Why these two CPUs are the only ones that matter in 2023 | Digital Trends

If you’re shopping for a CPU, you might feel tempted by the newer versions, namely AMD’s Ryzen 7000 and Intel’s Raptor Lake. But it’s often better to go against the grain and choose one of the best processors in terms of value for money instead of overpaying for something you don’t need.

Both Intel and AMD have released many notable CPUs over the past few years and months, but two models stand out from the crowd and you might be surprised to hear that neither belongs to the latest generation, although one of them is a recent take.

Value above all else

Unlike the GPU market, which is often quite turbulent and sees its fair share of outrageous pricing, the processor arena seems almost calm by comparison.

Where are we now? Well, Intel has been steadily carving its way through its Raptor Lake product stack and is reportedly gearing up for a desktop refresh as it works on Meteor Lake for laptops. AMD, on the other hand, may still be filling in some gaps in its Zen 4 lineup, but instead it’s come back to Zen 3 in a peculiar way.

While the two rival manufacturers tend to push the latest products and promote them heavily, the last-gen stuff is still readily available and used more often than you think. And unless you’re desperate for the best performance a processor can provide, you probably won’t even see much difference between these two CPUs and their last-generation counterparts.

It’s easy to be swayed by benchmarks, but real-world performance is harder to measure – can we really tell the difference between 145 frames per second (fps) and 135 fps? For example, I can’t. If you’re anything like me, betting value over the raw numbers might be the best option for you.

Let’s lift the veil of suspense and introduce you to these two underrated chips that you should consider for your next PC build.

Flying under the radar

Start the drum roll: I’m talking about the Intel Core i5-12400F and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D. The first was released in 2022 and the second is just over a week old. Both chips have their strengths and weaknesses, but the one thing they have in common is that they are incredibly good values ​​for gamers, but not only players.

With price tags hovering around $200 (although the 12400F is well below it), they can’t compete with the Core i9-13900K or Ryzen 9 7950X. but that’s okay, they don’t need to be.

Intel Core i5-12400F processor

If you’re looking for an all-around CPU that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, the Core i5-12400F just makes a lot of sense. It’s a six-core CPU, and while it belongs to the generation of Intel chips that ushered in hybrid architectures, it actually only sports high-performance cores. However, you still get six, and the clock speeds are pretty good, although the base frequency is lower than that of the 5600X3D.

In gaming tests, the Core i5-12400F performs its best and even better. Sure, according to various benchmarks, it’s about 20% to 25% slower than the Core i5-13600K in gaming scenarios and more than 25% slower in multi-threaded benchmarks, but the Core i5-13600K costs over twice as much as the 12400F (

). Say what you will, but that’s a pretty good sign of value for the Alder Lake chip.

In fact, this CPU only costs

and you have a lot of solid motherboards for the LGA1700 socket that support DDR4 memory and are cheap. It’s a budget choice, sure, but it still gives you impressive levels of performance for a CPU in this price range.

There is one drawback: This is an F-model, which means you’ll still need to buy one of the best graphics cards to go with it. You could always get the Core i5-12400 with integrated graphics, but at that point high-end gaming becomes a pipe dream. However, you still get an affordable productivity demon that draws just 65 watts of power, which means it’ll keep things cool and stable.

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D

A Star Wars fan might say the Ryzen 5 5600X3D was a surprise, sure, but a welcome one. Right; no one expected AMD to suddenly drop a Zen 3 chip in mid-2023. However, now that it’s here, we might as well enjoy it while it lasts — and that may not be for long, because it’s a limited edition CPU released as a Micro Centro exclusive. If you don’t live near a Micro Center, bad luck: go back to the Core i5-12400F or explore the pricier Ryzen 7 5800X3D, which is also one of the fastest processors for gaming.

Now that it’s here, the 5600X3D unlocks AMD’s impressive 3D V-Cache technology at an affordable $230. Meanwhile, the previous cheapest option (the 5800X3D) costs around

in these days. It’s very different from the newly released 5600X3D, but in terms of performance, the two chips are almost uncomfortably close.

In gaming scenarios, the Ryzen 5 5600X3D falls just short of the Core i9-13900K in some tests and that’s a $570 processor. Overall, it’s about 10% slower than the 5800X3D, but it’s $70 cheaper, lo I take. Reviewers also found that it effectively dethroned the previous budget kingpin, Intel’s Core i5-13400.

It’s a powerful budget gaming machine on its own, and since it’s still an AM4 CPU, the whole platform is affordable. On the other hand, upgradability is almost non-existent, unless you choose to upgrade to a 5800X3D someday.

Compared to the 12400F, the Ryzen 5 5600X3D wins in games, but Intel leads in productivity – no surprise, as AMD’s 3D V-Cache chips were built for gamers. Various gaming benchmarks put the Ryzen 5 5600X3D as about 17% to 25% faster than the Core i5-12400F, but you’re looking at an $80 difference between the two chips. Also, the Core i5-12400F is available everywhere, while the 5600X3D will require some hunting for some folks.

We redefine “better”

As a PC builder, I know I’m guilty of having that (painfully expensive) mentality of “if it’s not top of the charts, it’s not great”. We’re used to looking at PC hardware through the lens of benchmarks, and if a chip is outperformed by a certain amount, we write it off as junk and move on to something better and more expensive. We’re always on the lookout for the so-called best of the best, but sometimes it’s right under our noses.

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D and Intel Core i5-12400F aren’t the best CPUs you can buy in terms of raw performance, although the 5600X3D comes very close in gaming, but it falls behind chips like the Ryzen 7 7800X3D.

Aside from these $400 to $500 competitors, both chips are surrounded by solid options like the Ryzen 5 7600X or Core i5-13400F. However, really not Need buy these slightly better chips just to get a slight bump. In the case of the 5600X3D in particular, one needs to be careful, as this CPU can easily outperform last-generation offerings, despite its limited core count and dated architecture.

If you’re looking to make sensible choices when building or upgrading your PC, these are the two chips you need to consider. For at least 80% of all manufacturers, there’s really no need to go any further – save your money and spend it on a better graphics card or even a high quality power supply.

Editor’s Recommendations