With competition at an all-time high, the ongoing rivalry between AMD and Intel has resulted in competitive pricing and performance across the board, which is excellent news for consumers.
The Best CPUs - 2023 Update
- Thread starter Steve
- Start date
DSirius
Posts: 788 +1,612
Great review thank you for it. Ant it is great when buyers have more choices.
Want best gaming processors, or best performance and efficiency processors, plus support for a superior and longer AM5 platform, buy Ryzen 7xxx processors.
Want cheaper products but power hungry with short life platform, choose any Intel processors. Though during summer Intel processors make too much heat for a comfortable usage, excluding Alaska and Antarctica.
Challenging dilemma, but better to have more choices than nightmare Intel blatant money rip-off customers era, 7-10 years ago.
Want best gaming processors, or best performance and efficiency processors, plus support for a superior and longer AM5 platform, buy Ryzen 7xxx processors.
Want cheaper products but power hungry with short life platform, choose any Intel processors. Though during summer Intel processors make too much heat for a comfortable usage, excluding Alaska and Antarctica.
Challenging dilemma, but better to have more choices than nightmare Intel blatant money rip-off customers era, 7-10 years ago.
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Achaios
Posts: 446 +1,221
Well I don't know about that. I mean, Intel sure they screwed me by making the Z87 Platform I invested in as incapable of receiving in anything other than Haswell processors but here I am 11 years later with my 4770K my Maximus VI Hero motherboard and my 2X8 Gigs of RAM. The rig is still perfect for my needs and there's no real need to upgrade.
The rig had cost me 580 (CPU+mobo+RAM) Euros in 2012 money. That'd be 48.33 euros per year in 2012 money all the way up to now.
I think it was a good investment especially considering the CPU was overclocked (but undervolted too) from day 1 and I am still seeing no degradation due to electromigration.
The rig had cost me 580 (CPU+mobo+RAM) Euros in 2012 money. That'd be 48.33 euros per year in 2012 money all the way up to now.
I think it was a good investment especially considering the CPU was overclocked (but undervolted too) from day 1 and I am still seeing no degradation due to electromigration.
I had a i5-4690K overclocked to 4.5GHz since about the same time frame. I just replaced it a month ago with a new 7700X. I still use the i5 as a second computer with a 1070 Ti for my teenage kids. Still plays most games maxed at 1080p with 60+ FPS. Goes to show, that you don't always have to upgrade every year. It takes a few generations before a new processor makes a noticeable change in performance, and at that point you might want a new motherboard any ways.
As for the 7700X, it is a great CPU so far. It takes a while to get used to the fact that it instantly goes to 95C and stays there at full load, but it crushes everything that I through at it. Got it on sale for $299. I think the only downside is that I bought a $100 cooler to go with it. On top of that, AMD motherboards are noticeably more expensive. I got a Gigabyte X670 Aorus Elite AX on sale for $225. The CPU+cooler+mobo cost me $650 with tax, which does not include RAM! So the cost is really up there, and hopefully it will last me another decade like the i5 did. If it matters, by the time I added 64Gig of RAM, 2TB Samsung 990 pro, Lian Li Lancool 216RX, and Corsair RM750 the total cost came out to $1,686 (NO GPU). The computer rips, but I also think it ripped a hole in my wallet
Gaara
Posts: 137 +74
Don't look more the Ryzen 9 7950X3D is the big Deal hand down. best for gaming, streaming, video Adit, programing ect ect ect...
captaincranky
Posts: 19,587 +8,751
@Steve For the life of me, I can't understand why people are so fixated on recommending the i3-12100F, as opposed to the i3-12100 (with GPU) The price differential is negligible **, when compared to the system as a whole, versus having an IGP on tap, when, god forbid, you should actually need it.
For example, suppose your 4090 burns up all the connector pins? With an IGP, you'd still be able to go online to piss and moan about Nvidia's overpriced, poorly engineered garbage, play "Candy Crush", stream porn, even regular TV, I suppose.
** I'm well aware that no one in their right mind would pair a GTX-4090 with an i3-12100. I was being facetious, sue me.
I still think having an IGP in reserve for emergencies far outweighs the $20.00 or so it costs. For me, onboard video is indispensable in the building process, while I view installing an add in VGA, as an entirely separate operation apart from building a functional, "finished" tower.
