Best CPU for gaming 2018

[Nergal]

 

Picking the best CPU for gaming means that, while it’ll still be heavily reliant on single-threaded processor power in terms of raw performance, you can’t just get a couple of speedy cores and hope they’ll keep your graphics card fully fed.

Despite the dominance of quad-core CPUs – or above – in today’s gaming rigs, the difficulty in coding for multi-core processors has meant we’re still not seeing many modern game engines taking full advantage of the powerful CPUs many of us have in our machines. In fact, now that AMD has decided to take the fight to Intel in terms of core-count, even six cores is becoming more and more common.

But games are slow to catch up. But that could be set to change with an increased number of dedicated DirectX 12 (and, to a similar extent, Vulkan) games offering a more streamlined method for delivering all that processing power into the hands of gamers. It’s been a long, slow march, but processor power may soon become a vital component of gaming performance once more. Though I have been saying that for the last ten years…

AMD has usurped the top spot for the best gaming CPU with its Ryzen 2 processors, but it still has fierce competition from Intel’s Coffee Lake chips. Take a look below to find the processor that fits you best.

Also, if you need a refresher course on techie-phrases, here’s our processor glossary of terms.

THE BEST CPUS FOR GAMING ARE:

AMD Ryzen 5 2600
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X
Intel Core i5 8400
AMD Ryzen 5 1600X
Intel Core i5 8600K
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X
Intel Core i7 8700K
AMD Ryzen 7 1700X
AMD Ryzen 7 1700
AMD Ryzen 3 2200G
AMD Ryzen 3 1300X
Intel Pentium G4560

WINNER: BEST CPU FOR GAMING

AMD RYZEN 5 2600
Approx. – $165 | £142

VITAL STATS

A fantastic combination of gaming power, genuine processing chops, and serious value.

Cores6
Threads12
Base clock3.4 GHz
Turbo3.9 GHz
SocketAM4

The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 isn’t just a great gaming CPU with serious multi-threading chops, it’s also an incredibly good-value chip, too. We had originally pegged the 2600X as the go-to gaming chip due to its high-end performance, but struggled a little with how much more expensive it was compared with the Core i5 8400.

The 8400 still retains a slight gaming performance lead, but the fact the Ryzen 5 2600 costs almost the same as the rival Intel chip means that there’s only going to be one winner in this battle. With a little judicious overclocking, at a level which isn’t going to put any undue strain on your silicon, you can get the same level of performance as the 2600X, and only a few fps lower than the Core i5. But with a huge amount more multi-threading capabilities for the same price.

In the end, AMD’s non-X 2600 has more power inside it than you’re likely to use, and is still able to offer all that for a mighty tempting price. You might need to get your hands dirty to get the most out of it, but it’s well worth the minimal effort.

RUNNER-UP: BEST CPU FOR GAMING

AMD RYZEN 5 2600X
Approx. – $220 | £210

VITAL STATS
For a little more than the price of the straight 2600 the 'X' chip delivers a slightly higher Turbo clock.

Cores6
Threads12
Base clock3.6 GHz
Turbo4.2 GHz
SocketAM4

The 2600X has double the thread count of its closest Intel rival, the Core i5 8400, which makes it a genuinely impressive computational chip – as fast as the far more expensive i7 8700K. And though we are talking about the 8400 being quicker in gaming frame rates it’s only ever by a few frames per second on average. And that’s at 1080p. Push the resolution up to a more GPU-intensive 1440p or 4K and the difference becomes essentially zero.

But it’s the straight 2600 CPU from AMD that pushes the X-series variant down into second place. That’s a cheaper chip that just needs a very small amount of overclocking effort to get running at the same speed. If you know you’ll never bother, and have the spare cash, go for the 2600X, but everyone else would be better off with the non-X Ryzen 5 2600.

RUNNER-UP: BEST CPU FOR GAMING

INTEL CORE I5 8400
Approx. – $200 | £155

VITAL STATS
Our favourite Coffee Lake CPU offers six Intel cores and an impressively low price tag.

Cores6
Threads6
Base clock2.8GHz
Turbo4GHz
SocketLGA 1151 v2