Although many components go into building PC, few are as important as the processor. As the heart of your system, the CPU handles most of the actual computing that your computer does. With multiple options from AMD and Intel, however, finding the best processors is more difficult than it may seem.
We’ve rounded up the best desktop CPUs for your next build, with a balance between Intel and AMD options. Although Intel releases have been disappointing over the past few years, its recent 12th-generation Alder Lake chips top the charts. That’s why we recommend the Core i5-12600K as the best processor you can buy right now.
The best processors in 2021 at a glance
Intel Core i5-12600K
Why you should buy this: It’s the best CPU to balance price and performance today.
Who it’s for: Gamers and PC builders that want a performant processor without overspending.
Why we picked the Core i5-12600K:
The Intel Core i5-12600K is the perfect gaming CPU for around $300. Although it draws more power than the competing Ryzen 5 5600X, it performs much better as well. For around $300, you’re getting a 10-core CPU that carries six performance cores and four efficient cores. That’s a significant bump over the Ryzen5 5600X, and that difference shows in performance.
Across the board, the Core i5-12600K outperforms AMD’s competing chip. In some cases, the Core i5-12600K even outperforms AMD’s $800 Ryzen 9 5950X. Particularly in productivity benchmarks, this chip can destroy everything else on the market. And if you’re a gamer, you can expect higher average frame rates than 5950X, which is nearly three times as expensive.
Perhaps most impressive, this chip manages to universally perform above last-gen’s Core i9-11900K, showing just how much of an improvement Intel’s 12th-gen Alder Lake processors bring. The Core i5-12600K is power-hungry, drawing up to 150W when turboing, but that extra power is put to good use.
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
Why you should buy this: It’s the best AMD CPU on the market.
Who it’s for: Gamers who want a Ryzen CPU but don’t need a lot of cores.
Why we picked the Ryzen 5 5600X:
For a balance of price and performance, it’s hard to beat the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X. It clocks in at only $300 and comes with six cores, 12 threads, and a boost clock speed of up to 4.6GHz. Although it doesn’t boost as high as Intel’s competing Core i5-12600K, the Ryzen 5 5600X manages to stay cooler and consumes about half the power.
You’re not getting eight cores like you’d get on the Ryzen 7 5800X, but that doesn’t matter much in games. It features the same Zen 3 architecture as the rest of the Ryzen 5000 range, so you get about the same single-core performance as even the Ryzen 9 5900X. That makes the Ryzen 5 5600X a great choice for gaming.
Six cores might limit you in some tasks. However, that’s still more than enough for gaming and day-to-day tasks, as well as some light video or photo editing. The Ryzen 5 5600X is everything you need and nothing you don’t, making it an easy recommendation for the mainstream gaming crowd.
AMD Ryzen 3 3300X
Why you should buy this: It’s the best budget CPU you can buy.
Who it’s for: Gamers and PC builders who don’t need more than four cores.
Why we picked the Ryzen 3 3300X:
It’s tough finding a budget CPU in 2021. The cheapest options are more expensive than they should be, and many of them are out of stock. That leaves us with the Ryzen 3 3300X, which is a decent deal at only $30 above its list price. Although more expensive than it should be, the Ryzen 3 3300X isn’t a bad buy.
It’s a low-end chip that does the trick for gaming, offering four cores, eight threads, and clock speeds up to 4.3GHz. It’s based on the older Zen 2 architecture, which isn’t as fast the Zen 3 architecture on recent Ryzen chips. However, Zen 2 still includes solid single-core performance, which is great for gaming.
Although the four cores might feel limiting for video or photo editing, the Ryzen 3 3300X can still handle light productivity tasks, as well as any day-to-day work you may have. Budget CPUs aren’t $100 like they used to be, but the Ryzen 3 3300X still manages to feel worth its asking price.
Intel Core i9-12900K
Why you should buy this: It’s the fastest desktop CPU you can buy right now.
Who it’s for: Content creators and productivity wizards who like to multitask.