BTW, & FWIW, I actually bought an i3-12100 over a year ago, and have more than enough components to build a new box around it. The only thing stopping me from slapping it together, is the overwhelming feeling of dread which accompanies the realization that I have to install Windows 10 to get it up and running
For example, suppose your 4090 burns up all the connector pins? With an IGP, you'd still be able to go online to piss and moan about Nvidia's overpriced, poorly engineered garbage, play "Candy Crush", stream porn, even regular TV, I suppose.
** I'm well aware that no one in their right mind would pair a GTX-4090 with an i3-12100. I was being facetious, sue me.
I still think having an IGP in reserve for emergencies far outweighs the $20.00 or so it costs. For me, onboard video is indispensable in the building process, while I view installing an add in VGA, as an entirely separate operation apart from building a functional, "finished" tower.
BTW, & FWIW, I actually bought an i3-12100 over a year ago, and have more than enough components to build a new box around it. The only thing stopping me from slapping it together, is the overwhelming feeling of dread which accompanies the realization that I have to install Windows 10 to get it up and running
I installed Windows 11 and it was super easy and you can even run it for free with minimal limitations. Windows 11 is fine, so far nothing significantly different then 10. Took some tweaking to get it right, but it is no big deal. You could always opt for Ubuntu, which is just as easy to install.
The $25 difference can towards more RAM or a better motherboard, and the F model has a marginally lower TDP, albeit to the tune of 2 W. Having a mediocre IGP is definitely handy for the reasons you mention, but the majority of purchasers aren't going to be incrementally building and checking their machines as you do -- it'll be put together once and with the dGPU installed at the same time.
bluetooth fairy
Posts: 224 +159
@Staff
Typo: 13600K was meant
The decision then narrows down to the 7700 at $325, the 13600KF at $290, or the 13900K at $310.
@captaincranky
suppose your 4090 burns up all the connector pins
Paired with the 12100? In the low-end $25 matter, but the enthusiast class GPU needs way more beefy CPU.
you'd still be able to go online to piss and moan
Given we are living in the 2023 we do certainly have a smartphone. It implies that we can piss a moan perfectly fine.
Typo: 13600K was meant
The decision then narrows down to the 7700 at $325, the 13600KF at $290, or the 13900K at $310.
@captaincranky
suppose your 4090 burns up all the connector pins
Paired with the 12100? In the low-end $25 matter, but the enthusiast class GPU needs way more beefy CPU.
you'd still be able to go online to piss and moan
Given we are living in the 2023 we do certainly have a smartphone. It implies that we can piss a moan perfectly fine.
In my opinion, from intel side only the Core i5-13600K make sense as it has superior performance compared to amd offering at same price. other tier from intel do compete well but with huge penalty in efficiency.
Both 7950X3D and 7800X3D are really unbelievably/scary efficient CPUs but sadly once AMD become more powerful they raised the prices too high. my list:
Core i5-13600K 300$
AMD 7900 400$
AMD 7950X3D 500$ (would have bought it today)
Both 7950X3D and 7800X3D are really unbelievably/scary efficient CPUs but sadly once AMD become more powerful they raised the prices too high. my list:
Core i5-13600K 300$
AMD 7900 400$
AMD 7950X3D 500$ (would have bought it today)
captaincranky
Posts: 19,587 +8,751
Well, here's the parts I've collected for my build::
CPU Intel i3-12100
Gigabyte B-660 DDR-4
16 GB (8 x 2) PC-3200 DDR-4 (I'm not power mad)
Samsung NVme SSD ( 970 512 MB, 980 1 TB, 980 2 TB) I plan to image the 512 MB onto the 1 TB after activation/
3 WD Black spinners, (2 x 4TB, 1 x 6TB)
Asus "TUF" GTX-1660 ti
A lowly 92 mm Noctua cooler. (Well, the CPU is only 86 watts on boost, I thought I'd cheap out and take a chance). Sure, it's way uglier than a CM 212, but it's also way better made.
Thermaltake "Toughpower" GX-2. 600 watts,non modular. (I was an Antec "Earthwatts" fan, but the TT was on sale). Those old Antecs were almost guaranteed to last at least a decade).
Fractal D box, (With 2 slots for optical drives) How retro, right?
OK. So, if someone were to slap all that together without board access to a monitor, I'd have to say they were quite a bit more courageous than my doty old self. The old adage, "discretion is the better part of valor", still haunts me to one degree or another.
In fact, I thought I was, "boldly going where this Crank.has never gone before", when I abandoned Gskill RAM for Crucial. (It was on sale).
I do so hope the Samsung 980s aren't the trash they've been made out to be recently. Although, these are "NOS" pushing 2 years old, so I guess we'll see.
