Finding a great CPU for your next PC upgrade could become a little daunting when you see the number of processors available on the market right now. In the world of CPUs, there are two roads, and the one that has been less traveled is the AMD one. The truth is, buying a new processor for your desktop is like finding a perfect match on Tinder. There is always the thought of why not Intel? How many cores do you need? Are you going to overclock the CPU? Will you be playing games on this desktop? Are you building a new PC or just upgrading a CPU? There are so many questions that come to mind when deciding on the CPU. Well, all these things are important for you to find the answer to, as the answer will get you closer to the right chipset that you need.
Today we are going to dig deep into all these questions and find the perfect CPU for your requirements from team red, which is AMD. We are going to discuss what special features these AMD processors have and how you are going to benefit from them once they are installed in your system.
History of AMD Processors
Before we proceed, let’s see how AMD was able to find a breakthrough in the market, which was being ruled by Intel from the start. The company was founded in 1969 by Jerry Sanders and Edwin Turney. At the beginning, they were creating processors, microprocessors, and motherboard chipsets. Those processors were quite basic and contained just the Arithmetic Logic Unit and the control unit. The first-ever processor released from team red was in 1970.
Then came the 90s, an important decade for AMD as they released the Am386 chip, which brought the monopoly of Intel to a standstill in the CPU market. Then Compaq made a long term deal with AMD to provide them AMD 486 chips for the computers. After that, AMD made a processor so cost-effective that it could be bought by common home users and had a price tag of $1000. In addition to this, they were the first to break the 1GHz barrier of CPU clock speed in 2000. They kept on adding more features to CPUs, but no major breakthrough came before 2006.
In 2006, AMD bought ATI Technologies, which led AMD to produce graphic chips as well as create their first-ever graphics card, the ATI Radeon HD 2000 graphics. Right now, the processors and the graphics cards manufactured by AMD are being used in gaming consoles like the PS5, XBOX series X, and even smartphones.
At present, AMD is changing the landscape of the CPU market with their Ryzen series, which has made them the number one choice for gamers and heavy users. The Thread Ripper lineup was the one that started AMD’s push to push Intel to the side and made users who were running servers quite happy with its multi-core performance.
Benefits of AMD Processors
1. AMD is Pocket Friendly
One of the first things you notice when you check out the AMD processors is the massive drop in price compared to Intel. A person who doesn’t want to spend too much of their budget on purchasing a CPU should definitely check out the mid-tier range of AMD processors. The price of AMD processors is low because they want people to buy their products; they are still far from reaching equal sales numbers as Intel and still aren’t considered by ordinary people who have no knowledge of computers.
2. Better Graphics
The Vega graphics, which come with AMD processors, can handle indie games with ease, and some AAA titles can be played with low to medium settings. As a result, if you are not able to get your hands on a nice graphics card, the integrated Vega graphics from AMD will give you enough graphical power to play games on your system.
3. Detection Of Malware
With its Enhanced Virus Protection (EVP), the CPU is able to detect the malware present in the application and warn the user about the same. In addition to this, if some program has a virus, the system will give users a heads-up about it and give them suggestions as to what needs to be done.
4. Compatibility
Most of the motherboards which are built for AMD processors can be used to fit in a processor from another family or generation. There is a very slight change, so in most cases, you can hot-swap the older CPU with the new one and get the system running without any issues.
5. Overclocking
Every single CPU from the Ryzen series can be overclocked. But here’s a thing: it’s not recommended to overclock them. Even the Ryzen 3 series CPUs come with the AMD core booster technology inbuilt, which increases the frequency at which the cores are running, resulting in overclocking. The higher-end models are more suited to overclocking. But all in all, every processor from AMD can be overclocked up to a certain point without causing any trouble for the user.
6. Better Gaming Performance
AMD has always tried to make its processors useful for the gaming industry. Due to their superior multitasking capabilities, AMD processors are the favourites to handle AAA gaming titles and their streaming across multiple platforms. AMD uses a special feature that allows it to know when a user is working on a 3D program and needs more juice from the processor. In contrast, it provides enough performance for other applications so they can keep on working side by side.
