Best CPUs for the AMD Radeon RX 7900XT

Suggested Article: AMD Radeon RX 7900XTX Review

Best CPUs for the AMD Radeon RX 7900XT

1. Intel Core i5 12600K

👑The best budget CPU.

Another additional benefit of picking up a 12600K as opposed to one of the new 13th-Gen SKUs is upgradeability. If you’re not entirely happy with the performance of the 12600K, you have the luxury of using the same motherboard to pick up a new CPU. Although you only have options between 12th and 13th-Gen SKUs, this gives you plenty of choice in terms of performance. Not only that, if you’re looking to get some better IO options, you can also use 13th-Gen motherboards with 12th-Gen CPUs and vice versa.

Key Specs

Key Specs	Intel Core i5 12600K
Core Count	10
Thread Count	16
Base Clock Speed	3.7GHz
Boost Clock Speed	4.9GHz
Max Turbo Power	150W
Overclockable	Yes

Things We Like

Perfect for gaming: Intel’s Core i5 12600K is an excellent gaming CPU. Although 4K games will be a little bit harder on this processor, the 12600K will have no issues running modern titles at a high framerate.

Solid price point: Due to the 12600K being slightly older, it has significantly dropped in price, making it a rather cheap option. If you’re on a budget, this CPU is definitely worth taking a look at!

Things We Don’t Like

Won’t be great as a workstation CPU: The biggest downside to the 12600K is that there are better options for multithreaded applications. If you’re looking to run some workstation applications, we’d recommend looking at some other CPU choices with higher core counts.

Can’t handle the highest settings: As we’ve alluded to above, the 12600K is a solid CPU for mid-range gaming, but as we’ve alluded to above, the highest settings will be a struggle for this processor.

Summary

Where to Buy

Buy the Intel Core i5 12600K on:

2. AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D

👑The best gaming CPU.

The 5800X3D isn’t quite a budget CPU, but still sits at an excellent price compared to a number of other options on the market. The only downside to picking up a Ryzen 5000 CPU is that the AM4 platform is no longer supported. This means that Ryzen 5000 CPUs are the last upgrade path on the AM4 platform, but despite the lack of upgradeability, this CPU should hold up very well for the next 3-5 years. But you’ll need to pick up a new motherboard and some more RAM to upgrade to the latest Ryzen 7000 SKUs.

Key Specs

Key Specs	AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D
Core Count	8
Thread Count	16
Base Clock Speed	3.4GHz
Boost Clock Speed	4.5GHz
Max Turbo Power	105W
Overclockable	No

Things We Like

Solid for 4K gaming: AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800X3D is an underdog CPU offering incredible metrics in 4K games. When paired up with the right GPU, this CPU is a titan of performance.

Great price point: Due to the age and release of newer SKUs the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is very reasonably priced. Consumers can pick up this processor for under $300 in the right sale, definitely worth a consideration at a lower price tag.

Things We Don’t Like

Better options for productivity workstations: Unfortunately, although the 5800X3D is solid for gaming, it isn’t designed for workstation systems. There are better options with higher core counts and threads that will be more ideal for a productivity-based system.

Older deprecated platform: AMD’s Ryzen 5000 CPUs are unfortunately the last set of CPUs on the AM4 platform. This means if you plan on upgrading in the near future, you’ll need to pick up a new motherboard, and CPU.

Summary

Where to Buy

Buy the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D on:

3. Intel Core i7 13700K

👑The best value CPU.

If you’re building a top-end gaming PC, or a workstation to handle productivity workloads, this CPU will serve you well. There is a small catch though, which is platform longevity. Although the 13700K is likely to last for the next 3-5 years when it comes to performance, if you decide to upgrade to a new generation I’m afraid that will incur a significant cost. Intel only tends to keep a platform alive for around two generations, which means those looking to upgrade will likely need to purchase a new motherboard and/or RAM to gain access to the new platform.

Key Specs

Key Specs	Intel Core i7 13700K
Core Count	16
Thread Count	24
Base Clock Speed	3.4GHz
Boost Clock Speed	5.4GHz
Max Turbo Power	253W
Overclockable	Yes

Things We Like

Solid performance all-around: The Core i7 13700K is one of the few CPUs on the market that can easily handle high intensity workstation applications, alongside 4K gaming. Definitely a winner for those looking to build a multifaceted system.

Pretty reasonably priced: The 13700K has very impressive performance metrics this needs to be said, but the attached price tag is pretty reasonable overall. Consumers don’t need to spend an absolute fortune to pick up this excellent processor.

Things We Don’t Like

Platform will be deprecated soon: As a general rule of thumb, Intel only tend to keep each platform alive for around two generations. This means that upgradeability will be limited outside of picking up an entirely new motherboard and CPU.

Better SKUs for workstations: As much as the 13700K is a solid option for the majority of consumers. Those looking to pick up the best of the best will want to pick other options such as the 13900K, or 7950X from AMD’s Ryzen 7000 range.

Summary

Where to Buy

Buy the Intel Core i7 13700K on:

4. AMD Ryzen 9 7900X

👑The best high-end CPU.

