The Need for Gaming CPUs: A Guide to Choosing the Right Core Count

When it comes to choosing a gaming CPU, many enthusiasts are often caught up in the hype surrounding top-of-the-line processors like the Ryzen 5800X and Intel 11900K. These chips are indeed powerful beasts, with high core counts and exceptional performance. However, unless you're planning to play games at extremely high refresh rates on an incredibly powerful setup, it's unlikely that these CPUs will be holding you back.

In reality, most PC gamers won't see a significant difference in performance between these top-end processors and more affordable options like the Ryzen 5 5600X. The single-core performance of the 5600X is essentially on par with the 7-series and 9-series Ryzen chips, meaning that in most games, you'll be looking at frame rates that are incredibly similar. This is especially true if you're not planning to push your system to its limits.

Of course, longevity is a significant factor to consider when choosing a CPU. If you can spend extra money on a component, it may well be worth it to get the best performance and future-proofing for years to come. However, don't feel pressured to sacrifice other components just to upgrade your CPU if it's not necessary. This could mean cutting back on a graphics card, which is a major consideration for many gamers.

There is one exception to this rule, however: multi-tasking. If you plan on using your PC for tasks beyond gaming, such as streaming, browsing the web, or running multiple applications at once, having more cores can be incredibly beneficial. For example, running a game in Boardless Window mode and simultaneously watching a Twitch stream or browsing the web can be a challenge even with a powerful CPU. Having extra cores can provide some much-needed headroom to keep everything running smoothly.

So, how do you choose the right CPU for your needs? The first step is to determine how many cores you need. A general rule of thumb is to look at four, six, or eight cores. Once you've determined this, you can compare the performance benchmark numbers from reputable sources like PC Part Picker and my own reviews to find out which chip is best for you.

It's also worth considering the price of the processor itself, as well as the motherboard that will be paired with it. The total cost of ownership is a critical factor in making your decision, and it's not just about the CPU – the motherboard can greatly impact performance and compatibility. I'll be doing a full video review of different motherboards to help you make an informed decision.

Ultimately, choosing the right gaming CPU comes down to your individual needs and preferences. Don't be swayed by fanboy opinions or reviews that only focus on one aspect of a chip's performance. Take the time to research and compare different options, and don't be afraid to ask questions or seek advice from experts.

As you navigate the complex world of PC components, it can be overwhelming to keep track of all the latest developments and recommendations. But with this guide, you'll be well-equipped to make an informed decision about which gaming CPU is right for you.

The Cost of Custom Liquid Cooling: A Look at the Corsair 5000 Series

One of the most impressive aspects of the new gaming CPUs from AMD and Intel is their ability to handle extreme cooling setups. One such component that's caught my eye is the Corsair 5000 series, specifically the iQ5000X. This liquid cooling system combines stunning good looks with massive ventilation gaps and a ginormous 360 millimeter intake on the side.

The iQ5000X features three PWM SP Elite RGB fans as standard, which provide exceptional airflow and color customization options. But what really sets this system apart is its ability to handle extreme temperatures without sacrificing aesthetics. The tempered glass look is both luxurious and functional, providing a clear view of the cooling components inside.

As you can see, the Corsair 5000 series liquid cooling system is not just about looks – it's also about performance. With its massive intake and powerful fans, this system is capable of handling even the most demanding systems without breaking a sweat. And with its RGB lighting options, you'll be able to customize your system to match your unique style.

