Top 5 Best CPUs of 2023

[Music] welcome back to Harbor unboxed now as I'm sure you're aware we're nearing the end of the year and with Christmas coming up I felt it was time to update our best of CPU picks so I'm going to give you my CPU buying advice from the most affordable CPUs right up to the core heavy monsters so let's get into it but before we do today's sponsor spot is brought to you by antec and their performance one full tower eatx case designed to support the latest RTX 40 series graphics cards up to 400 MM long the P1 is big on the inside with loads of options for top and front mounted radiators including the ability to support dual 360 mm radiators simultaneously the P1 comes with four pre-installed storm T3 pwm fans with the ability to expand fan support to an additional six it includes a temperature display dual 4mm tempered glass side panels Cable Management covers complete with velcro straps for quick and easy cable management and now also comes in a very clean white version exclusive to Amazon us there are some excellent Black Friday discounts of up to 20% between the 20th and 24th of November so for more information please check the links in the video description right so as usual we'll start with the more affordable options and work our way up from there also as we typically do stuff like platform costs and potential future upgrades that'll all be factored in considered when discussing and making our recommendations so let's get into it [Music] starting with the entry level category I realize we're penny pinching here but I also feel like it can be a waste of money buying the absolute cheapest thing possible if something's only slightly more expensive but much faster it's probably worth buying take the Intel core I3 10100 f for example it's currently $85 us which is a really good price for that part or it would be be if the 12 400f wasn't just $10 more that's a mere 12% premium for a part that on average delivers over 20% better gaming performance so my advice is if you're on a tight budget and trying to make your dollars go as far as possible skip the 10th gen part and go right for the 12th gen core I3 at $95 us the 1200f is a seriously good deal you can also purchase LJ 1700 boards for as little as $80 with decent boards able to handle core I9 parts starting around $120 us both ddr4 and ddr5 memory is quite cheap now so I'd recommend getting ddr5 but if you want to save every last dollar then ddr4 will get the job done as for the AMD Alternatives there really isn't any which is really disappointing and pretty shocking the ryzen 55500 for example it's a pretty underwhelming CPU at $105 us it offers similar multi-core performance that of the 1200f with weaker gaming performance of course the big advantage of the ryzen processor is the A4 platform allowing you the ability to upgrade in the future to something like a ryzen 7 5700 X or maybe even a 5800 x3d and good quality boards there can be had for $90 us so as underwhelming as the 5500 is it does have some redeeming qualities being there are better CPUs available on that platform but I think ultimately if this is a penny pinching type exercise then yeah Intel's core I3 1200f is the way I'd go as a side note though don't get sucked into Intel's core I3 13100 F at $120 us it's just a refreshed 1200f so that is to say it is the exact same CPU with a new name and $25 lumped onto the [Music] price [Music] okay so the entry level category s us pick between the $95 core I 3200f and the $15 ryzen 55500 but if you have more to spend say as much as $200 us or thereabouts there are many more viable options I made a short list of nine options in this price range though five of them can be scrubbed from the list the core 5 10400 F at $120 and the 11400 F at $130 they're decent value options at those prices and it may be worth buying over the 12100 F if you can spend a little bit more but at that level of investment I'd be more inclined to steer you towards the am4 platform for its excellent upgrade path and for $130 us the ryzen 55600 is just a better processor in my opinion and the core I 510 600k at $150 It suffers the same f again for that level of investment the Intel LGA 1200 platform simply isn't worth it these days on the other hand the outgoing LGA 1700 platform can still be worth jumping on and with the core I 52600 KF now down to just $160 us it's a seriously good deal and in my opinion it's worth spending a little bit extra over the ryzen 55600 as the Intel processor generally offers better gaming performance and much better productivity performance but counter ing that deal is the ryzen 7 5700x $160 us which offers similar levels of gaming and productivity performance to that of the core i5 still if you were to spend a little bit more on the 12600 KF build by opting for highspeed ddr5 memory that should result in better gaming performance but it's also more costly the 5700 X does quite well with cheap ddr4 memory and am4 boards are dirt cheap now and the upgrade path to ryzen 9 or the 5800 X 3D is still an option down the track also for those of you looking to maximize gaming performance while keeping the budget in check the ryzen 57600 at $200 that seems like a seriously good deal to me it can be a good bit faster than the 12600 KF for gaming though the real draw card here in my opinion is the am5 platform and its support for future CPUs the 12600 KF is $40 us cheaper so that's a 20% saving but then again the saving will be less than 20% once you're factoring the cost of a motherboard and memory so let's just get down to it as it stands right now the ryzen 7 5700x at $170 us will cost you an additional $90 when you include a decent b550 motherboard and then $60 for a 32 GB kit of ddr4 3600 memory coming to a total of $320 or $280 if