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AMD Ryzen 7 2700XBest Overall
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- Socket
- 1331
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- Cores / Threads
- 8 / 16
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- Base Frequency
- 3.7 GHz
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- Boost Frequency
- 4.3 GHz
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- Memory Speed
- up to DDR4-2933
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- Memory Controller
- Dual-Channel
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- Unlocked Multiplier
- ✓
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- PCIe Lanes
- x16 PCIe Gen 3
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- Integrated Graphics
- ✗
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- Cache
- 16MB
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- Architecture
- Zen+
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- Process
- 12nm LP GlobalFoundries
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- TDP
- 105W
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Intel Core i5-8400Best Value
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- Socket
- LGA 1151
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- Cores / Threads
- 6 / 6
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- Base Frequency
- 2.8 GHz
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- Boost Frequency
- 1 Core @ 4.0 GHz, 2 Cores @ 3.9 GHz, 4 Cores @ 3.9 GHz, 6 Cores @ 3.8 GHz
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- Memory Speed
- DDR4-2666
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- Memory Controller
- Dual-Channel
-
- Unlocked Multiplier
- ✗
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- PCIe Lanes
- x16 Gen3
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- Integrated Graphics
- UHD 630 (1150 MHz)
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- Cache
- 10.5MB
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- Architecture
- Coffee Lake
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- Process
- 14nm++
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- TDP
- 65W
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AMD Ryzen 5 2400GBudget Pick
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- Socket
- AM4
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- Cores / Threads
- 4 / 8
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- Base Frequency
- 3.6 GHz
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- Boost Frequency
- 3.9 GHz
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- Memory Speed
- up to DDR4-2933
-
- Memory Controller
- Dual-Channel
-
- Unlocked Multiplier
- ✓
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- PCIe Lanes
- x8 3.0
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- Integrated Graphics
- Vega
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- Cache
- 4MB L3
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- Architecture
- Zen - Vega
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- Process
- 14nm+
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- TDP
- 65W
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AMD Ryzen 3 2200GEntry-Level Pick
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- Socket
- AM4
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- Cores / Threads
- 4 / 4
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- Base Frequency
- 3.5 GHz
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- Boost Frequency
- 3.7 GHz
-
- Memory Speed
- up to DDR4-2933 (varies)
-
- Memory Controller
- Dual-Channel
-
- Unlocked Multiplier
- ✓
-
- PCIe Lanes
- x8 3.0
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- Integrated Graphics
- Vega
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- Cache
- 4MB L3
-
- Architecture
- Zen - Vega
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- Process
- 14nm+
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- TDP
- 65W
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CPUs DEALS
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X
With eight CPU cores and sixteen threads, this processor is well suited for high-end gaming and compute intensive work. The core also has over 20MB of cache.
Was: $499.99 Is Now: $239.99
Why Trust Us
Tom's Hardware has been reviewing PC components for more than two decades. We put each CPU through a bevy of benchmarks which measure everything from its single- and multi-core performance in applications and games, to its power consumption. We've tested hundreds of models, at both stock and overclock settings where applicable, so we can separate the best from the multi-core disappointments.
Quick Shopping Tips
When choosing a CPU, consider the following:
- You can't lose with AMD or Intel: So long as you’re considering current-generation parts (AMD Ryzen 2000 or Intel 8th Generation Core “Coffee Lake”), this debate is basically a wash, with Intel doing a bit better on gaming and browsing and AMD handling tasks like video editing faster.
- Clock speed is more important than core number: Higher clock speeds translate to snappier performance in simple, common tasks such as gaming, while more cores will help you get through time-consuming workloads faster.
- Get the latest gen: You won't save much money in the long run by going with an older chip.
- Budget for a full system: Don't pair a strong CPU with weak storage, RAM and graphics.
- Overclocking isn’t for everyone: For most people, it makes more sense to spend $20-$60 more and buy a higher-end chip.
For even more information, check out our CPU Buyer’s Guide, where we discuss how much you should spend for what you’re looking to do, and when cores matter more than high clock speeds.
MORE: Intel & AMD Processor Hierarchy
MORE: AMD Ryzen 2 vs. Intel Coffee Lake: What's the Best CPU Platform?
MORE: All CPU Content
$300+ Best Pick
Flagship mainstream desktop processors come with the highest price tag of our recommendations, but those searching for the best performance to push the beefiest graphics cards will be rewarded with chart-topping performance. Both Intel and AMD offer high-end desktop models that scale beyond 16 cores, but those premium processors often don't deliver the same amount of gaming performance as the mainstream models. Also, they come with expensive platforms and typically support quad-channel memory, which adds yet more cost to the equation. The picture changes if you need more performance for other types of applications, like rendering or encoding, but the mainstream processors offer the best value for strictly gaming.