If you're looking for a high-performance liquid cooling solution that won't break the bank, the Corsair 5000 series iQ5000X is definitely worth considering. With its stunning looks and exceptional performance, it's an essential component for any serious PC builder or enthusiast.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enare you planning on building a gaming pc this year then you're gonna have to choose between intel or amd now both of these companies of course produce the cpu or the brain of your gaming computer the processor is used in pretty much every operation that your pc makes regardless of whether that's pwning noobs and fortnites logging into windows or even just downloading games from steam for pc gamers this choice is really important as your in-game frame rate or how smooth the gameplay will feel is actually dictated not only by your graphics card but the processor as well so you might find that you get a brand new shiny gpu you slot it in your system and it's not actually able to work to its full potential because your processor is holding it back and this would hurt a lot so in this video i'm going to go through absolutely everything that you need to know about the processor which choice you should make intel amd and more specifically what you need to do to make sure you're making it the right decision for you but first a quick word from this video's sponsor core says 5000 series is about to change your gaming pc forever with room for all of the latest and greatest components you can easily fit and call ginormous graphics cards with ease step up your game with corsair's air guide fan technology and with support for a whopping 10 case fans you can always get the build that's right for you you can even choose between glass and mesh panels the possibilities really are endless check out the corsair 5000 series today with that link down below gaming pc processes then get ready for a world of fun fun fun now to be fair the performance games that we've seen over the last few years have been absolutely incredible in this space we do owe amd a great deal of gratitude for pushing pc gaming forwards you see up until 2017 intel had been constantly pumping out quad-core consumer cpus with no real intention of innovating in the space now sure the chips were getting more and more powerful every year but it was hardly revolutionary everything changed in march 2017 though when amd released the ryzen range to the world a series of eight core chips they're actually priced around about the same as intel's quad core ones and it was a big deal as you might expect they were an immediate hit but were absolutely far from perfect single core performance lagged a fair away from intel and launch issues with memory and stability meant that an intel gaming pc was probably still the best way to go for most intel started a counter with their own higher core count cpus and they launched their own eight core gaming cpu in 2018 but with higher prices power consumption and an ever-improving competitor the battle for the best gaming cpu finally changed hands at the end of 2020 with a launch of ryzen 5000 and the ryzen 5000 series chips are honestly incredible they come in a wide range of core counts you've got 16 12 8 6 and soon to be four core variants but the thing that made these so stand out especially versus intel was that this is the first time that uh offering from amd actually had better gaming performance out of the box than an intel chip and this was a big deal it is a big deal we've still got these these are current this is all down to their super strong single core performance and if you're new to pc gaming the way that video games are coded means that a game typically will work better on fewer faster cores rather than just having a higher amount of slower cores for example a much more expensive 64 core threadripper chip is actually a fair bit worse in gaming than the much cheaper 6 core ryzen 5 5600 x this is because performance in games doesn't really scale the number of cpu cores instead for a better gauge of gaming performance you should be looking at the clock speeds that each processor core will be running at if you do want to learn a little bit more about how many cores you do actually need for gaming what the best number for you is i've actually made a video testing this you can find it in the top right corner of your screen and honestly the results are fascinating cpus have what's known as their base clock in addition to their boost clock these are dynamic and will take care of themselves for you though if you manually overclock a chip you can override these if you're that way inclined but the base clock is the speed that the chip should be able to run at consistently whilst the boost clocks are speeds that can be met assuming you have a good cooler attached to keep the thermals in check now i know at this stage it probably is starting to sound a little bit technical and a bit complicated but the good news is honestly you don't really need to worry about this at all there's a much easier way of getting the information in a fully digestible and more meaningful way and that is just to google the name of your chosen cpu followed by its single core performance to get an idea of how strong it is for gaming but what does that even mean strong for gaming that sounds a bit wishy-washy right well as alluded to earlier your in-game frame rate is determined by both your graphics card and your computer processor so you can spend over a grand on an rtx 3090 but if you pair it with a 70 pound core a3 you're definitely going to run into problems the simple way of looking at it is that both your gpu and cpu will have a maximum frame rate that they can pump out individually and whichever one is lower is what you will get delivered to the display and then enjoyed by you the crafty little pc gamer that i know you are in the real world things are a little bit more complicated as different parts of a game require differing amounts of resources let's say a huge explosion goes off as you enter a new area that is pretty hard on the cpu or perhaps three highly detailed characters enter the scene to fight a very hairy bear probably not the description