Boot Sequence 3: Picking the Right CPU

The CPU, or Central Processing Unit, is responsible for processing nearly all instructions. From moving your mouse to opening an application, coordinating audio channels or viewing graphics, everything relies on the CPU running instructions. Therefore, getting a good CPU is critical to a smooth and user-friendly experience with your new PC. In this article, I will be explaining the important aspects to consider when picking a CPU and giving you an overview of your options.

When picking a CPU, a consumer should consider a few variables. They should look for the core count, clock speed, architecture generation, power consumption, and platform features. A shopper on a tight budget will also look at the price to performance balance. The core count represents the number of cores in your CPU. You can think of a core as an instruction processor. The more cores you have, the more instructions you can process simultaneously. This also relates to the number of threats your cores have. Usually, a core either supports one thread or two threads. Similarly, the more threads your cores have, the more instructions they can process simultaneously. The clock speed represents how fast your cores can process instructions. A higher clock speed means that your CPU can process more information in a given time. The architecture generation will impact compatibility and stability with your system’s other components. I recommend getting the most up to date generation of components for those that want to minimize their worries about their system encountering crashes and want to ensure longer update support. Power consumption is how much wattage your CPU can take when it’s under max load. This is used to calculate which power supply to get and how capable of a CPU cooler you need to keep it from thermal throttling (losing performance due to overheating). It’s also good to look at platform features, such as whether it includes an integrated GPU (a low-power graphics processor for light graphics tasks, such as web browsing or light gaming), which generation of PCIe and RAM it supports, and whether you can overclock it.

Currently, there are two main companies that design CPUs: Intel and AMD. Each company has different naming schemes and focuses when it comes to their CPUs. Let’s focus on their strengths and weaknesses.

Intel (Team Blue) has been around for many years and used to be the undisputed champion when it came to CPUs. They still possess majority global market share and are very relevant in the market still but face stiff competition. Intel’s newest generation of CPUs is code-named Arrow Lake and is referred to as Intel Core Ultra Series 2 in the market. On any given day, you can find names such as “Intel Core Ultra 7 – 265KF” or “Intel Core Ultra 9 – 285K” floating around. Confusing names, aren’t they? Don’t fret, because I’ll explain how you can extract useful information from the name below.

Let’s use the “Intel Core Ultra 9 – 285K” as an example. In this case, Intel Core Ultra is the brand. The 9 stands for the level. Intel’s Arrow Lake series contains the levels 5, 7, and 9, with the higher number being better. The characters that follow, 285K, are called processor numbers. The 2 in 285K stands for Series 2. If it were a Series 1 CPU, it would show 1 instead. The 85 is the SKU, which shows the model number. Usually, the higher this number is, the better the CPU. Lastly, the K is the suffix. For desktop CPUs, Intel has four different suffixes. K stands for unlocked, meaning that it can be overclocked. F stands for no integrated graphics, so you need to get a graphics card. KF stands for being unlocked and lacking integrated graphics. T stands for power-optimized and usually comes with pre-built low-profile work PCs. The suffixes for laptop CPUs are different (with HX, U, etc.), so don’t confuse these.

In addition, Intel’s CPUs are compatible with their own socket type. The new Arrow Lake CPUs use the LGA1851 socket, which is incompatible with previous generations of processors, and requires DDR5 memory (more on this in the RAM article).

Intel designs their processors in such a way that they contain two types of cores. There are P Cores, which are performance cores, and E Cores, which are efficiency cores. Each of their processors contain a combination of P and E cores. This turns Intel processors into the Jacks of All Trades. Having P cores means that programs depending on good single core performance will benefit from higher clock speeds, while having E cores means that multitasking with lots of programs simultaneously will still be a smooth experience.

Aside from the Intel Core Ultra Series 2 processors, you can also find Intel Core i-series processors. These include the i3, i5, i7, and i9 series. The newest generation of Core i-series processors is 14th Gen, codenamed Raptor Lake Refresh (Intel likes lakes). In general, Raptor Lake Refresh offers higher clock speeds, at a cost of more heat and more power consumption. Arrow Lake offers slightly less performance, but with better efficiency, better stability, and with the addition of an NPU for light AI tasks. So, if you want the most out of your system for gaming and multitasking, and you’re planning to go with Intel, choose a Raptor Lake Refresh series CPU. Otherwise, an Arrow Lake series CPU will do everything you need it to.

Alternatively, you can also choose to go with AMD (Team Red). They have recently established themselves as serious competitors to Intel thanks to their focus on gaming and productivity. AMD’s newest generation of CPUs is called “Granite Ridge”, referred to as the Ryzen 9000 Series in the market. You’ll find names such as AMD Ryzen 7 9700X or AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D. Once again, these names by themselves don’t really tell us a lot about the processors themselves. I’ll break down AMD’s naming scheme below.

Let’s use the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D as an example. AMD Ryzen is the branding. The number 9 is the level of the CPU. AMD has the levels 5, 7, and 9 for their consumer-oriented desktop market, similar to Intel. The first 9 in 9950X3D stands for the series, in this case the 9000 series. The next digit, which in this case is also 9 (in the hundreds place) indicates how good the clock speed is. Usually, the higher the number, the higher the clock speed. The next two digits, in this case 50, indicate whether there are additional cores. For example, a 9950X CPU will have more cores than a 9900X CPU. Lastly, the suffix. AMD’s desktop CPUs have the suffixes F, G, GE, X, XT, X3D, and S. F means there is no integrated graphics, G means there is high performance integrated graphics, GE means there is high performance integrated graphics but slightly less than G, X means that it has higher clock speeds and power consumption, XT is lightly faster than X because of better clock speeds, X3D comes with AMD’s 3D V-Cache which is better for gaming, and S is for efficiency and comes with less powerful integrated graphics. Wow, that’s confusing, isn’t it? Luckily, most of the time you’ll never encounter a lot of these suffixes because they are either restricted to certain markets or are specifically sold to companies that sell pre-builds. Consumer-centered CPUs usually have no suffix, X, or X3D.

Like Intel, AMD’s CPUs require their own socket type. However, a benefit of AMD’s sockets is that they don’t change very often and they will use the same socket for over 5 years. This means that you can upgrade your processor without having to get a new motherboard. I’ll talk more in detail about motherboard platforms in the Motherboards article.

AMD has a special place in many gamers’ hearts thanks to their development of 3D V-Cache. For those who don’t know, cache is basically really fast memory that is built into the CPU. Certain tasks use up a lot of memory, and having more of cache would improve performance by simply being faster and reducing latency. One of these tasks is gaming. The introduction of 3D V-Cache allowed gamers to greatly improve their system’s performance. On average, an X3D processor will perform around 10% better than a non-X3D processor of the same caliber in games. So, if you’re a big gamer, maybe try looking into getting one of those.

I know I’ve talked a lot about CPUs in this article and it might seem pretty confusing. Fortunately, Intel and AMD don’t produce a butt load of different varieties of CPUs, so ultimately it’s not very hard to keep track of what each processor contains.

Below I’ll have some charts comparing different processors. It’s important to know that these are not the only options that the two companies offer. These are just some of the ones that I think can be considered relevant in the consumer market. More importantly, there are many variations for some of these that I didn’t think were distinct enough to be featured separately. If you’re looking for a more detailed comparison between processors, I would recommend using a CPU comparison service, such as PassMark’s CPU Comparison or Versus’s CPU Comparison, and watching CPU performance comparison videos on YouTube.