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captaincranky
Posts: 19,587 +8,751
I think if you'd read further down my post, you'd see that I've already addressed and qualified that statement. Sic:
It is with a heavy heart that I feel obligated to inform you that I am a bachelor, orphan, only child, a misanthrope, and a psychopath. Hence, I have absolutely no need for a smartphone. I suppose to a certain extent, it's inevitable that I could be perceived to still be living in the 20th century.. I suppose I should move past my belief that "Rap" is not actually music, and that I have an overwhelming compulsion to body shame Lizzo. Then, I could confront my irrational fear of the present, buy a cell phone, and fully embrace the ranks of "the woke". (more or less).
That being said, I have five working desktops with which I could piss and moan to my heart's content. It all evens out, perhaps a tiny bit in my favor
Not to mention you're forgetting that I could just pull the (imaginary) 4090, and use the IGP in the 12100. It may not be able to "play Crysis", but so what?
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captaincranky
Posts: 19,587 +8,751
This discounts the fact I would take Windows 7 with me to my grave., (and probably will).. I know, I know, I'm a Luddite, plain and simple. As or the Windows 10 I'll be forced to install, if I get it activated, I'll disconnect it from the web and hopefully never have to connect it to the web again, ever.
As for Ubuntu, it's so butt ugly out of the box, I can't look directly at the monitor for fear of being turned to stone. I did give Mint a shot in a relic machine (Intel Pentium dual core E-6300 / G-41).Suffice it to say, Windows 7 shrugs off the, to be expected on that turd, crashes, which reduced Mint to an endless stream, of nonsense (to me at least), code.
After a forced shutdown, all you have to do with Win 7 is hit "enter" on "start Windows normally"..In fact, if you just ignore it for 30 seconds, it'll start itself.
Besides, I have a fresh copies of Photoshop Elements 2021, and "Affinity 2.0", which simply won't run on any Linux distro..
I have to admit, Mint "Cinnamon", had the cutest trick, in that it will print directly, you don't have to hunt down drivers for it.
Well, that's not completely right due to:
- until the 8th gen, Intel didn't upgrade noticeably their chips, so the performance increase wasn't noticeable; also AMD had no competing CPUs. So games couldn't increase the minimum specs much or no hardware would comply
- games (with exceptions) were well optimised for 90% of the GPUs and though most GPUs would become a lot better over time, a 9xx or 10xx series would be more than enough.
Back to post-2020 years:
- GPUs increased a lot in price, GPU makers want to increase earnings fast and steady so eventually not only the profit per chip is greatly increased but eventually the background game "sponsorship" pressure game makers to make games very hard on mid-to-low end cards, and hard on mid-to-high end cards
- around 99% of x86 chips have fewer optimizations than ARM chips for things like AI and power consumption. Recent games try to have clever AI and without those hardware units, most CPUs have a harder time. So most x86 companies try to catch up and each year, though all other units may be similar to previous years, those newer units (like for AI) make that the last generations become old faster.
The last two points justify that in recent years the hardware should get (artificially) older faster and we feel the need to buy something new.
thewelshbrummie
Posts: 23 +12
I'd agree but in percentage terms the $25 is around a 25% difference in total cost for exactly the same computational performance. Since this article is covering productivity and gaming, it's reasonable to assume that you'll be getting a dGPU so saving $25 might be relevant if you have a tight budget of $500 or less. I think also that a $115 investment for a 12100 does become more marginal vs the 5600.
Obviously having the iGPU is helpful and is the reason my 2 year old build is Intel based, since most AM4 CPUs don't have one, the -G APUs were also extremely overpriced and I got a big discount on my 10700K (at the time it was $200 for a 3200G, or $250 for a 10700K thanks to a Microcenter discount). With GPUs being crazy money at the time it was the only option to get a working computer.
Obviously the situation has changed so that GPUs are in MSRP territory but I get the argument that cutting back is helpful if your budget is extremely tight for a gaming based build.
UdyrL
Posts: 121 +197
captaincranky
Posts: 19,587 +8,751
How about if we ignore the largely irrelevant percentage of difference in the prices of the 12100 & 12100F, and concentrate on the percentage of difference of the cost overall. $25.00 is only 5% of the system cost..
Now, the contention that a competent gaming PC can be built for $500. in 2023, is largely embraced by a bunch of wannabes at Quora, who are largely either too lazy, or too stupid, to do any research on their own.