the witcher 3 would put on the back of the box but i think it's pretty apt this would be almost entirely gpu dependent not only this but different games also have different requirements apex legends for instance is a lot easier on the cpu than cyberpunk 2077 oh well done well done another boring pc centric video just tell me which one to buy for goodness sake amd or intel firstly how rude secondly i'm getting to it alright armed with the full context let's chat about the choice that you need to make 2021 should be a great year for cpus as intel and amd essentially offer the exact same thing which are 8 6 and 4 core gaming cpus all with very similar single and multi-core performance and this performance is leaps and bounds ahead of what was on offer in 2017 so if you have had your pc for a fair few years now it is a fabulous time to upgrade further to this both intel and amd now offer b series motherboards and these are perfect for gamers with support for both pcie generation 4 graphics cards and ssds and prices that are actually a fair bit lower than their higher end offerings for intel you're after a b560 motherboard while on amd it's b550 team red's b550 is a little bit more expensive but intel's b560 doesn't actually support cpu overclocking so they do kind of balance each other out but what is the best gaming cpu exactly and specifically which one should i buy well best doesn't always mean the top performing i'd argue that for pc gamers it's the best value chip that offers all the performance that you need in games remember when i said that different games have different loads and cpus have a theoretical maximum frame rate every penny that you spend on a processor is a penny that you then don't have for a shiny new graphics card so sure the top end ryzen 5800x and intel 11900k are absolute eight core beasts but do you actually need one because unless you're playing at super high refresh rates on some ridiculously high end setup really big graphics card then this performance is essentially performance you can't tap into anyway yes you've got a fantastic cpu but if your graphics card is holding you back then maybe your money should have gone there instead most pc gamers should probably look at something a little bit lower down the stack with my current favorite gaming cpu being the ryzen 5 5600x as this is an absolute beast of a cpu the beauty of this chip is that the single core performance is essentially the same as the ryzen 7 and ryzen 9s so the real world frame rate that you'll be guessing is actually going to be pretty much the exact same in the vast majority of titles i can absolutely understand that longevity is a big reason to spend more on a component and if you can spend the extra then it may well be worth it to do so but don't actively take money away from your graphics cards just to turn a 6 core cpu into an 8 core because it isn't necessarily going to help you in fact it may well do the opposite there is actually a big fat exception to this rule though and that is multi-tasking what if you want to use your pc for other things than gaming and what if you want to do a load of things at the same time as gaming this is where having more cores will definitely come in handy with things like game streaming being a very obvious application but there are loads of lesser applications that can also add up too for example alt tabbing into discord this won't be an issue but what about running a game in boardless window mode downloading updates browsing the web and watching a twitch stream all at the same time some headroom would be nice no you really need to think about yourself as an individual and consider what you're going to have in your gaming computer and then what you're going to use it for rather than listening to all of the noise that you get online about how intel sucks or amd is too expensive with essentially the exact same feature set core count and performance on offer with the 11th gen cpus from intel and the 5000 series from amd it doesn't really matter which brand you buy this time as the differences between the two while they will exist are very subtle just work out how many cores you think you need as step number one and this will probably land you on four six or eight then you can look at the exact chips from intel and amd and then compare the performance benchmark numbers from people like myself good old pc centric and the key thing that you need to think about is price price to performance how much performance do you need how much is it going to cost you and the subtlety is that it's not just the price of the processor itself it's also the price of the motherboard so add them up together and then see what comes out best for you and yes absolutely motherboards are quite complicated beasts and i will be doing a full video to help you with this and compare and contrast to make sure you choose the right motherboard make sure you do get subscribed to see that because it's a motherboard video it's going to be so much fun but it will be informative there will always be fanboys that will tell you which way to go one way or the other but ultimately it is down to you i don't think you can really make the wrong decision this time around just hang on to those prices and do check the benchmarks just to make sure that the chip that you're buying is going to be suitable for what you want to play but i think it's uh i think it's a good time to be a pc gamer unless you want to buy a graphics card but that's a video for another day smash that like button it really does help out you honestly wouldn't believe you can check out some amazon affiliate links to all of these cpus linked down below and if you want to see my full custom liquid called loop that i've done right here then you can find that in the end screen as well it's a really fun little video i highly advise you check it out and of course while you're down there don't forget to check out the corsair 5000 series the iq 5000x combines the luxurious tempered glass look with huge ventilation gaps and a ginormous 360 millimeter intake right on the side serious cooling has never looked this good available in black or white the iq5000x even comes with three pwm sp elite