(Late-model mainstream AMD CPUs, on the company's AM4 socket, have broken that cycle for the moment.) What that means: Unless you're upgrading from a low-end chip early in a platform's lifecycle to a high-end CPU at the very end, you're not likely to gain too much from an in-place CPU upgrade on a dead-end platform. In recent years, chip sockets or chipsets are only compatible for a generation or two of CPU, and once that year or two passes, the next platform is no longer compatible with the ones that came before. In most cases with Intel boards, upgrading to another chip that works in the same socket as your current one will have limited upside. Often, "In-Place" Upgrades Are a Waste of Time That's because a motherboard upgrade requires at least partial system disassembly, and sometimes replacing further parts to make the upgrade work. If you're willing to swap out the motherboard to step up to a newer or more powerful class of processor, that project becomes, in effect, building your own PC. If you're upgrading an existing desktop PC, your CPU upgrade options, by definition, will be limited: by the architecture, socket, and compatibility of the motherboard installed in the PC. 1: Upgrade or New Build?Īnswering this question will set you on a narrow path or a broad one. So, the first big one: Are you upgrading a PC, or building a new one from scratch? Consideration No. The best way to look at a CPU buy is to take the considerations in a logical order, which will narrow the field as you make your choices. See our laptop processor explainer for the rather different nuances of selecting a CPU in a notebook PC.) (Note: This guide is decidedly about CPUs for desktop PCs. Other concerns-cost, energy consumption, the kinds of roads (read: tasks) you drive every day-matter just as much as out-and-out muscle. (Spoiler: For consumers, Intel Core i9-10980XE Extreme Edition or AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X, priced at one or four grand respectively.) (Photo: Zlata Ivleva)īut just because these, the processing equivalents of maximum-horsepower V-12 or V-16 engines, exist doesn't make them the right picks for every shopper, or even most shoppers.
It's possible to objectively measure CPU performance across a range of applications and usage cases, and if you're not bound by mere mortal concerns such as budget, it's easy enough to get a pretty good idea of what "best" means. Best Malware Removal and Protection SoftwareĪll these questions are crucial in landing the right chip, and what that means: No single CPU is the absolute best across the board for all users, assuming money matters.
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