Confused Perturbed & Uncertain (CPU)... how to pick a CPU in 2024

Help. It is beyond confusing what is what in the CPU world these days for the average Joe... for starters, AMD CPUs could not have a more confusing naming convention. Ryzen 5, 7, 9 does not correlate with 5000, 7000, 9000 series. To compound issues, it is hard as heck to figure out what time period everything has been released... are Intel CPUs still a train wreck? I've been contemplating spec'ing out an average build ($1,500 budget).

Let me know what you all have had success with. Thanks!

everyone has their own favorites for PC build sites, but if you're just trying to get a lay of the land-

https://www.logicalincrements.com/

^while i don't use that site for build lists, it does give you a sense of the hardware hierarchy.

also didn't Will and Brad just do a episode on CPU's?

https://techpod.content.town/

The intel CPU issue has passed so far as that defect that was frying them. A firmware update patched that up, so they are safe to buy again so long as you remember to apply that patch as soon as you can.

Really, it’s just a preference on brand. Pick the current years model by looking up release dates, then chose from the pro or consumer grade levels, then adjust for your budget.

I use PC Gamers hardware guides, which will give you a list of recommended options with each brand based on your need. They will all be more recent releases, because putting a chip that is already a few years old isn’t the best idea.

Also, remember that a CPU is something that you won’t see major gaming differences with between the pro grade and the consumer grade. It’s more about providing wide enough a road for your GPU to push pixels down. For example, you are not that likely to see the difference between an i7 and an i9 in the intel 1400 series, because both are plenty good a match with an Nvidia 4080. If you are a real tweaker that wants to overclock and set up custom liquid coolng loops and shit, then maybe you do want top of the line, but if you just want it to play modern games, a step or two below the top of the line is plenty.

This needs to be emphasized. Current CPUs are all very fast for most games unless you are trying to run the latest games at 4K above 60FPS (which, with a $1500 budget, I doubt you are). The top of the line CPUs aren't worth it if you are just playing games for a bunch of reasons. Not only are they expensive, but they also burn tons more power and as a result require much more expensive CPU coolers to stop them from running super hot all the time. So not only is your energy bill gonna go up, but your initial spend on your PC is too for what ultimately is very little additional performance. An Intel 14600k or AMD 9700x will do you just as well as the top of the line CPU models for games. If you only want to play at 1080p, even lower end models are fine (Intel 14400 and AMD 9600x). I built my PC in 2022 and used a 12400 with a RTX 3070 for 1080p and I'm still not even close to running into issues running games.

Also yeah, the Tech Pod just did an episode on this topic. Will in particular is now working at PCWorld part time and does tons of CPU testing so he's quite knowledgeable on the topic so that episode is quite thorough. That episode is well worth a listen. PCWorld is a good place to check out for this kind of info too. They do lots of videos and articles on this topic.

But yes, you aren't alone on this. Modern CPUs are stupidly difficult to make sense of. They've all completely dropped the ball on making their processors easy for users to understand. It extra doesn't help that Intel just redid their entire hierarchy and the new one is gibberish and is filled with marketing BS that doesn't actually mean anything to most consumers.

edit: oh and if you are looking at info about the current AMD CPUs, ignore all of the early coverage of them from the summer. The performance they were seeing back then was the result of a Windows issue that has since been fixed. Windows was not handling those CPUs properly.

For what it’s worth, I currently have a i7 14700k, and I’ve paired it with a 4090 and computer is a beast. But I’m an edge case. For a budget of $1500, I wouldn’t spend much more than $300 on the CPU. The i5 14600k, a very good option, is about $235 or so on amazon right now, and that’s probably the CPU recommendation I would make if you have any GPU other than a 4090.

Combine that with about $600-$800 on the GPU, which I would recommend a 4060 or 4080 (do not be like me with the 4090, I regret dumping that much money), you should have about $500 to $600 left I. Your budget for the other stuff like ram, motherboard, case, and storage. All doable for a hot shit gaming pc.

What are your goals? Resolution, Refresh rate etc? Are you a hardcore competitive gamer who needs a consistent 200fps or a casual player who just needs 60? Do you need to max out every settings? Or are you using it for production work mainly and game on the side? Those are the real questions you should ask before creating your build.

@oursin_360: Great point. Ultimately, I want above average performance at 4K resolution for games that I cannot easily play on consoles, including Frostpunk 2, Company of Heroes, Civilization, Cities Skylines, Manor Lords, etc. My last build was 2016 and its showing its age.