7. Bridge Components from AMD
AMD has excellent compatibility with other components, and it doesn’t matter if you have an NVIDIA graphics card in the system or an AMD one. The CPU will run in harmony with no issues to be found. But that’s not the case with Intel, and if you use Intel’s CPU with an AMD graphics card, then you will run into problems whose answers you won’t even know. AMD CPUs can handle the mix and match by the user, while Intel just can’t.
What are AMD APU Processors?
AMD is the company that created the APU. The full form of APU is Accelerated Processing Unit. These processors first came out in 2011 and were the first CPUs to come with integrated graphics that could handle gaming. The first generation of AMD APUs was Llano, followed by Picasso and Raven Ridge. The latest ones are Renoir and Dali, which were released in 2020.
As a result, motherboards with AMD APUs include integrated graphics that can be used for light gaming and 3D rendering work. With APUs, AMD was able to eliminate the issue of low graphic card availability in the market. Even gaming consoles used to have AMD APUs, which were specifically made for them. The world’s best gaming console of all time, PS4, had an APU inside it, and the 8th generation of Microsoft’s Xbox One had an APU present inside its chassis.
The reason why Intel has no match for AMD’s APU is that it doesn’t support the Heterogeneous System Architecture. A mid-tier and a high-end graphics card will cost you more than $1000 these days due to the high demand and low supply of this hardware. With the use of an APU, you can still play your favorite video games, but at lower settings. In this way, you can enjoy playing games while still saving your money to buy the best graphics card at a reasonable price. Without APUs, the PC building industry would have gone out of the hands of budget builders.
The price difference between owning a new graphics card or even a second-hand graphics card is much higher than buying a CPU with a dedicated graphical unit such as AMD’s APU lineup of processors.
Top 5 Best AMD Processors for 2022
Given below are the top 10 best AMD processors which you can buy in the market to make your system future-proof and capable of handling any workload you throw at it.
1. AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
Now we are starting with the biggest and baddest CPU created by AMD. This CPU has come a long way from its previous generation, making it a great choice for those looking for terrific performance in their upgrade. If you have a previous-gen motherboard that worked with the AMD Ryzen series, then you don’t need a new one to get this CPU installed; this is a plus point in itself.
Also, with the Ryzen 9 series of the latest generation, AMD has finally taken the crown from Intel to have the best CPU in the market. It has PCIe 4.0 support, which isn’t present in current-gen Intel processors. Right now, team red has reached a point in terms of performance per dollar that no other company can come even close to. As a result, we are seeing price hikes that are actually worth it. Even the single-core performance of the Ryzen 9 5900X is difficult to match with the top-of-the-line Intel Core i9 CPU, which was the case earlier on. On the other hand, gaming is one field where the AMD Ryzen series has especially gained an advantage from their Zen 2 series to the current Zen 3 CPUs due to a decrease in the latency of communication between the cores.
Besides this, each of the two core complexes now has access to a 32MB L3 cache, which used to be limited to 16MB in the Zen 2. In gaming, having more CPU cache memory is always important, and with AMD Ryzen 9 5900 X, you are getting more than enough that can boost your frame rate for demanding games.
2. AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
If you are in the market with a budget constraint, then AMD is here to help you game freely and without any worries with its Ryzen 5 5600X. This six-core and 12-thread CPU unit costs around $299 and can be found at a heavy discount if you are lucky or shopping in the festive season. A little bit of a price hike from the previous generation is tolerable enough because of how much gaming and productive performance it brings to the table. In addition to this, this is the most power-efficient CPU on the market right now.
The base clock speed of this CPU is 3.7GHz, and it can go all the way up to 4.6 GHz only if you are using the right kind of cooling and motherboard. Moreover, with 65W TDP, the unit runs extremely cool under load and doesn’t compromise its capabilities like with any other AMD 5000 series CPU that can be inserted into a 4000 series motherboard. The same goes for the Ryzen 5 5000 series. As a result, when you upgrade the CPU from 4000 to 5000, you don’t need to change the motherboard, as it fits right in and makes it less hassle for users to change their motherboard.
3. AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
This eight-core and 16 thread CPU is the one that brought AMD a 7-nanometer chipset in Zen 3. The primary goal of this AMD CPU is to bridge the gap between the high-end and mid-tier CPUs in their lineup. In the previous generation, the AMD 7 series was limited to the OEM market until they had a full retail launch on August 5, 2021. This eight-core processor with an integrated graphics processor competes with the Intel Core i7 11th generation. Likewise, it has followed the trend of beating the blue team processor both in terms of single-core and multi-core workload in its price range. But in some tasks, the Intel Core i7 is able to beat the Ryzen 7 in single-core tasks. But you don’t have to worry about it.
Speaking of the integrated GPU in the Ryzen 7 series, the graphical power that you get from this APU can easily handle games at 1080p, but the titles have to be 2 to 3 years old. Moreover, the games will run, but you have to lower the settings in order to make them run at a respectable framerate. The low framerate is due to the reduced boost clock and low availability of the cache.
Keep in mind that we are testing this APU with no dedicated graphics card. If you add in a dedicated graphics card, all these problems will go away, and the workload of managing the frame rate will go to the graphics card instead of the APU. In the end, if you are looking for a gaming CPU and a light video editing machine, this AMD Ryzen 7 unit is the best pick for you without a doubt.
4. AMD Ryzen 3 3300X
It’s really hard to find an AMD Ryzen 3 3300X, and that’s because of how great of a deal it is. But if the Gods of luck are with you and you were able to grab one at a $120 MSRP, it’s a dream come true for every budget gamer. This budget CPU will give your system a whole new level of performance with just four cores and a tight budget. This CPU can easily push low-to mid-range graphics performance and will not cause any bottlenecks whatsoever. It supports the PCIe 4.0 interface and a clock speed of 3.8 GHz, which can be boosted up to 4.3 GHz under load. Right? What else do you need from a $100 CPU?
With this, AMD has also included the Wraith Spire Cooler, which is a great cooler to keep the temperature of a CPU under control when the workload is greater. Furthermore, this Ryzen 3 series processor can even handle overlocking and can be pushed to the highest core frequency with the right components. As a result, it’s an excellent choice for the enthusiast looking for a little extra power from their machine.
One thing to keep in mind is that, unlike other 3000 series processors from AMD, the Ryzen 3 needs a discrete GPU. Due to its low price, it leaves a lot of room for you to make a purchase of a mid-tier graphic card with ease. AMD has its own motherboard, which runs great with this processor.
5. AMD Athlon 3000G
This one is also a budget-friendly CPU that comes with Vega graphics and can handle games at 1080p or lower at a respectable frame rate if the user can compromise on the graphical properties of a game. It is a dual-core processor with a clock speed of 3.5 GHz. In addition to this, it is the first of its type (Athlon CPU) that can be overclocked by a user. Although with the overclocking, you can’t really push it too far, it is still there for you to tinker with.
Apart from this, the processor comes with Vega 3 graphics, which, as we said, is powerful enough for your light gaming sessions. All in all, this CPU is a great product for household systems that can perform almost every other light task and give kids a gaming machine that can perform okayish in AAA titles. 1080p gaming isn’t really possible with AAA titles with these types of Vega graphics.
The cooler that comes in the box is good enough to be used in your machine, and the TDP of this CPU is 35 watts. Which is even less than some of the laptops that the 3200G sells for twice the original price. But the Athlon costs only $50 more than the AMD Ryzen 3, and you can easily find it in stock from a third-party seller.
Note:– We didn’t include the AMD Threadripper in the list because it is an enthusiast CPU and the one that is suitable for servers. Although it does provide a massive performance boost to users, it still costs a lot and, if we are being honest, isn’t worth the purchase if you are only into gaming and streaming video games. All the heavy tasks, such as 3D rendering and analyzing large amounts of data, can be handled by the AMD Ryzen 9 series CPU. For this to work, you don’t need a thread ripper with 32 cores and 64 threads. It’s just overkill.
Conclusion
Discussed above are some of the best AMD processors that you can find right now on the market to make your system future-proof and play games without having to worry about losing the frame rate. Our best pick is the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X, as it is suitable for everyone and doesn’t cost you much in the first place.
Before we sign off, we would like to remind our readers that every single AMD CPU requires a dedicated GPU, so if you are not looking to invest in a graphics card, then it is better to go with the AMD APU lineup that has Vega graphics built-in to provide you with enough graphical performance to run games at low to mid settings.
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