For most high-end gamers, the flagship mainstream models in Intel's Core i7 and AMD's Ryzen 7 product families offer the best value. Intel's Coffee and Kaby Lake models offer the best absolute gaming performance, but AMD's Ryzen 7 series comes with more cores, which you might find attractive if you have more demanding requirements, such as streaming or intense multi-tasking. You can also often find the Ryzen processors well below MSRP.
With its 2nd Gen Ryzen chips—and the flagship Ryzen 7 2700X specifically—AMD has fixed or minimized the major issues and reservations we had with its first-generation Ryzen parts. In gaming at 1080p, our tests show the Ryzen 7 2700X pulls near enough to the Core i7-8700K that the two are effectively tied. And AMD’s latest top-end mainstream chip easily wins the value proposition over Intel because of the inclusion of a premium, RGB-lit Wraith Prism cooler, not to mention backwards-compatibility with older, less-expensive 300-series boards.
On top off that, the Ryzen 7 2700X’s eight cores and 16 threads helps it pull well ahead of the six-core, 12-thread Core i7-8700K in multi-threaded tasks like rendering. With Intel’s chip costing $30 more (as of this writing) for fewer cores and threads, with no in-box cooler, it’s easy to make the call in favor of the Ryzen 7 2700X. Intel still has an edge in single-threaded performance, as well as overclocking headroom (though you’ll have to invest in a cooler for that on the Intel side). But those advantages don’t tip the scale in favor of Intel for most users.
Alternative Pick:
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$200 - $300 Best Pick
Mid-range processors typically land in the $200 to $300 price range, and they offer satisfying performance for the majority of gamers. Stepping beyond the $300 price class typically grants less than a 10% overall performance improvement that isn't always worth the higher price tag.
AMD's Ryzen processors have truly reinvigorated this segment and often come with a discount, too. For the overclockers among us, AMD's processors all offer unlocked ratio multipliers that you can exploit on budget-friendly motherboards, while Intel's offerings are split into both locked and unlocked processors. With Intel, overclocking requires a step up to a Z-Series motherboard and a more expensive "K"-series processor.
This price range finds two distinct price tiers, but provided the processor has an unlocked multiplier, you can often find the best value around the $200 mark. It's best to step up to the more expensive models in this class if overclocking isn't in your plans.
The Core i5-8400 brings a powerful six-core design to the mid-range, offering class-leading gaming performance and competitive performance in heavier applications. More expensive models offer more performance in both categories, but the Core i5-8400 is easily the pound-for-pound gaming champion.
The i5-8400 wades into the market with six physical cores and no Hyper-Threading, which is 50% increase in cores compared to the Kaby Lake i5 Series. The 2.8 GHz base frequency jumps to 4.0 GHz on a single core. That's complemented by varying multi-core boost frequencies based upon the number of active cores.
The -8400 drops into the LGA1151 socket on 300-Series motherboards. It comes with a bundled cooler and will make a good companion for B- and H-Series motherboards when they arrive early this year. For now, Z370 motherboards are the only option, but you can find “budget” Z370s for as low as $120. 
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$100 - $200 Best Pick
The lower end of the gaming processor spectrum is incredibly competitive, particularly with the copious core counts, bundled coolers, and unlocked multipliers you can find in the AMD lineup. Intel processors tend to offer the best performance at stock settings, and the locked multipliers in this price range make them suitable for less-expensive B- and H-Series motherboards.
These processors will often find a home in sub-$800 gaming rigs, so bundled coolers, particularly if they can handle overclocking, become more important.
Finding any gaming-friendly graphics card at a reasonable price these days is next to impossible thanks to coin mining. But AMD's latest Ryzen chips with onboard Vega graphics make gaming without a card a serious possibility. Don't expect to run games above 1080p, or even always at 1080p with the Ryzen 5 2400G. But if you're after a chip that will let you achieve smooth frame rates on recent titles at low settings without buying an overpriced card, the Ryzen 5 2400G is your best bet today.
If you have or will soon buy a graphics card, the Ryzen 5 2400G is not the best option, as the processor and graphics cores have to share power. In this price range, if a graphics card is destined for your rig, get the Intel Core i3 8100 instead--especially if Intel's more affordable 8th-gen B- and H-series motherboards are available by the time you read this.
