Processor

The best price-to-performance option on AM4, and still entirely sufficient for 1080p gaming.

A cheap option on a mature platform. The F suffix means no integrated graphics, so a discrete card is mandatory.

The cheapest way into six cores. Limited to PCIe 3.0, which matters little with a budget graphics card.

Four cores for the cheapest builds. Enough for esports at 1080p; increasingly short for new AAA titles.

The cheapest sensible way onto AM5. Six cores are ample for gaming, and the low power draw means a simple cooler is enough.

A strong mid-range chip with overclocking. A good option if you already own DDR4 and want to keep it.

Six cores of the newest generation at very low power. Ample for gaming, and it cools with almost anything.

Eight cores at 65 W. A sensible upgrade for someone who already owns an AM4 board and DDR4.

The strongest integrated graphics on desktop. It games at 1080p and plays 4K with no discrete card at all.

The last and strongest upgrade for AM4. Worth it if you already own the board and DDR4 — not worth buying the platform from scratch.

Intel's sensible mid-range option with an on-package NPU. Good multi-threaded performance and low idle power.

Plenty of cores on a mature platform. It draws over 250 W under load — not a processor for weak cooling.

The extra 3D V-Cache gives a gaming lead that synthetic benchmarks do not show. For gaming alone it is hard to beat.

Very low power draw with strong performance — the best choice for small cases where cooling is constrained by dimensions.

Plenty of cores for video editing and compiling. It can draw 250 W under full load, so it needs serious cooling.

Sixteen cores for rendering and compiling. For gaming alone it is overpaying — the 7800X3D is often faster there.

A compromise between gaming and work: 3D V-Cache on only one core cluster, so it trails the 7800X3D in games while clearly beating it in multi-threaded work.

The fastest processor for games and for work at the same time. The price reflects not having to choose between them.

Intel's flagship for heavy multi-threaded work. It draws 250 W under full load, so the cooling has to be serious.