you opt for the ryzen 5 3600 instead and frankly I'd recommend spending 14% more for an additional 33% processing power alternatively the 12600 KF costs just $160 than a decent DDR 4 z690 motherboards around $120 and again $60 for a 32 GB kit of ddr4 3600 memory so $340 there and that's about the same cost as the 5700x for a similar level of performance alternatively for that option you could go with a ddr5 z690 motherboard and they start at $160 and as a side note here please don't buy the azck z690 phantom gaming 4/ D5 for $110 as it's a hiap a junk then for a decent 32 GB kit of DDR 56000 memory you're looking at around $90 taking the total build cost for the ddr5 configuration to $410 us which admittedly is starting to get up there and the roughly 20% premium over the ddr4 configuration probably isn't going to be worth it with this particular processor then finally we have the $200 ryzen 57600 and any b650 board works with up to a ryzen9 7950 X so really you can stick the 7600 on anything and for Budget builds I highly recommend the ASRock b650 m- hdv m.2 for $110 and again you're looking at $90 for a 32 GB kit of DDR 56000 so a build cost there of $400 which is why I don't recommend the 12600 KF with ddr5 so as good as the 12600 KF ddr4 option is I think I'd either go with the 5700x on am4 for a total platform cost of $320 or ideally spend the extra $80 to get on am5 with some fancy new ddr5 memory and the ryzen 57600 if if AMD can keep the 7600 at or around $200 then it's going to be really hard to beat but what if you want to spend a little bit [Music] more there's well over a dozen CPUs to pick from when looking at the $300 to $400 price range and a lot of them do make sense so that complicates our recommendations here but let's start with the cheapest options available when just crossing the $200 price point there's the ryzen 7 5800 X for $220 which we can quickly scrub off our list because the 5700x offers similar performance for a lot less money so just get the 5700x the 5800 X really only makes sense if it's like $10 more otherwise you just get that cheaper model the same really goes for the ryzen 77600 X though we are looking at just a $20 premium over the nonex version here but really it's still not worth it you can just enable PBO on the 7600 though again even that's hardly worth it the more power efficient stock configuration of the 7600 is the way to go in my opinion so just do that save the $20 also at $220 we find the core I 52500 which you just wouldn't bother with given that the 7600 is a better product and of course so TOS the cheaper 12600 KF that we talked about earlier now this one's interesting the core i7 12700 KF at just $230 that seems like a pretty amazing deal with this part you're getting eight 12th generation p cores along with a cluster of e cores giving you a total of 12 cores though of course not all Calles are equal but still that's a lot of processing power at $230 and generally speaking you are looking at similar gaming and productivity performance that of the ryzen 77700 X which costs 300 $20 us but and the big butt here is the core I 513 600k which offers similar productivity performance with generally better gaming results and right now the 13600 KF it costs $250 with the standard 13600 k at $270 so as good as the 12700 KF appears at $230 I'd actually opt for the slightly more expensive 13th generation core i5 I think the core i5 136 KF at $250 is the first CPU on this price range that really makes sense and sure it's only roughly able to match the gaming performance of the 7600 using the same DDR 56000 memory but it does boast substantially better productivity performance you're looking at having to pay around $50 more for a decent ddr5 z690 or z790 motherboard so overall it is another $100 for this combo over the 7600 that's a 25% price hike at $500 then just making it under $300 is the AMD ryzen 9 5900 X at $290 but unless you're already on the am4 platform this part makes little sense for only slightly more the ryzon 77700 X provides the same level of productivity performance with much better gaming performance and of course investing a little extra to get on the am5 platform makes sense now if you will consider just going over $300 the 7700x is a great value option at $320 and the nonex version it actually costs a little bit more at $330 so just get the X the only real competition here is the core i5 14600 K which is just a rebadged 13600 K which costs just $270 so no idea why you'd pay over 20% more for the exact same thing now depending on motherboard pricing the 7700x could end up being much closer to the 13600 km price than you'd first realize and if that is the case the ryzen 7 part is probably going to be the better buy however further complicating our choices is the core I 9 12 900k and KF models which have dropped to just $315 and $310 respectively and I'd recommend getting the 12 900k for $315 out of the two options but despite this once being a $600 plus processor I'm not sure it actually recommended at $315 as crazy as that sounds and the reason being that the 13600 K and its newer rapto Lake architecture almost matches the productivity performance while consuming significantly less power and not only that but it's also able to match the gaming performance so I just go with the 13600 KF at $250 finally there's also the 5800 x3d at $320 and if I don't mention this part a lot of you are up in arms in the comment section going where's the Beloved 5800 X 3D it's such a great CPU how is it not mentioned here well yeah it's an amazing CPU for those of you already invested in am4 but for everyone else the 7700x is a better choice all said and done this one comes down to the Core i5 13600 KF or ryzen 7 7700x for me and depending on motherboard pricing I