does happen to be trading at a much more aggressive price tag lately, but it does involve having to purchase a CPU cooler to match; Intel’s unlocked CPUs do not ship with an air-cooler, allowing users to pick their CPU cooler. If one just wants more cores under the hood and no part in picking a dedicated air, cooler, the Intel Core i5 13500 has its uses, for both gaming and productivity use cases.

The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 8-Core 16-Thread processor is unapologetically designed to go for the jugular when it comes to gaming with AMD putting its 3D V-Cache technology to full use to push out a processor that makes the most of it for gaming this year as it aims to dethrone Intel’s recent dominance when it comes to gaming-related benchmarks and real-world performance.

While the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D comes as the last of 3 announced AMD 7000 series X3D Processors, it isn’t difficult to see why; it often outperforms its own larger sibling, the Ryzen 9 7950X3D in some gaming benchmarks, positioning itself as the new king of the hill for gaming thanks to its stacked V-cache offering. What is not surprising, but still a bit disappointing, is its lack of productivity-based software gains thanks to the added 3D V-Cache, but that can be reasoned away somewhat as AMD’s last generation X3D processor, the capable 5800X3D also exhibited similar behavior.

Overall, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is the best CPU for gaming and a solid performer that doesn’t cost as much as its competitors when it comes to gaming while dominating the playing field with some of the best scores in multiple benchmarks that cement it as the best gaming CPU money can buy currently. It also happens to be on sale at a variety of retailers, offering a sub-15 discount versus its previous MSRP.

While the Intel Core i9-14900K and KF are not new processors, they do not need to be. After all, these CPUs replace the already-fast and multicore king of the hill, the Intel Core i9 13900K. The 14900K offers higher clocks than its predecessor on both its higher-end performance cores and its lower-clocked efficiency cores by 200 MHz and 100 MHz, respectively. It offers best-in-class multicore performance and some of the best gaming performance to date in multiple titles assisted by its ability to push clocks as high as 6GHz on multiple cores.

This advantage can be built up even further by using the Intel XTU AI tool that currently remains an exclusive for the Intel Core i9 14900K and KF, using it to profile and attempt to run suggested overclocks based on multiple data sets.

While Intel’s quest for the fastest gaming CPU crown is ongoing with the Ryzen 7 7800X3D standing strong, the 14900K comes as close as possible to Raptor Lake while also pulling surprise wins in certain newer titles. It also decimates its competition when it comes to multicore performance making a well-rounded productivity-centric CPU that also manages to game quite well, coming in a close second to its competition.

It does however require significant cooling, power delivery, and power supply investment to ensure the 14900K truly shines, especially in the productivity department, where the chip can routinely cross 400W of power usage when under maximum loads.

If gaming is not a prospective buyer’s only play when using a processor, the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X is now trading at a decent discount, $100 off its Ryzen 9 7950X3D sibling that is, as AMD puts it, “For gamers and creators”. This makes it a much more viable choice than its earlier MSRP of $700.

It has the highest boost clocks for an AMD processor to date out of the box which allows it to retain a workload-based performance crown, replacing AMD’s previous 16-core offering in the same space, the Ryzen 9 5950X, offering more performance on tap while trading at a decent discount over its last MSRP.

When all is said and done, the Ryzen 9 7950X is a 16-core, 32-thread processor at its core and a very capable one at that. It can also harness some of the latest tech that comes bundled as part of its tech offerings: PCI-Express 5.0 and DDR5 memory support. It is also much more efficient than the competing Intel Core i9 13900K when it comes to multithreaded performance.

It continues trading at a $100 discount since the launch of the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D, making it complete directly with the Intel Core i9 13900K which has more cores under the hood but consumes considerably more power than AMD’s more efficient offering.

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X is an excellent hexacore CPU for gaming that is AMD’s mid-range play for a gaming processor that offers overclockability, decent gaming performance, and superior efficiency in a sub $200 package that allows users to experience the socket AM5 platform without having to spend an arm and a leg in the process making it an excellent, well-rounded offering from Team Red.

Also included with the 7600X is an entry-level 2-core integrated graphics chip that allows end-users to use it for productivity without needing a secondary display option like its predecessor. While AMD’s offering is somewhat limited in terms of core count thanks to its hexacore offerings, it does offer significantly more leeway in terms of efficiency even if it comes considerably short for production workloads.

All in all, if one is going AMD and is on a budget, the 7600X has them covered when it comes to delivering an efficient, gaming-centric performance that doesn’t break the bank while offering considerable value to the end user.

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X has seen a massive uptick in pricing in September which makes it a relatively less desirable purchase for some users. It does however deliver on its promise of a very fast hexacore CPU that does offer an efficient, gaming-centric AM5-based alternative for gamers looking to go AMD this round.

The now-aging Intel Core i7 12700K CPU still packs a powerful punch and is back in the limelight as one of the best CPUs on a budget as a result of Intel’s extensive price cuts on Alder Lake. It comes overclocked out of the box unlike the comparable Core i5 13500 CPU while also offering 2 more performance (P-cores) cores while offering 4 less efficiency (E-cores) cores as a result.