Alternative Picks:
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Sub-$100 Best Pick
You won't find several of the more advanced features on this class of processors, such as AVX or Optane support, but they make a great pairing for sub-$200 graphics cards.
Graphics card price hikes haven’t quite hit the budget builder and low-end gamer market as hard as the mid-range and high-end market (basically, anything above a Nvidia GTX 1050). But when money is tight, being able to game without a graphics card can lead to serious savings. And with RAM prices continuing to soar, those working with small budgets need to tighten the strings anywhere they can.
That makes the four-core, four-thread Ryzen 3 2200G particularly appealing for budget gaming builders and upgraders. The $99 chip delivers solid 720p performance thanks to its Vega on-chip graphics, decent CPU muscle for mainstream tasks, and can be dropped into an existing inexpensive 300-series motherboard (after a requisite BIOS update), to form the basis of a surprisingly capable low-cost PC. It’s also unlocked, so with proper cooling you can tune the graphics or the CPU to best suit your needs.
Alternative Pick:
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The higher priced Intel CPUs only tend to handily beat the 2700x when the GPU is taken away as the limiting factor, which is rarely the case for budget limited, real world PC gaming scenarios. Heaven forbid the vast majority of buyers might consider pairing their 1050 Ti and 1060 cards with something other than Intel and see in most cases, margin of error differences! They paid less for a GPU than they could have, they may also want to pay less for a CPU than they might otherwise have. Also, a lot of these mid range buyers are doing online streaming of their gaming sessions, making the extra cores of the 2700x more valuable.
Furthermore, the AMD CPUs come with competent, usable cooling solutions, making them far more valuable than just the difference in CPU price. With the price difference saved, if the user wanted to, they may be able to step up to the next GPU tier, gaining more performance than they would have from going Intel.
The title of the article is not, Highest Frame Rate CPUs for the Money, it is Best, which is subjective, and not nearly as laser focused as to require the highest FPS generating CPUs.
I also though it was weird to recommend the $200 more expensive AMD CPU as the best gaming CPU. They themselves said the cheaper Intel had better single thread performance. It already has as many threads as almost any game ever uses, and it OC's better.
The reason they picked it, was for non-gaming tasks. If the title said best overall CPU, they may have a point, but they are talking about gaming CPU's. This is also the non-budget CPU recommendation, so using budget gaming as a reason is also not a good one.
actually no, both cpus come without coolers so the price difference even with 8600K is far from 100$ - if you factor in the more expensive mainboards you actually end up pretty much on par.
unless you pair a couple of titans with the cpu or play gams at 720p and low settings, the cpu rarely is the limiting factor nowadays, so a negligible ipc-advantage does squat for your gaming experience. a bunch more cores do however keep your .1% lows in fps a lot more stable if windows or some tool you run in the background gets ideas about eating up a few cpu-cycles on the side.
yes intels chips are faster in ipc (a steadily shrinking margin though) and do clock higher on a single core. but no, that does not give them any real world advantage if paired up with realistic graphics solutions.
anyone going for an all-out gaming rig with a +1000,- $ graphics card will not need advice on what cpu to buy, anyone in the general public, is actually better served with a ryzen chip right now than with an intel one. having multi year support and upgrade paths open is just another bonus for people who do not happen to have millions at the bank.
The i5, a Z series mobo and a 25$ ish dollar cooler will outperform a 2700x with a x470 at stock speeds (they cost within 20$ as of right now on PCPartpicker, so yea debunked your first point with a 10s google search). The gap gets bigger when overclocking, as the i5 pulls far away at higher speeds while keeping cool, and you'll have to add a new cooler for a decent OC on Ryzen (another 10s search on youtube, several benchmark comparison vids). And if you want to say costs matter too, lets factor in that Ryzen RAM is expensive, because they reply on fast memory while Intel systems can use dirt cheap ram and not suffer more than a few FPS in games. I mean your points are somewhat valid, but google search results and benchmarks are worth more than some random person's comments.
I'm not saying Ryzen isn't a good deal or platform, I'm saying that the article is clearly WRONG being titled BEST GAMING CPUS when it's clearly sponsored content and has affiliate links. BEST VALUE CPU FOR THE MONEY or BEST OVERALL CPUS FOR THE MONEY (that can game) would be better titles. In my next article mimicking this one let me write about FASTEST CARS UNDER 30k and put a Toyota Camry at #1 costing 24k and not a $25k Mustang just because the Camry is a better family car. See? Makes no sense, just change the title or the recommendation. Next thing you'll see BEST GAMING CARDS and have the vega 64 first on the list because "it can also mine!" Not fooling anyone here.