The Best CPUs: Productivity and Gaming

[Steve]

With readers constantly inquiring about which CPU they should buy, and after all the extensive testing you're familiar with, the TechSpot CPU buying guide narrows things down to a handful of recommendations you can trust.

Read the full article here.

https://www.techspot.com/bestof/cpu-q4-2022/

 

[DSirius]

Good article, this buying guide should be posted every month from now on.
And this is a great time for PC enthusiasts, with a dynamic and healthy competition, plenty of good choices and finally people have more liberty to chose on their own preferences rather than buying from Company A because Company B products are not good enough.

 

[godrilla]

Rumors are prices are coming down for Zen4. Currently at Microcenter you can get top 3 Zen4 cpus $50 off motherboard and free gskill 32 ram kits at 6 ghz combo while still pricy because of expensive motherboards makes it more palatable. The i913900k is sold out unless you are willing to pay a higher price on Amazon. The i713700k is selling for $379 and an additional $20 off motherboard combo. If you don't live next to a Microcenter see if your local electronic store does price matching.
Anyone else playing the Darktide beta currently? Seems to be hammering my 9900ks.

 

[yRaz]

I was going to drop in a 5800x3d in my b350 but at this point I'm going to wait until 7700x3d. I'll just add this to the server rack and do a full system upgrade.

With DDR5 potentially coming down in price soon it might not be so bad.

 

[takaozo]

Yes plenty of options for every budget and performance tier. Looks like a good thing both X86 vendors release in the same time keeps the market sanity levels.

 

[passwordistaco]

Competition is strong now. This essentially is a list of the most current chips from either CPU maker at each price point. Take your pick.

 

[Uncle Al]

Excellent article .... been asking for this for a long time ..... nice job!

 

[MarcusNumb]

Well I have decided to keep the 5800x3d out of my mind, and focus on the 5600 or 5700x for my 3070ti. I'll see if in the end of this year I can make the shot or not.

 

[Loli Pop Carbon]

I'm running 1700X right now, the thing I love about AMD is that I can upgrade to 5700X with my current X370 board. The 5700X price is already much lower than before thanks to AM5.

Maybe I should upgrade this xmas.

 

[loki1944]

If you bought an i7 920 in 2008 for the equivalent of $377 today and are still using it; then you have achieved best value of the past 15 years for pc gaming bar none.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I got my R7-5800X3D and I know I made the right decision because it will extend the life of my AM4 platform for at least two more GPU upgrades. Apparently this thing can't even bottleneck an RTX 4090 in Shadow of the Tomb Raider (according to TechYesCity) at 1080p with an average frame rate of over 340fps! Apparently, there's a BIOS update that increases the gaming performance of the R7-5800X3D even more than the insane level it's already at:

I have ZERO interest in how it performs in productivity because my home PC is a combination HTPC and gaming monster. How well it performs in Cinebench, Handbrake and/or Blender is of zero consequence to me. For general Windows 10 use, an FX-8350 or R7-1700 are already plenty quick so I'm not concerned about the speed of Windows either.

 

[PEnnn]

If you bough an i7 920 in 2008 for the equivalent of $377 today and are still using it; then you have achieved best value of the past 15 years for pc gaming bar none.

Indeed!!

My i7-4790 (bought in 2014) and I agree wholeheartedly!
I will upgrade someday, but till then I see no need actually!

 

[Avro Arrow]

Indeed!!

My i7-4790 (bought in 2014) and I agree wholeheartedly!

I will upgrade someday, but till then I see no need actually!

Well, we got screwed in Canada because when that thing came out, I remember I was working at Tiger Direct and the cost of it was like $500CAD plus $250CAD for a 3-channel X58 motherboard and another $150CAD for 12GB of DDR3. That was A LOT of money at the time for me to spend on a platform since I was also buying an XFX Radeon HD 4870. Since I just wanted gaming performance, I got a Phenom II X4 940, MSi K9A2 Platinum motherboard, 8GB of OCZ Reaper DDR2-800 (4x2GB) for about $500. I did end up having to replace the motherboard at a cost of $80 though, damn MSi!

Then in 2012 (after I left TD to go to university) I got my FX-8350, a 990FX motherboard and 16GB of Cetus UMAX DDR3-1333 (4x4GB) again for about $500CAD. Now THAT was value because the FX-8350 was WAY more potent than the i7-920 and I'd paid about the same for both the AM2+ and AM3+ platforms that I would've for the X58 platform alone. Remember that back then, Intel had almost no competition and charged a helluva lot for their hardware.

 

[Badelhas]

I am waiting for the 5800x3d to get to 350 euros here in Europe. Otherwise I don't think it's worth to upgrade the CPU to the 5700x or 5800x just for gaming, don't you guys agree?
Cheers

 

[novitzky]

I always look to techspot for tech news and buying guides.
I especially appreciate your testing methodologies.
I'm a bit surprised at the lack of "Best Motherboard" guides which include the z790
I want to buy a 13700k but would really appreciate a guide to help choose the motherboard, given the exorbitant prices for the Z790 / AM5 platforms.

 

[adozoo]

I think there's a typo. This article mentions "i3-13600K" twice, but it should be "i5-13600K".

 

[KofeViR]

I am waiting for the 5800x3d to get to 350 euros here in Europe. Otherwise I don't think it's worth to upgrade the CPU to the 5700x or 5800x just for gaming, don't you guys agree?
Cheers

5800X3D for sure.
5700X is only for a lower watt lower budget build.
5800X barely makes sense.