One of the major benefits to picking up one of the new Ryzen 7000 CPUs is that you’ll have plenty of upgrade options later down the line. Much like the previous AM4 platform, AMD intends to continue support for the new AM5 socket for the next few years. This means you likely won’t need to buy a new motherboard in order to upgrade to a better specced CPU. Although Ryzen 7000 CPUs are somewhat lacklustre at the lower-end we’re likely to see a much better value proposition as the technology matures over time.

Key Specs

Key Specs	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
Core Count	12
Thread Count	24
Base Clock Speed	4.7GHz
Boost Clock Speed	5.6GHz
Max Turbo Power	170W
Overclockable	Yes

Things We Like

Exceptional performance metrics: As you can probably expect with this being a high-end option, the Ryzen 9 7900X has great performance metrics across the board. This CPU can handle pretty much anything you throw at it, making it ideal for a top-end productivity or gaming PC.

Plenty of upgradeability: Ryzen 7000 CPUs are the first available options on AMD‘s latest platform. If Ryzen 5000 is anything to go by, consumers will be able to upgrade to the new generation of CPUs with ease, providing simple upgradeability.

Things We Don’t Like

Entry cost is expensive: One of the more notable downsides to the new Ryzen 7000 CPUs is that a PC build will be rather expensive. Due to the new features on the motherboards and the forced DDR5 requirement, consumers will need to spend a fair amount to build a Ryzen 7000 PC.

Strong cooler is needed: The change in boosting behaviour allows the Ryzen 7000 CPUs to reach a high temperature before the clock speed starts to rise. This effectively means that consumers looking to push their system to the max will need a strong cooler to offset the very high thermals.

Summary

Where to Buy

Buy the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X on:

Another point to note is the clock speed that your CPU is capable of reaching. Games are primarily single threaded applications, so you realistically only need one core to run games at an adequate speed. But the amount of frames you can achieve will be down to your clock speed on a single thread. With a higher speed, your CPU can process the incoming data from your GPU much quicker resulting in a higher frame count. This is why 4K games need a CPU that can handle the overhead, or else you’ll suffer from a loss of frames.

To summarise, your CPU can affect how your games perform, but this mainly comes in the form of bottlenecking. If your CPU is on a similar level of performance to your GPU, then you’ll be able reach significant performance metrics with very little issues. But if the opposite of this is achieved, and you have mismatched components, you will see a major decrease in performance. Picking components that pair well together ensures you can reach the best performance that your parts have on offer.

Balancing Costs

One of the major points we’ve discussed in the past concerns how much money you should spend on a PC build. Buying what you need based on your use-case is a vital consideration to make, ensuring that you don’t over, or underspend. But with PC building this can be a difficult task when weighing up your options. Recently we’ve seen a massive slew of launches making now a perfect time to start building, which platform should you settle for? Which brand offers the best performance for your use-case? Who has the best upgrade options?

All of these questions are important to think about when you consider how much is available on the market right now. We would recommend that if you’re building a system entirely for gaming you likely won’t need the latest and greatest options from Intel and AMD. Ryzen 5000 CPUs and Intel 12th-Gen are perfectly suitable when it comes to performance and you won’t be disappointed with framerates in most games. If you’re looking for the best upgrade options, Ryzen 7000 is currently the only option that stands to offer the best choices for upgrade paths, as Intel’s latest platform will become deprecated in the near future.

If you’re looking at performance alone there’s a number of other considerations to be made first before making a decision on a particular CPU to buy. Both Intel and AMD have their own strengths and weaknesses, which doesn’t necessarily make one manufacturer superior compared to another. Regardless, balancing how much you should spend on a PC will ensure you get the best value for money, and only buy components that you need for your system.

AMD vs Intel

The ‘AMD vs Intel’ argument has been a mainstay in the PC gaming space for as long as I can remember. At GeekaWhat we don’t side with any particular manufacturer, as both AMD and Intel have their own benefits and flaws. I believe that the argument primarily boils down to preference, but there are factors and performance metrics which might lead your decision more. We’ve broken down the major benefits and disadvantages to picking either manufacturer with their current SKUs in the market.

Although we wouldn’t necessarily recommend some of the lower-end Ryzen 7000 CPUs, AMD have done an excellent job at making the top-end options a worthwhile pickup if you’re building a high-end PC. But you’ll need to be aware that the overall platform cost is quite high compared to other options available on the market.

The only major downside to Intel currently is that your upgrade paths are rather limited. Intel only tend to keep a platform around for two generations, and unfortunately we’re starting to see the latter half of the generational cycle. This doesn’t mean you won’t be able to use an Intel 13th or 12th-Gen CPU, but you won’t be able to upgrade to a potential 14th-Gen range of CPUs without having to buy a new motherboard and potentially more RAM. Intel is definitely a winner when it comes to performance, but upgrade paths is not their strong suit.

How We Picked the Best CPUs for the RX 7900 XT

To find the best CPUs for the RX 7900 XT, we’ve rounded up a number of options from AMD and Intel‘s newest and older CPU range. We’ve compared all of these processors in a plethora of gaming and workstation benchmarks to see how they fare performance wise. The Radeon RX 7900 XT is a top-end graphics cards from AMD’s latest Radeon 7000 line-up, and for this reason we’ve stuck to mostly high-end options with some cheaper choices for those just looking to play games at high settings.

Conclusion

Frequently Asked Questions