The budget CPU market is more important than ever as prices continue to increase, and luckily, there's a strong lineup of value processors from both Intel and AMD that can suit your needs. If you're looking for higher-end processors for gaming, head to our list of the best CPUs for gaming, and if you're looking for even more horsepower in productivity work, our CPU benchmark hierarchy can give you a sense of the playing field. However, if you're looking for the best cheap CPU, you're in the right place.
If you're looking to spend at the upper end of the budget spectrum, the Intel Core i5-13400 is simply the processor to beat. At $160, this budget chip offers the most performance of the budget lineup.
One step down the ladder, the Ryzen 5 5600 proves it has an exceptional blend of price and performance, thus earning it a spot on our list of best budget CPUs. This chip comes with plenty of cores that not only offer leading performance in gaming at its price point, but are also adept enough to chew through more standard types of work.
Intel's new 14th-Gen chips consist of refresh models for the lower-end Core i3 chips, so the Core i3-13100 delivers nearly the same performance as its successor, the Core i3-14100. That means you can save money and get basically the same performance by selecting the 13100 model.
AMD’s Renoir chips take a new approach of using Zen 2-powered APU silicon with disabled integrated graphics units to tackle the low-end. We reviewed the Ryzen 5 4500 and Ryzen 3 4100 and found that the Zen 2 architecture simply doesn't hold up against today's more modern chips, like the Core i3 models. We can't recommend either of those new AMD chips due to the severe performance and connectivity tradeoffs.
Here's the shortlist of the best budget CPUs on the market. Below, we have more detailed descriptions for each processor.
Best Budget CPUs in 2024 at a Glance:
Best $130-$160 Budget CPU Pick:
1. Intel Core i5-13400F
Best $100-$130 Budget CPU Pick:
2. Intel Core i5-12400F
Alternate: AMD Ryzen 5 5600
Best $60-$100 Entry-Level Budget CPU Pick:
4. Intel Core i3-13100F
Best Gaming APUs Entry-Level Budget CPU Pick:
Best Budget CPUs 2024
Why you can trust Tom's Hardware Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
Best $130-$160 Budget CPU Pick
The 10-core 16-thread $160 Core i5-13400F was the go-to value gaming chip for some time, but the newer model took its place on most best CPU lists. For instance, Intel released the newer $175 Core i5-14400F, built on the same silicon. However, it delivers slim to non-existent real-world performance increases over the Core i5-13400F and has a higher price tag. Thus, the slightly older 13400F is still the best Core i5 option if you're on a budget.
The 13400F is an incredible deal at $160, but it doesn't have in-built graphics, so you'll need a discrete graphics card if you select this chip. The $175 Raptor Lake Core i5-13400 is a solid deal if you need integrated graphics in your processor, but it comes at a premium.
The Core i5-13400F has six P-cores that support hyper-threading and operate at a 2.5 GHz base and 4.6 GHz boost clock. The four e-cores for threaded tasks run up to 3.3 GHz. The 13400F supports solid connectivity with support for DDR4-3200 or up to DDR5-4800 memory, along with 16 lanes of PCIe 5.0 and an additional four lanes of PCIe 4.0 from the chip for M.2 SSDs.
The Core i5-13400F comes with a capable cooler that can handle its 65W/148W base/peak power rating, and you can use a newer 700- or 800-series motherboard or an older 600-series model if the BIOS supports the chip. Most gamers will enjoy the lower price and comparable performance of DDR4, but you can upgrade to the slightly more expensive DDR5 if you need access to more memory throughput.
Intel's partners offer B- and H-series motherboards, and a B660/B760 motherboard plus a Core i5-13400F CPU makes a solid value gaming combo.
Read More: Intel Core i5-13400F Review
Best $100-$130 Budget CPU Pick
At $110, the graphics-less Core i5-12400F is a solid choice, and you can step up to the $130 Core i5-12400 if you need integrated graphics. This chip is slightly faster than the alternate in this class, the Ryzen 5 5600 listed below, in both gaming and productivity work. The 12400F's connectivity features and more modern platform are the big selling point, though. If you're looking for support for more modern interfaces, like PCIe 5.0, DDR5 and DDR4, this chip makes even more sense -- AMD's Ryzen 5 5600 only supports DDR4 and PCIe 4.0.
The Core i5-12400F comes with six P-cores and 12 threads, but it lacks e-cores. In contrast, its predecessor and our top pick above, the 13400F, comes with four e-cores to add more performance in threaded workloads. The 12400F has a 2.5 GHz base clock and boosts up to 4.4 GHz. The chip also comes with 18 MB of L3 cache and has a 65W PBP (base) and 117W MTP (peak) power rating.
The Core i5-12400F drops into the cheap and plentiful Socket 1700 ecosystem, so 600- and 700-series boards are fine. Naturally, a B-series model will be the best logical pairing for this class of chip. These come in either DDR4 or DDR5 flavors, so be sure to match your motherboard to the type of RAM you choose to use.
