2022 CPU Guide - Which one is right for you?

if you're looking for an upgrade or you're building a new system you'll find a ton of choices for your next CPU to help you choose I've compiled CPU data from Nano review Hardware unboxed and Tom's Hardware in this video I'll be presenting my analysis and giving you recommendations at each performance tier for the lowest price after analyzing CPUs released by Intel and AMD in the last five years I've found three main takeaways takeaway number one new is better and cheaper than old using prices from PC part picker we can see that older CPUs aren't much cheaper despite having worse performance for example the 9900k from 2018 is inferior to the 12 600k from 2021 and is double the price therefore I recommend only considering CPUs from the News 2 Generations if you're on a tight budget going for a newer lower tier model is usually a better option than an older higher tier model takeaway number two gaming still loves single core performance as much as we all love multi-core performance gaming performance is still much more strongly correlated with single core performance you might be wondering if that's true then how come the higher tier I9 and ryzen 9 CPUs which have a ton of cores usually have the best gaming performance in their generation that's because the higher tier models have higher clock speeds and more importantly have larger caches the importance of CPU cache size can be demonstrated with the 5800x 3D despite having lackluster single core performance the 5800x 3D punches well above its weight in gaming performance thanks to its massive cash however Linus Tech tips found that when upgrading from a 3090 TI to a 4090 a setup with the 5800 X 3D didn't gain much in gaming performance whereas setups using amd's N4 saw significant improvements in summary if you're mainly using your PC for gaming you should pay more attention to CPU single core performance and cache size you're not really future proofing by going with an 9 or ryzen 9 since the next generation's I5 or ryzen 5 will likely match or even beat it in gaming performance takeaway number three component pairing is crucial the pattern I've noticed in these benchmarks is that the quality of other components besides the CPU can significantly influence performance this means that when you're deciding what CPU to buy you can't look at the cost of the CPU by itself a faster CPU will likely need a more premium motherboard and high-end Ram to maximize its performance the total cost will be much higher compared to a slower CPU that can manage with a basic motherboard and average Ram so for my CPU recommendations I've also included RAM and motherboard pairings that should go well with the performance tier you definitely don't need to go with exactly what I'm recommending but you should aim to get similar specs when choosing your parts with that let's get into my recommendations for a budget build I recommend the ryzen 5 5600g the 5600g is one of the most affordable CPUs with modern grade performance it also comes with integrated Graphics which is super helpful if your GPU hasn't arrived yet or needs to be fixed fixed you can pair it with a basic b550 motherboard which should support ryzen 5000 series right out of the box even for Budget builds I wouldn't recommend spending less than 100 bucks on the motherboard as the build quality and feature set will be very lacking you can top off the build with a decent ddr4 kit 16 gigabytes of 3200 megahertz cl16 will do just fine in gaming and regular computer tasks Alternatives at this price point include the ryzen 5 5500 and the core I3 12 100 the 5500 is cheaper but overall slower and lacks integrated Graphics while the 12 100 is comparable in price but trades multi-core performance for single core performance now upping the budget a bit I have a solid entry level recommendation the core i5 12400 this CPU will give you solid performance at a great value it's a solid step up from the 5600g and comes with a CPU Cooler I've also bumped up the motherboard and RAM just a touch to keep up with the I5 you can reduce the total cost by downgrading these but keep in mind you might be skipping out on features like built-in Wi-Fi and bios flashback moving to the mid-range if you're building a system focused on gaming the ryzen 5 7600x is for you this CPU delivers top tier gaming performance and is currently the most affordable latest generation CPU at this performance tier I'm starting to look for motherboards with better build quality and power delivery that can keep up with a beefier CPU I've also upped the Ram from ddr4 to ddr5 most third-party benchmarks were done with fairly fast ddr5 kits so if you want to get comparable performance I would avoid going much slower than 6000 megahertz cl36 staying in the mid-range if you're planning on using your system for productivity I recommend the core i5 13600k compared to the 7600x the 13600k is slightly worse in gaming but much better in multi-core performance which makes it great for productivity workloads however it will cost a good chunk more than the 7600x I generally recommend using Z series motherboards on Intel case suffix models in order to enable proper overclocking Z series motherboards also usually have much better power delivery and thermals than the lower tier chipset motherboards moving to the upper range the core i7 13700k will give you fantastic performance across the board and on average barely edges out the ryzen 970 900x which is similarly priced motherboards paired with this performance tier should come with improved build quality and power delivery to promote system stability and cooling on the other hand faster ddr5 kits starts skyrocketing in price with only minor spec improvements so I've only bumped up the memory kit slightly I only recommend this for those who can Leverage The productivity performance since in gaming this CPU performs similarly to the much cheaper 7600x however if you can afford it I highly recommend moving up a tier to a high-end productivity build using the ryzen 9 7950x this CPU will get you comparable productivity performance to the core I9 13900k while currently costing 50 less for the motherboard x670 will have more pcie lanes and expansion ports but b650 will be slightly cheaper either of these will be fine as long as the board has high quality power delivery and cooling again I only recommend this CPU for those who can Leverage The productivity performance if you are mainly using your system for gaming but you want the best possible gaming performance no matter the cost I have one final recommendation the core I9 13900k this CPU currently leads the pack in gaming performance and multi-core performance but also fetches quite a hefty price you should pair the CPU with a fairly premium motherboard I've gone with the MSI MPG z690 Force as it comes with a fairly chunky 18 phase vrm which should help with the super high power draw of the 13900k now that we've gone through my recommendations there are two things I'd like to note firstly if you want to keep upgrading every one or two years Zen 4 and am5 is the way to go you'll be able to keep the same motherboard and keep upgrading the CPU for the next several ryzen Generations just be sure to get a more premium motherboard so that it lasts through the upgrades secondly a completely new build might not make sense for some of you in terms of value if you're currently on am4 I'd recommend upgrading to ryzen 5000 series if you haven't already you should be able to reuse your current motherboard with just a bios update if you're currently on Intel with a good ddr4 kit you can go with ryzen 5000 series Intel 12th gen or Intel 13th gen these all support ddr4 so you might be able to find some cost savings there that wraps it up for my 2022 Q4 CPU buying guide I hope that I was able to help you choose a processor for your next PC build or upgrade thank you so much for watching feel free to like or dislike this video and tell me what kind of build you're going for in the comments below see you next time

Channel: PC Blend

Views: 54,714

Keywords: best, cpu, 13600, 13700, 13900, 7600, 12600, 12400, 5600, 5500, ryzen, raptor, lake, 12th, 13th, gen, 7700, 7900, 7950, zen, zen 4, zen 3

Id: HVzsXUBEoq4

Length: 8min 15sec (495 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 07 2022