rgb fans as standard learn a little bit more today with that link down below thank you so much for watching i really appreciate it and i'll see you in the next one youare you planning on building a gaming pc this year then you're gonna have to choose between intel or amd now both of these companies of course produce the cpu or the brain of your gaming computer the processor is used in pretty much every operation that your pc makes regardless of whether that's pwning noobs and fortnites logging into windows or even just downloading games from steam for pc gamers this choice is really important as your in-game frame rate or how smooth the gameplay will feel is actually dictated not only by your graphics card but the processor as well so you might find that you get a brand new shiny gpu you slot it in your system and it's not actually able to work to its full potential because your processor is holding it back and this would hurt a lot so in this video i'm going to go through absolutely everything that you need to know about the processor which choice you should make intel amd and more specifically what you need to do to make sure you're making it the right decision for you but first a quick word from this video's sponsor core says 5000 series is about to change your gaming pc forever with room for all of the latest and greatest components you can easily fit and call ginormous graphics cards with ease step up your game with corsair's air guide fan technology and with support for a whopping 10 case fans you can always get the build that's right for you you can even choose between glass and mesh panels the possibilities really are endless check out the corsair 5000 series today with that link down below gaming pc processes then get ready for a world of fun fun fun now to be fair the performance games that we've seen over the last few years have been absolutely incredible in this space we do owe amd a great deal of gratitude for pushing pc gaming forwards you see up until 2017 intel had been constantly pumping out quad-core consumer cpus with no real intention of innovating in the space now sure the chips were getting more and more powerful every year but it was hardly revolutionary everything changed in march 2017 though when amd released the ryzen range to the world a series of eight core chips they're actually priced around about the same as intel's quad core ones and it was a big deal as you might expect they were an immediate hit but were absolutely far from perfect single core performance lagged a fair away from intel and launch issues with memory and stability meant that an intel gaming pc was probably still the best way to go for most intel started a counter with their own higher core count cpus and they launched their own eight core gaming cpu in 2018 but with higher prices power consumption and an ever-improving competitor the battle for the best gaming cpu finally changed hands at the end of 2020 with a launch of ryzen 5000 and the ryzen 5000 series chips are honestly incredible they come in a wide range of core counts you've got 16 12 8 6 and soon to be four core variants but the thing that made these so stand out especially versus intel was that this is the first time that uh offering from amd actually had better gaming performance out of the box than an intel chip and this was a big deal it is a big deal we've still got these these are current this is all down to their super strong single core performance and if you're new to pc gaming the way that video games are coded means that a game typically will work better on fewer faster cores rather than just having a higher amount of slower cores for example a much more expensive 64 core threadripper chip is actually a fair bit worse in gaming than the much cheaper 6 core ryzen 5 5600 x this is because performance in games doesn't really scale the number of cpu cores instead for a better gauge of gaming performance you should be looking at the clock speeds that each processor core will be running at if you do want to learn a little bit more about how many cores you do actually need for gaming what the best number for you is i've actually made a video testing this you can find it in the top right corner of your screen and honestly the results are fascinating cpus have what's known as their base clock in addition to their boost clock these are dynamic and will take care of themselves for you though if you manually overclock a chip you can override these if you're that way inclined but the base clock is the speed that the chip should be able to run at consistently whilst the boost clocks are speeds that can be met assuming you have a good cooler attached to keep the thermals in check now i know at this stage it probably is starting to sound a little bit technical and a bit complicated but the good news is honestly you don't really need to worry about this at all there's a much easier way of getting the information in a fully digestible and more meaningful way and that is just to google the name of your chosen cpu followed by its single core performance to get an idea of how strong it is for gaming but what does that even mean strong for gaming that sounds a bit wishy-washy right well as alluded to earlier your in-game frame rate is determined by both your graphics card and your computer processor so you can spend over a grand on an rtx 3090 but if you pair it with a 70 pound core a3 you're definitely going to run into problems the simple way of looking at it is that both your gpu and cpu will have a maximum frame rate that they can pump out individually and whichever one is lower is what you will get delivered to the display and then enjoyed by you the crafty little pc gamer that i know you are in the real world things are a little bit more complicated as different parts of a game require differing amounts of resources let's say a huge explosion goes off as you enter a new area that is pretty hard on the cpu or perhaps three highly detailed characters enter the scene to fight a very hairy bear probably not the description the witcher 3 would put on the back of the box but i think it's pretty apt this would be almost entirely gpu dependent not only this but different games also have