The 13 Best AMD CPU For Gaming In 2024 - Our Top Choices and Suggestions

We've tested many Amd Cpu for gaming over the years so we're here to help you work out which options are worth your time. These are the 5 best Amd Cpu for gaming that we recommend for you.

• AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X 24-Core - Best for overall

• AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-core - Best budget

• AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16-core - Best upgrade

• AMD Ryzen 7 3800X 8-Core - Best enthusiast CPU

• AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core - Best powerful

1. AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X 24-Core - Best for overall

Product Highlight

If you're looking for the hands-down best CPU for gaming, the mid-range AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X 24-core is your chip, especially after recent price reductions that bring it down to an incredible $160.

With the right tuning, it's even faster at gaming than the previous-gen $549 Core i9-11900K flagship, so it should go without saying that it's also faster than the $230 Ryzen 5 5600X in gaming.

The chip comes with six P-cores that support hyper-threading that operate at a 2.5 GHz base and 4.4 GHz boost speed.

The 3960 supports leading-edge connectivity with DDR4-3200 or up to DDR5-4800 memory, along with 16 lanes of PCIe 5.0 and an additional four lanes of PCIe 4.0 from the chip for M.2 SSDs.

What we like 

  ✅Quad-Channel DDR4 and 88 total PCIe 4. 0 lanes

  ✅An Astonishing 24 Cores and 48 Processing Threads for Serious Designers and Artists

  ✅A huge 140MB Cache

  ✅New automatic overclocking feature

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2. AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-core - Best budget

Product Highlight

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X  takes the top spot as the overall best AMD CPU for gaming with a solid blend of performance in both gaming and application workloads, bringing a new level of value to the Zen 3 lineup.

The Ryzen 9 5900 makes a great value-centric alternative to Alder Lake for new builds and represents an absolutely unbeatable deal if you're updating a first-gen Ryzen system.

However, competing Intel Alder Lake processors are a better deal for most new builds.

The 5600 unseats the Ryzen 5 5600X, a long-time favorite.

The 5600X is only ~1% faster in gaming and multi-threaded PC work than the Ryzen 5 5600 but maintains a 4% advantage in single-threaded work.

That said, the practical differences between the two chips will be almost imperceptible to the overwhelming majority of users, but the Ryzen 5 5600X costs $35 more, which is absolutely not acceptable given the slim differences.

What we like 

  ✅12 cores and 24 processing threads

  ✅Deliver elite 100-plus FPS performance in the world's most popular games

  ✅Max Temperature- 90°C

  ✅Support PCIe 4.0 on X570 and B550 motherboards

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3. AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16-core - Best upgrade

Product Highlight

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X has taken the title of the fastest gaming processor on the planet, wresting it away from AMD's Ryzen 7 5800X3D and the Ryzen 7000 family.

At $498, it even outperforms AMD's Ryzen 5 5900X in our gaming testing and most heavily-threaded content creation tasks, making it an exceptional value for high-end game streaming, too. It's also the uncontested leader in x86 single-threaded performance.

Intel’s generous sprinkling of more cores also gives it the lead in core counts for the first time since AMD’s Ryzen debuted back in 2017.

What we like 

  ✅16 cores and 32 processing threads

  ✅Support PCIe 4.0 on X570 and B550 motherboards

  ✅Competent gaming and application performance

  ✅Solid upgrade path for Ryzen 1000 owners

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4. AMD Ryzen 7 3800X 8-Core - Best enthusiast CPU

Product Highlight

The Ryzen 7 3800X is the reigning overall performance champ for mainstream PCs, delivering unprecedented levels of performance on a mainstream platform.

The 7950X pairs the Zen 4 architecture with the 5 nm TSMC process to deliver a big gain in performance over the prior gen.

This chip brings plenty of performance to bear, beating Intel's vaunted Core i9-12900K in gaming by 5% while also offering 44% more performance in threaded workloads.

The Zen 4 architecture also closes the gap with Alder Lake in single-threaded applications.

What we like 

  ✅Fastest gaming processor you can buy

  ✅Multi-threaded performance

  ✅PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 memory

  ✅Compatible with AM4 motherboards

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5. AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core - Best powerful                                  

Product Highlight

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600X offers basically the same gaming performance as the 7950X that’s now the fastest ‘standard’ AMD gaming chip on the market but at less than half the cost.

That makes it an exceptional gaming chip at the $300 price point.

The Ryzen 5 3600X supports all the standards we expect from a modern processor, including DDR5, PCIe 5.0, and the latest USB connectivity standards.

What we like 

  ✅Exceptional gaming performance

  ✅PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 memory

  ✅Outgames the Ryzen competition

  ✅Competitive pricing

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1.  The Number of Cores

One of the most important things to look for in an AMD CPU for gaming is the number of cores. A core is essentially a mini-processor that helps to handle specific tasks. The more cores a CPU has, the better it will be able to handle multiple tasks simultaneously. For gaming, you will want a CPU with at least four cores.

2.  The Clock Speed

Another important thing to look for in an AMD CPU for gaming is the clock speed. The clock speed is measured in GHz and indicates how fast the processor can complete a task. For gaming, you will want a CPU with a clock speed of at least 3.5 GHz.

3.  The Cache Size

The cache is a small amount of memory that is used to store frequently accessed data. The larger the cache, the more data the CPU can store and the faster it will be able to access that data. For gaming, you will want a CPU with a cache size of at least 8 MB.

4.  The TDP

The TDP, or thermal design power, is the amount of power that the CPU will dissipate as heat. The lower the TDP, the cooler the CPU will run and the less power it will consume. For gaming, you will want a CPU with a TDP of 95 watts or less.

We evaluate CPUs based on the benchmark results that span multiple use categories. Gaming performance is a key focus, and we run both synthetic tests (that is, dedicated benchmarking programs) and in-game benchmarks in a variety of modern titles. Finally, the best CPU we want to recommend is AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X 24-Core.