The Core i5-12400F also comes with a competent bundled cooler, but we always recommend stepping up to a more capable third-party model, some of which can be found as for as low as $20 if you're particularly price sensitive. All in all, the Core i5-12400F at this price point is a solid chip for a budget system.
Read More: Intel Core i5-12400F Review
The $107 AMD Ryzen 5 5600 delivers a solid blend of performance in both gaming and productivity applications, bringing a new level of value to the Zen 3 lineup. If you're fine sticking with a previous-gen AM4 motherboard, the Ryzen 5 5600 makes a great budget build. The primary trade-off for the AM4 platform is that you're limited to DDR4, and you don't have access to PCIe 5.0, but this isn't a problem for most users at this price point. However, the Core i5-12400F is a better deal if you're looking for DDR5 and PCIe 5.0 support.
The Ryzen 5 5600 also makes an absolutely unbeatable budget chip if you're updating a first-gen Ryzen system. The 5600 unseats the Ryzen 5 5600X, a long-time favorite. The 5600X is only a mostly imperceptible ~1% faster in gaming and multi-threaded PC work than the non-X model, but provides a 4% advantage in single-threaded work.
You can find the six-core 12-thread Ryzen 5 5600 at $107, a deep discount brought on by competitive pressure from Intel. In fact, our testing shows that the Ryzen 5 5600 generally matches the gaming performance of its more expensive sibling, the ~$175 Ryzen 7 5800X. That makes the 5600 an incredibly well-rounded chip that can handle gaming well, from competitive-class performance with high refresh rate monitors to multi-tasking gaming workloads like streaming, while also serving up more than enough performance for day-to-day productivity apps. As with all AMD CPUs for gaming, you can fully overclock the CPU.
The Ryzen 5 5600 has a 3.7 GHz base and 4.6 GHz boost clock. The chip also has a 65W TDP rating, so it runs cool and quiet. Existing AMD owners with a 500-series motherboard will be happy, as the 5600X drops right into existing 500-, 400-, and 300-series motherboards. If you need a new motherboard to support the chip, AMD's AM4 motherboards are plentiful and relatively affordable, with the B-series lineup offering the best overall value for this class of chip.
Read: AMD Ryzen 5 5600 Review
Best $60-$100 Entry-Level Budget CPU Pick
The graphics-less $80 Core i3-13100F is a shoo-in for the best budget CPU in its price class. This chip delivers exceptional gaming performance along with good enough performance in productivity applications, given its price point.
The Core i3-13100 comes with six p-cores and 12 threads that operate at a 3.4 GHz base and 4.5 GHz boost clock rate, but it doesn't come with e-cores for background tasks as the Core i5 models do. It also comes with 12 MB of L3 cache. The 13100 has a 60W / 89W processor base/max turbo power, 16 PCIe 5.0 lanes and four PCIe 4.0 lanes, and support up to DDR4-3200 and DDR5-4800 MT/s (caveats apply to DDR5 support). Intel's non-K models don't allow overclocking of the CPU cores, but they do support memory overclocking.
The Core i3-13100F also comes with Intel's new improved cooler, saving you some cash. Like the non-F model, the Core i3-13100F comes with a 60W PBP (base) and 89W MTP (peak) power rating, so it's easy to cool with the included cooler.
Intel's Raptor Lake drops into Socket 1700 motherboards from the 600-series or 700-series, including the Z-, H- and, B-series boards. The Core i3-12100 is a locked chip, meaning it isn't overclockable. However, Intel supports memory overclocking on Z-, B-, and H-series motherboards (Z-Series doesn't make sense for this class of chip, though).
Read: Intel Core i3-13100F Review
Best Budget Gaming APU CPU Pick
The Ryzen 5 5600G steps into the arena as the value champ for APUs, which are chips with strong enough integrated graphics that they don't require a discrete GPU for light gaming—just be sure you're willing to accept lowered quality settings.
At $120, the Ryzen 5 5600G gives you 96% of the gaming performance on integrated graphics than its more expensive sibling, the $160 Ryzen 7 5700G, but for 25% less cash. Our testing shows that its level of performance makes it the best value APU on the market. As long as you're willing to sacrifice fidelity and resolution and keep your expectations in check, the Ryzen 5 5600G's Vega graphics have surprisingly good performance in gaming.
The 5600G's Vega graphics served up comparatively great 1280x720 gaming across numerous titles in our tests, but options become more restricted at 1080p. Of course, you can get away with 1080p gaming, but you'll need to severely limit the fidelity settings with most titles.
With eight cores and 16 threads that operate at a 3.9 GHz base and boost up to 4.4 GHz, the Ryzen 5 5600G also offers solid performance for its price point in standard desktop PC applications. The chip also comes with a bundled Wraith Stealth cooler, sweetening the value prop, and drops into existing 500-series and some 400-series motherboards, though support on the latter will vary by vendor.
Read: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G Review
- MORE: AMD vs Intel
- MORE: How to Overclock a CPU
- MORE: How to check CPU Temperature
