Best Gaming Cpu 2024 Performance Management. For most of 2022, we recommended the core i5 12600k as the best gaming cpu and the core i5 12400 as the best gaming cpu on a budget. For most people, something like the amd ryzen 7 9800x3d is going to be the best processor for gaming, thanks to its balance of price and performance.

All numbers in the text are updated to reflect pricing at the time of writing. On paper, it’s a slightly better 12th gen i7, but.