It does skip on a stock cooler like all unlocked Intel CPUs do, adding significantly to the net cost for most users looking to max out the CPU while having limited memory compatibility, especially at higher clocks, requiring a higher-end motherboard to be able to push it significantly.

At the same time, the price tag, the better gaming and productivity performance, and the overclocking potential are strong proponents of what was a favorite CPU when Alder Lake launched. The fact that it runs on both Intel’s 12th and 13th generation motherboards in addition to DDR4 and DDR5 memory depending on the motherboard of choice, makes it an appealing and balanced choice to consider. It also offers significant productivity use cases, housing 16 performance and 4 efficiency threads for a total of 20 threads for power users looking to eke out some extra performance from Intel’s most balanced Core i7 chip from 2021.

How Important Is Single-Core CPU Performance For Gaming?

Single-core performance in a CPU is often touted, and rightly so as an important metric to track when ascertaining a CPU’s performance potential. This is because of how video games work in general, a practice that stems from older video game engines being primarily single-threaded or not handling most of their logic across multiple threads. Most current video games also tend to be exceptionally reliant on a single thread (even those built on modern game engines at times) which also gives credence to this notion.

It is true that faster single-core performance more often than not does translate to significant performance uplifts for most modern titles. This is both due to a speedier single-core somewhat limiting the performance bottleneck that game engines experience where threads ‘wait’ on the primary thread to proceed before they can move to the next frame or render more objects; As a result faster single-core performance allows for less resource ‘locks’ on a processor. At the same time, this is not the complete story.

Modern games attempt to increasingly leverage the extra horsepower that multicore CPUs give us. This is due to a multitude of factors but can be condensed down to a few simple factors;

• Considerably more powerful game consoles: Since the last generation consoles from both Sony and Microsoft went for custom AMD x86 chips and the current generation has followed suit, much of the target platform development has been centered around an octa-core processor with the latest generation using custom AMD Zen 2-based APUs. This has allowed modern games to push for better use of limited resources on consoles which translates to better, more optimal use of multicore CPUs in a bid to eke out more performance for game consoles and PCs alike.
• Better, more optimized game engines: Game engines have come a long way and offer powerful optimization techniques and more fine-grained control to developers now than ever before to ensure better gaming performance on multicore CPUs which they previously couldn’t exploit as well as possible relative to potential performance.
• Higher core counts in entry-level CPUs: Possibly one of the most important factors that have led to multicore CPUs receiving increasing amounts of optimization is that entry-level CPUs from Intel and AMD offer a minimum of 4 cores, with most offering 6 or more cores, allowing developers to assume a larger thread and core count than they previously could as a minimum specification, making it easier for them to assume a larger core count from the get-go when designing their games.

While it isn’t incorrect to say that multicore performance is a secondary factor to performance, it has increasingly become more relevant since the turn of the century and will continue to grow in terms of relevance as new titles continue to be released. Single-core performance in a way can be seen as the maximum cap of what potential a CPU can exhibit in modern games that otherwise have their multicore requirements met, making it a crucial benchmark for most modern games.

This also is why Intel & AMD focus on single-core performance for gaming-centric CPU offerings with higher clocks offered at the higher, multicore CPU tiers which are normally reserved for enthusiast-tier gamers and creators such as the Intel Core i9 14900K.

The Bottom Line

More cores and higher clocks do not always equate to more performance and 16-core processors like the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X have a far smaller gap in terms of productivity workloads with the 13900K/13900KS than raw core counts would suggest. At the same time, the current king of the hill for gaming is the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D which decimates all of its competition with ease thanks to its 3D V-Cache implementation allowing it to work with larger amounts of data thanks to the extended L3 cache.

If one wishes to get the best value for money, both Intel’s Core i5 and AMD’s Ryzen 5 are where one needs to look in terms of an excellent price-to-performance ratio. If their plans are more centric on getting the best of the best, AMD’s Ryzen 9 7950X/7950X3D and Intel’s Core i9 13900K/13900KS are excellent options. At the same time, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D makes its case for the best gaming CPU available despite being an octa-core processor in a segment that has plenty of cores to go around for high-end processors.

FAQ

Q: What is the fastest CPU For gaming?

The Fastest CPU for gaming currently is the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D with an octa-core layout that is backed by AMD’s 3D V-Cache with AMD’s own Ryzen 9 7950X3D and Intel’s Core i9 13900KS coming in a close 2nd and 3rd place respectively.|

Q: What is the Fastest AMD CPU For Productivity?

The fastest consumer-grade AMD CPU for productivity is the 16-core, 32-thread Ryzen 9 7950X which is slightly faster in most productivity benchmarks compared to its more expensive Ryzen 9 7950X3D sibling due to a higher clock speed and TDP rating that help it perform better in non-gaming benchmarks.

Q: What is the Best CPU for Productivity?

As of September 2023, the fastest CPU for work is currently the Intel Core i9-14900KS which can do 6000MHz on single-core clocks while having 24 cores handling 32 threads that allow it to crunch numbers beyond most of its competitors.