different requirements apex legends for instance is a lot easier on the cpu than cyberpunk 2077 oh well done well done another boring pc centric video just tell me which one to buy for goodness sake amd or intel firstly how rude secondly i'm getting to it alright armed with the full context let's chat about the choice that you need to make 2021 should be a great year for cpus as intel and amd essentially offer the exact same thing which are 8 6 and 4 core gaming cpus all with very similar single and multi-core performance and this performance is leaps and bounds ahead of what was on offer in 2017 so if you have had your pc for a fair few years now it is a fabulous time to upgrade further to this both intel and amd now offer b series motherboards and these are perfect for gamers with support for both pcie generation 4 graphics cards and ssds and prices that are actually a fair bit lower than their higher end offerings for intel you're after a b560 motherboard while on amd it's b550 team red's b550 is a little bit more expensive but intel's b560 doesn't actually support cpu overclocking so they do kind of balance each other out but what is the best gaming cpu exactly and specifically which one should i buy well best doesn't always mean the top performing i'd argue that for pc gamers it's the best value chip that offers all the performance that you need in games remember when i said that different games have different loads and cpus have a theoretical maximum frame rate every penny that you spend on a processor is a penny that you then don't have for a shiny new graphics card so sure the top end ryzen 5800x and intel 11900k are absolute eight core beasts but do you actually need one because unless you're playing at super high refresh rates on some ridiculously high end setup really big graphics card then this performance is essentially performance you can't tap into anyway yes you've got a fantastic cpu but if your graphics card is holding you back then maybe your money should have gone there instead most pc gamers should probably look at something a little bit lower down the stack with my current favorite gaming cpu being the ryzen 5 5600x as this is an absolute beast of a cpu the beauty of this chip is that the single core performance is essentially the same as the ryzen 7 and ryzen 9s so the real world frame rate that you'll be guessing is actually going to be pretty much the exact same in the vast majority of titles i can absolutely understand that longevity is a big reason to spend more on a component and if you can spend the extra then it may well be worth it to do so but don't actively take money away from your graphics cards just to turn a 6 core cpu into an 8 core because it isn't necessarily going to help you in fact it may well do the opposite there is actually a big fat exception to this rule though and that is multi-tasking what if you want to use your pc for other things than gaming and what if you want to do a load of things at the same time as gaming this is where having more cores will definitely come in handy with things like game streaming being a very obvious application but there are loads of lesser applications that can also add up too for example alt tabbing into discord this won't be an issue but what about running a game in boardless window mode downloading updates browsing the web and watching a twitch stream all at the same time some headroom would be nice no you really need to think about yourself as an individual and consider what you're going to have in your gaming computer and then what you're going to use it for rather than listening to all of the noise that you get online about how intel sucks or amd is too expensive with essentially the exact same feature set core count and performance on offer with the 11th gen cpus from intel and the 5000 series from amd it doesn't really matter which brand you buy this time as the differences between the two while they will exist are very subtle just work out how many cores you think you need as step number one and this will probably land you on four six or eight then you can look at the exact chips from intel and amd and then compare the performance benchmark numbers from people like myself good old pc centric and the key thing that you need to think about is price price to performance how much performance do you need how much is it going to cost you and the subtlety is that it's not just the price of the processor itself it's also the price of the motherboard so add them up together and then see what comes out best for you and yes absolutely motherboards are quite complicated beasts and i will be doing a full video to help you with this and compare and contrast to make sure you choose the right motherboard make sure you do get subscribed to see that because it's a motherboard video it's going to be so much fun but it will be informative there will always be fanboys that will tell you which way to go one way or the other but ultimately it is down to you i don't think you can really make the wrong decision this time around just hang on to those prices and do check the benchmarks just to make sure that the chip that you're buying is going to be suitable for what you want to play but i think it's uh i think it's a good time to be a pc gamer unless you want to buy a graphics card but that's a video for another day smash that like button it really does help out you honestly wouldn't believe you can check out some amazon affiliate links to all of these cpus linked down below and if you want to see my full custom liquid called loop that i've done right here then you can find that in the end screen as well it's a really fun little video i highly advise you check it out and of course while you're down there don't forget to check out the corsair 5000 series the iq 5000x combines the luxurious tempered glass look with huge ventilation gaps and a ginormous 360 millimeter intake right on the side serious cooling has never looked this good available in black or white the iq5000x even comes with three pwm sp elite rgb fans as standard learn a little bit more today with that link down below thank you so much for watching i really appreciate it and i'll see you in the next one you\n"