Why we picked the Core i9-12900K:
Although the Core i5-12600K is the best CPU you can buy right now, the Core i9-12900K is the highest performer. It doesn’t represent as good of a value, but it still manages to beat AMD’s Ryzen 9 5950X — a chip that’s anywhere from $100 to $200 more expensive. If there’s one processor that shows Intel’s 12th-gen architecture in action, it’s the Core i9-12900K.
In our testing, the chip managed to outperform the Ryzen 9 5950X by as much as 30% in some benchmarks. Although both the Intel and AMD parts sport 16 cores, the Core i9-12900K doesn’t have 16 full cores. Instead, it has an even split of eight performance and eight efficient cores, showing that Intel is able to achieve what AMD can with only half of its core running at full power.
Unsurprisingly, gaming performance is off the charts — though that’s true for the much cheaper Core i5-12600K as well. The Core i9-12900K shines in productivity and content creation workloads, where it can utilize the hybrid core design to delegate work to the proper cores.
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
Why you should buy this: It’s a workhorse 12-core CPU that clocks in at a reasonable price.
Who it’s for: Gamers who want to use their PC for more than just gaming.
Why we picked the Ryzen 9 5900X:
Two chips are topping AMD’s current lineup: The 5900X and the 5950X. The 5950X is undoubtedly the more powerful processor, sporting 16 cores and 32 threads to the 5900X’s 12 cores and 24 threads. The 5950X is also $250 more expensive, and in the vast majority of applications, that’s wasted money.
The 5900X far exceeds the last-gen 3900X, as well as Intel’s former frontrunner, the 10900K. The underlying Zen 3 architecture is the reason why, with excellent single- and multi-core performance. In rendering and encoding, the 5900X matches or exceeds the last-gen 3950X in most benchmarks. In some cases, the 5900X even exceeds the 5950X.
Like all 5000-series processors, the 5900X is available from most retailers. It really is the best mainstream AMD processor currently available, so we’d recommend hunting one down if you can.
Best processor for productivity work: AMD Threadripper 3990X
Why you should buy this: It’s the fastest high-end desktop CPU around, and it comes with an astonishing 64 cores.
Who it’s for: Professionals who need a high core count CPU.
Why we picked the Threadripper 3990X:
If AMD changed the conversation with its mainstream Ryzen 3000-series processors, it flipped the script with Threadripper 3000. Even among that ridiculously powerful generation of high-end CPUs, the Threadripper 3990X stands alone. It is a genuinely ludicrous and unnecessary CPU. But if you can take advantage of its 64 cores and 128 threads, there’s no other CPU out there quite like it, outside of the server space.
The 3990X, like most Threadripper chips, favors quantity over quality. The cores themselves are impressive, built on the same Zen 2 architecture as third-gen Ryzen chips. However, the newer Zen 3 architecture in Ryzen 5000 processors has faster single-core performance, making those CPUs better for things like gaming, which usually stress a dominant core or only use a limited number of cores.
The 3990X shines in tasks that demand a lot of cores, such as visual effects rendering or dense video editing. Sitting between the consumer and professional space, the 3990X is the perfect processor for professionals that need the best performance but don’t have the money to invest in server-grade hardware.
This model’s price is an obvious downside—it’s just under $4,000. However, that’s still far less expensive than Intel’s 50+ core models. If having a ton of cores isn’t essential, you can get the 32-core AMD Threadripper 3970X for half the price while still spending less than you would with other models. Keep in mind, though, that the 3990X is a productivity workhorse. If you make a living from your computer—say, in CPU-heavy tasks such as CAD and video encoding—the higher priced option might pay for itself.
Intel is back on top
Although Intel has taken a beating over the past few generations, its 12th-gen chips prove that the company is still competitive. AMD’s Ryzen 5000 chips aren’t far behind, but Intel holds the performance crown for now. It holds the price crown, too, which is a situation Intel hasn’t been in for decades.
Still, PC builders are spoiled with CPU options in 2021. As long as you pick up a processor from the latest generation, you’re destined to get excellent performance across games and productivity workloads.
Editors’ Recommendations