What Are the Best Processors for Gaming?
Building a gaming computer requires careful consideration while picking the right graphics card and CPU. You have to ensure that one does not bottleneck the other. Pairing a high-end CPU with a mid-range GPU or the other way around will simply empty your wallet and give you sub-par gaming experience. To get things right, we’ve put together a list of the best CPUs for gaming from Intel and AMD. So when it comes to purchasing or building a gaming computer, what are some of the factors that provide performance in gaming and what are the best gaming processors?
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2. considerations when choosing the best gaming processors
Brands That Make the Best Gaming Processors
The CPU, or central processing unit, is the heart of any computer. Casually called the processor, the CPU performs the mathematical, logic, input/output and controlling functions of the machine.
There are dozens, if not hundreds, of CPU designs on the market today, each designed for a variety of functions. If all you plan to do with your computer is send and receive email, create and read text documents and surf the Web, an inexpensive processor with limited features will likely fit the bill. If you plan to participate in high-stakes gaming, though, a more powerful CPU is what you’ll need.
When it comes to gaming, the graphics card handles most of the chores in terms of creating the images you see on your display. When it comes to feeding instructions to the graphics card, though, it’s the processor that handles the task. Let’s say, for example, that the game you’re playing includes non-player characters that try to attack you. In that case, it’s the processor that tells those characters what to do.
When moving through the game environment, it’s the processor that determines what happens when you perform a certain action, such as opening a door or stepping in quicksand. And if you’re playing a first-person shooter, the processor tracks your ammo and how much damage you and your opponents suffer.
So what’s the best brand for gaming processors? We’ll get to that in a moment, but when considering a gaming processor it’s important to know exactly what to look for.
considerations when choosing the best gaming processors
- Core Count
Many of today’s gaming processors have as many as 18 cores, each of which acts as an additional processor. Those cores allow the processor to handle multiple instructions at the same time. In addition to gaming, a higher core count can help improve performance with processor-intensive tasks such as video encoding.
2. Clock Speed
The CPU’s clock speed (or clock rate) is the number of cycles a CPU can execute in a second. Because today’s CPUs typically execute billions of cycles per second, clock speed is measured in gigahertz (GHz). Simply put, the higher the clock speed the better.
3. Overclocking
When it comes to processors, overclocking is the practice of increasing the clock rate beyond the manufacturer’s rating. On one hand, overclocking can improve processor performance; on the other it can increase the amount of heat the processor generates and shorten its lifespan. Gamers often want to overclock their processors to squeeze every bit of performance out of their system.
With that in mind, what are the best brands when it comes to gaming processors?
On the surface, the answer is relatively simple. There are two choices when it comes to the best gaming processors: Intel and AMD. Intel has typically ruled the roost when it comes to processors, but in recent years AMD has caught up.
When choosing which brand to go with, the answer becomes more complicated. Each company offers a number of processors encompassing a range of features and price points. That takes us to the next stage of our search.
Other Considerations for Gaming CPUs
Along with the main features of core count, clock speed and overclocking capability in a gaming processor, other factors to take into account are things such as integrated graphics, cooling requirements and upgradeability.
Some computers include a separate IGP, or integrated graphics processor; a chip that functions as a graphics card and is either part of the motherboard or the CPU itself. IGPS are typically found in older CPUs and can’t be upgraded
Although IGPs work well in computers used primarily for tasks such as word processing, their performance in gaming is limited. Unless you’re working with a very modest budget, you’ll be much happier with a rig that includes a dedicated graphics card.
Because gaming processors often run at the peak of their capabilities, cooling can become a major concern. Inadequate cooling can hamper performance and even result in damage to the system itself.
Although there are a number of cooling solutions for gaming PCs, the main types are air cooling and liquid cooling. An air-cooling solution typically consists of a heatsink, heat pipes, and a fan, with air serving as the cooling medium. Air cooling solutions can be inexpensive compared with other methods, but fans can be noisy.
And finally, there’s the upgradeability of the processor. There are different types of CPU sockets on computer motherboards, so it will be important to identify the type of socket your motherboard has to determine what CPUs will work with your system.
