How many CPU cores do you need for gaming? 4 cores, 6 cores, 8 cores, or more?

CPU core count has been a hotly debated topic ever since the first multi-core chip from Intel launched back in the late 2000s. Recently, both AMD and Team Blue have released server-grade processors with over 100 cores for specialized workloads. However, mainstream gaming and personal computing machines rarely pack anything more than eight cores.

With the Ryzen and Alder Lake architecture, the core count has increased manifold lately. Both industry leaders offer SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) with varying numbers of cores. Choosing the best option among them can be quite difficult.

This guide will offer pointers regarding what you should consider getting for gaming, including the selection criteria. It'll also discuss why six cores are generally enough. The processor is quite simple to wrap your head around, and anyone with some basic knowledge regarding it can figure out the best chip for their rig.

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CPU core count isn't indicative of gaming performance anymore

Let's first break down the available CPU SKUs in the market and try to figure out how many cores each offering packs. This article will only consider the mainstream chips for gaming: Intel Core and AMD Ryzen. Athlon, Pentium, and Celeron aren't the best options for AAA gaming; thus, they won't be mentioned.

At the bottom of the pyramid are AMD's Ryzen 3 and Intel's Core i3 processors. Both companies have religiously adhered to restricting these chips to 4 CPU cores. A step above them are the Ryzen 5 and the Core i5 processors. While this mid-range lineup is mainly reserved for six-core offerings — which is something AMD still sticks — Intel has shipped Core i5 chips with 10 cores or more starting in late 2021.

Efficient, or E, cores contribute to the overall performance of a CPU. However, this article will only consider the P (performance) count in recent Intel chips to simplify the process of choosing the ideal number of cores for gaming. Each i5 processor packs no more than six high-performance cores that offer a boost of over 5 GHz (except the i5-12400).

In the upper mid-range, the Ryzen 7 and Core i7 chips offer eight high-performance cores. Team Blue chips pack up to 10 E CPU cores with their latest Core i7-13700K SKU. These low-power components help improve power efficiency and performance by a significant margin.

The Core i9 and Ryzen 9 offerings are generally the fastest on the market. On the lower end of this range, Intel and AMD products pack 12 cores, while some of their costliest SKUs can go up to 24 cores.

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How many cores do you need to play games?

In contrast to the common consensus, gaming performance isn't dependent on your CPU core count — it varies based on the single-core performance. Most modern titles aren't designed to utilize the increased power of a multi-core workload. Thus, more of these components don't necessarily mean faster gaming performance.

However, gaming performance does increase as one goes from the Core i3 12100 to the Core i9 12900K. This is mainly because Intel packs faster singular cores with their flagship processor. In addition, higher-end chips are designed to draw more power and offer boosts for longer. This ensures they offer high performance consistently throughout a gaming session.

We believe that you don't need more than six CPU cores for gaming. The Ryzen 5 7600X and the Core i5 13600K further prove this point — they offer solid single-core and multi-core performance that rivals the eight-core counterparts from the last generation.

Those with extra cash, however, can opt for an eight-core chip. Performance gains won't be as noticeable with this slight bump.

That said, while choosing between a higher core count processor from the last-gen and a newly launched chip with fewer CPU cores, opt for the latter. For example, the Ryzen 5 7600X is faster than the Ryzen 7 5800X and the 5700X in video games. The difference isn't as high between Alder Lake and Raptor Lake chips but is quite noticeable between Rocket Lake and the 12th gen CPUs.

Gamers don't need anything above eight cores unless they want to dump thousands of dollars on a gaming setup.

Thus, when buying a new processor for gaming, remember that six of those components will be enough, and eight will offer a slight increase in performance. We hope this guide was insightful and could help gamers make an informed decision.