could really go either way if you can get a well-priced LGA 1700 ddr5 motherboard then the 13 600 KF would be a great value option though the upgrade path whatever that may be with am5 would also drag me towards the 7700 X though of course we just don't know how that one's going to play out but at the very least we know there are going to be upgrades on offer [Music] there for those of you willing to spend $4 to $500 on your CPU you'll find some mighty powerful options from both amd's am5 and Intel's LJ 1700 platforms but anything based on past so older platforms it's really not worth considering at this price point and that means you know anything on am4 LGA 1200 or anything older than that they're all very poor value choices for new system Builders if you're primarily focused on gaming performance then really look no further than the ryzen 7 7800 X 3D it's the best option available right now generally beating the gaming performance of even the core i 94900 k and it does so at a much lower price of just $360 us the 17900 x3d is a worst gaming CPU with just six cores having direct access to the Stacked 3D vcash it's a scheduling Nightmare and frankly just a bad CPU that doesn't really make sense for gaming or productivity if the focus is productivity then the ryzen 9 7900 X for $390 it's a far better choice it's $100 cheaper and it's competitive with the core i7 147k which costs slightly more at $400 though the KF version can be had for $390 now the 14 700k is generally a little faster than the 7900x for core heavy workloads but we have observed it pushing total system power usage over 70% higher so if you care at all about power efficiency go with with the ryzon 9 part it's in a different class that said if you're mostly gaming then the 14700 K is a much better product than the 7900x but there's a problem for the i7 again the 7800 X 3D it's cheaper and faster so again if gaming is the focus the 7800 x3d is what you want in short for around $400 the 7800 x3d is the best choice for gamers or really that recommendation applies to any price point above $400 then for productivity the 7900x at $390 can't be beat offering a good balance of performance and [Music] efficiency okay so time for the core I9 versus ryzen 9 fight and each team has a few options here firstly let's just get this one out of the way the 13th gen and 14th gen core I 9s they're the same CPU so there's really no point paying a premium for the newer 14th gen models the only possible advantage of the 14th generation is Intel's APO or application optimization software feature which can boost performance in games though right now it's still just two games and frankly this looks to be more of a marketing stunt to push 14th gen chips on Gamers than anything else all of that said as it stands right now the 14900 KF costs just $30 more than the 13th gen model while the 14900 K is just $40 more than the 13900 K so what amounts to less than a 10% premium so it's probably worth just going with the 14th generation models so that means the 14900 KF at $550 the 950x at $570 or the 750x 3D at $580 along with the standard 14900 K in my opinion you should spend the extra $30 to get the 14900 K Over the KF it's a tiny premium to get that igpu which can be handy and it might hold its value a bit better then we have the 7950 X 3D which is just $10 more than the standard 7950 X so obviously you'd get the x3d model so that means the options are the 14900 K or the 7950 x3d both for $580 and this is a pretty easy recommendation for me get the 7950 X 3D as it delivers similar productivity performance generally a little bit better in our testing and the power difference it's insane there's really no other way to put it for example running cinebench the 149k system sucked down 533 Watts which was 92% more than that of the 277 wats consumed by the 7950 X 3D so as you can plainly see the 14900 K makes no sense for core heavy productivity work then for gaming the 7950 X 3D it's also faster and while there generally not much in it the ryzen CPU again uses less power so a no-brainer really well there you go it's very interesting how things have changed over the past few years with Intel being very competitive at the low end but not so much at the high end AMD is making some really nice inroads though with the ryzen 57600 at $200 and hopefully it's still at that price by the time you actually watch this video I think ideally though it does need to drop down to about $180 to really dominate that lower end Market Market segment for gaming the 7800 X 3D it's just a massive headache for Intel they've really got no way of combating it it's such a specialized part just really focused on delivering the best possible gaming performance and at the high end Intel Falls victim to excessive power usage and while some will claim that undervolting and reducing power targets is the way forward truth be told you are still getting better performance and much better efficiency with a ryzon 9 processor and with the current discounts the 950x 3D is impossible to ignore and that is going to do it for this video if you liked it like subscribe do the YouTube stuff and if you'd like to become a hard run box Community member we have float plane patreon links in the video description click on either one of those and you get access to stuff like our monthly live streams our exclusive Discord server behind the scenes content Q&A a lot of cool stuff so check it out if you're interested but if not that's perfectly fine and I would like to thank you for watching this video I'm your host Steve see you you next time [Music] [Music]

Channel: Hardware Unboxed

Views: 237,644

Keywords: hardware unboxed

Id: dnJrb0hxonw

Length: 21min 16sec (1276 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 09 2023