Since system cost estimates rarely include the cost of Windows or a case, not to mention the cost of additional storage, (necessary due to the storage requirements of today's AAA titles), and so by nature, are fantasies in and of themselves. Maybe we should add the cost of a 144 Hz free sync monitor as well. Now, the $25 extra cost of the 12100 is flirting with maybe 2% of the system cost.
I think the old saw, "champagne tastes on a beer budget" sums it up nicely
I bought my Skylake rig under the same auspices. i5-6600K + Gigabyte Z170 4 slot micro board for about 210.00? (IIRC). I swore never to buy a new system until Intel went to at least a 10 nm process width, but the sale price forced me to diverge from the courage of my convictions.
This stumbles on so many levels. Today's, "MSRPs" are based on, "whatever the traffic will bear". OCD PC gamers brought them on themselves. Many proved that "money was no object", when it came to feeding their gaming habit. So naturally, Nvidia was quick to seize on their desperation, which is overtly reflected in their current "MSRPs".
So, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say, "if $500, is all you have to spend on a 'gaming PC' overall, then just buy a console, plug it into you TV, and get it over with".
I had a i5-4690K overclocked to 4.5GHz since about the same time frame. I just replaced it a month ago with a new 7700X. I still use the i5 as a second computer with a 1070 Ti for my teenage kids. Still plays most games maxed at 1080p with 60+ FPS. Goes to show, that you don't always have to upgrade every year. It takes a few generations before a new processor makes a noticeable change in performance, and at that point you might want a new motherboard any ways.
As for the 7700X, it is a great CPU so far. It takes a while to get used to the fact that it instantly goes to 95C and stays there at full load, but it crushes everything that I through at it. Got it on sale for $299. I think the only downside is that I bought a $100 cooler to go with it. On top of that, AMD motherboards are noticeably more expensive. I got a Gigabyte X670 Aorus Elite AX on sale for $225. The CPU+cooler+mobo cost me $650 with tax, which does not include RAM! So the cost is really up there, and hopefully it will last me another decade like the i5 did. If it matters, by the time I added 64Gig of RAM, 2TB Samsung 990 pro, Lian Li Lancool 216RX, and Corsair RM750 the total cost came out to $1,686 (NO GPU). The computer rips, but I also think it ripped a hole in my wallet
I just replaced my 5820k with a 1070, to 7800X3D with a 6800XT. I've sold the old rig to a colleague for his kids to use.
It only makes sense if you have an older AM4 setup. Otherwise the 7700+B650E is the way to go.
Yup, 4790k here on hero maximus VII Hero...I never OCed that beast, never needed more than 16gbs of ram and never needed all those features of that mobo but here we are, 9 years later. I will upgrade sometime very soon when asrock HDV/M.2 is in stock here again but upgrading on a platform had 0 impact on my decision making because of my previous PC experience over past 25 years.
I would go intel again if their lineup made any sense to me but sadly it doesn't, it eats too much power (electricity bill is not that big of a deal but heat and noise is) and gaming is worse than cheaper AMD on my market. The key is to buy the best CPU now, even take worse GPU, just avoid absolute budget CPUs, anything 6 strong cores (13600k) or 8 cores (7700/7700x) will last 7-8 years at minimum, GPU upgrade is always a cheap possibility. This is why I don't like "balanced builds", it's nice clickbait title to show people "1000€ 1440p gaming build!" with something like 13400f and maxed out GPU like 4070 or something but in some 6 years almost any GPU will be limited by CPU anyway. Long term PC building works differently.
VcoreLeone
Posts: 287 +143
Are you planning a 7900gre review, Steve ? I imagine that'd require getting your own card tho.
As for the article, news of 12th gen is going on sale appeared just before you finished this one.
videocardz.com
12600kf is now 156usd, best pick for me in a budget build along with a cheap z690 and ddr4 3600.
As for the article, news of 12th gen is going on sale appeared just before you finished this one.
Intel Alder Lake CPUs get a price cut: Core i9-12900KF at $330, i7-12700KF at $220 and i5-12600KF drops to $156 - VideoCardz.com
Intel 12th Gen Core “Alder Lake” desktop gets substantial discounts ahead of “Raptor Lake Refresh” launch Wccftech reports that Intel has lowered the price of their Intel 12th Gen Core “Alder Lake” series, just as gamers should now expect the 14th Gen series next month. Intel has just lowered...
videocardz.com
12600kf is now 156usd, best pick for me in a budget build along with a cheap z690 and ddr4 3600.
Nobina
Posts: 4,370 +5,285
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