Your CPU is at the center of your computer, handling the underlying math that makes your machine tick. In this guide, we show you how to choose a CPU.
Searching for a new CPU in 2024 presents you with excellent options for powerful processors, budget chips that punch well above their weight, and some incredibly efficient options that are perfect for small builds. That’s what makes the modern CPU landscape so exciting: You don’t just need to buy the best processor you can afford.
If you want to gain an understanding of the way processors work, we’ll tell you everything you need to know below. However, if you’d rather just get down to business and hear about the different options that are available to you, you can skip forward to the next section that discusses the differences between AMD and Intel.
Clocks and IPC Another major consideration with CPUs is clock speed. This is the megahertz and gigahertz rating and represents how many collections of tasks a processor can perform each second. It’s a fair representation of the speed of individual cores, though it doesn’t tell the whole story. If two processors from the same generation have the same number of cores, but one has a higher clock speed, it will perform faster.
If you want a good rule of thumb, CPUs with higher clock speeds and newer architectures are faster at just about everything, but for productivity tasks, a modern one with more cores will usually be quicker. Intel or AMD? Now that we’ve covered what all those different terms mean, let’s see how Team Red and Team Blue utilize them to deliver powerful processors.
Intel makes CPUs both for desktops and for laptops. Some of Intel’s processors come with integrated graphics and others don’t, meaning you’ll also need to buy a discrete GPU to match. Moreover, some Intel chips can be overclocked, meaning that their clock speed can be adjusted higher at the cost of increased power consumption — but this option isn’t available on every CPU.
P-cores are designed to handle heavy-duty tasks, while E-cores are left to handle background tasks that don’t require the full power of your processor. P-cores also reach higher clock speeds than E-cores. AMD’s latest CPU lineups include the Ryzen 5000-series , which is now approaching retirement , and the latest Ryzen 7000-series , which includes processors ranging from budget to high-end.
The boost in cache size gives chips like the Ryzen 7 5800X3D or the Ryzen 7 7800X3D a massive upgrade in gaming. In fact, these chips defeat more expensive options from AMD and Intel in benchmarks, and this is despite their limited core counts. However, they’re not as good at productivity tasks, which is the price we pay for the lower core count.
Unfortunately, the numbers themselves don’t mean much. You’d be forgiven, for example, for assuming that the Ryzen 7000 processors are the seventh generation of Ryzen processors. But that’s not the case . Similarly, the 7800X is labeled with the Ryzen 7 tag and the 7600X with the Ryzen 5 tag, while the 7900X has a more fitting Ryzen 9 tag.
Nothing is simple when it comes to CPU naming, though. Like AMD, Intel also breaks from its naming convention. The 13400 and 13600K, for example, are both 13th-gen i5 processors. Higher is still better, though, so the 13400 will generally perform worse than the 13600K. Integrated graphics CPUs can also include integrated graphics chips on the same die, making them capable of operating independently of dedicated graphics cards. Intel CPUs with the F designation don’t have onboard graphics, but most others do in some form. They aren’t typically powerful, but an entry-level integrated graphics chip like the UHD Graphics 770 can do around 60 frames per second in older esports games like CS: GO.
Power consumption can vary greatly between different CPUs. In laptops, it’s usually kept at bay to ensure that the computer doesn’t heat up beyond the temperature of the sun; in desktops, manufacturers rely on you having an external cooler and driving it up much higher.
For AMD, there wasn’t much to consider for a good few years, because it stuck to its AM4 platform for a long time. You could upgrade your CPU several times within that time frame and not have to invest in a new motherboard. Now, however, the Ryzen 7000-series requires the use of an AM5 motherboard. It also exclusively supports the newer DDR5 memory type, which can drive up the cost of building a PC depending on the speed an size of the kit you purchase.
There are three common types of coolers: air coolers, all-in-one liquid coolers , and custom loop coolers. The former are the most common, and the latter are expensive, so you’ll only find them in high-end systems where the budget was of no concern. Day-to-day use Although CPU makers might want you to believe otherwise, you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars on a CPU that won’t do a lot of heavy lifting. If you just need something that works well for browsing the internet, watching your favorite movies and shows, or perhaps even working, a cheap CPU will suffice. In those cases, the Intel Core i3-12100 or the AMD Ryzen 5 7600 are both good options.
Buying Guide CPU Desktop Pcs Laptops Processors
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