Processors

Your Gaming PC's Beating Heart: CPU

A CPU (central processing unit) or processor is the core of your system, whether it be gaming PC, workstation, or office PC. The more demanding your tasks, the more work your CPU needs to do, and in order to process all of the complex information required to run your tasks smoothly, the more powerful it needs to be.

Different CPUs for Different Needs

Entry Level CPUs

For anyone doing light office work and general PC usage, like browsing social media and shopping online, only needs an entry level CPU such as the Intel Pentium and Core i3 or the AMD Athlon and Ryzen 3 range. These generally draw less power and generate less heat, making them perfect for smaller and more discrete systems.

For anyone looking to build an entry level gaming PC or is on a strict, an Intel Core i3 or Ryzen 3 processor would be adequate when paired with a suitable graphics card and allows for future upgrades where the motherboard supports the next generation of CPU.

Mid-Level CPUs

A mid-level CPU includes the Intel Core i5 and newer generation i7, or the AMD Ryzen 5 and some Ryzen 7. These feature more cores and can handle more complex and taxing tasks, especially running multiple at once.

These are ideal for a more powerful home office PC, or more usually found in gaming PCs – and when paired with a suitable GPU they’re capable of powering higher resolutions, multiple monitors, and super smooth 144Hz refresh rates.

High End CPUs

The high-end, main-stream CPUs are the Intel Core i9 or AMD Ryzen 9 series – both offer a much larger core count and can be overclocked higher for extra performance. These pair well with the top end graphics cards to deliver super smooth gameplay and can allow you to multitask – which is why they’re a go to choice for content creators, streamers, and professionals.

Tuning your Processor

An "unlocked" processor be tuned, known as overclocking, which means it's core or base frequency is set higher, resulting in faster performance - but also more heat. Most modern processors allow to either run a boost or a manual overclock set in BIOS - AMD have stated that their Ryzen Series CPUs will all be unlocked, meaning even an entry level system can gain some extra performance - and for Intel, their unlocked processors have a single-letter suffix - K.

Whilst overclocking might be daunting, there are plenty of guides and topics on our Overclockers UK Forums. There is also software that allows you to overclock your PC whilst in Windows, and not in BIOS - Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (Intel XTU) for Intel users & AMD Ryzen™ Master Utility for Ryzen users.

Cooling your Processor

Depending on the case you have, you can choose from a range of cooliung solutions; low-profile coolers for small form factor cases, powerful air tower coolers, all-in-one watercoolers, or custom watercooling.

For home and office PCs we would recommend either a stock cooler or aftermarket alternative, and for gamers we would suggest going for a more advanced tower cooler with performance fans, and then when overclocking – we would suggest moving to a performance air cooler, all-in-one watercooling unit or custom watercooling.

It’s good practice to clean your PC regularly, to avoid a build-up of dust, and when you notice your temperatures starting to rise – it may be worth removing your cooler, cleaning both it and your CPU and reapplying some thermal compound.