Choosing a CPU
At Best PC Build, we recommend starting out by choosing a CPU (Central Processing Unit). This will set the tone for your entire build, and the price range. Choose a CPU that has the highest performance that you can afford (while still keeping the rest of your parts in mind). Your CPU is the greatest single speed determining factor for your PC. It is like the brain & heart of the build, processing/pumping information all around the PC. Here is a list of our latest recommended processors listed by single thread performance rating. Single thread performance is the most important factor for gaming and general use.
Best CPUs of 2025
Budget Recommendation: ~$300-$600*
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*Actual Amazon prices may vary - Last Updated: 2025-05-16 19:00:06
The two top tier manufacturers (the Coca-Cola & Pepsi if you will) of CPU manufacturing are Intel (Integrated Electronics) and AMD (Advanced Micro Devices).
These two companies are head to head, each often surpassing one another for a time in performance & (and price). This competition is great, resulting in faster PC builds all the time. Every time you build a new PC, it will almost always be the fastest one you have ever built!
To find out what the latest processors are, we check out what Intel and AMD are up to compare their benchmarks, and keep this list here at bestpcbuild.com.
At Best PC Build, we recommend finding out what the best possible PC parts and build are, and then taking them down one or two notches for two reasons:
- The absolute top tier cutting edge parts will almost always be heavily overpriced.
- These parts will also sometimes still not be properly functional or fully useable, especially with other parts (something commonly referred to as bleeding edge), similar to beta software.
Keeping that in mind, the list above is Best PC Build's list of best CPU's on the market today from both Intel and AMD.
Note about Intel & AMD CPU Naming Suffix Letters:
You may have noticed that the Intel & AMD CPUs have letters at the end of their model name/numbers such as K,X,XE,S,F,U,H etc. These each have different meanings which represent features of the CPU, and they are pretty important. You may also notice that often times there are multiple letters. This can represent both features being present (such as KS) or a singe feature (XE) depending on which letters they are. Currently the main letters to be aware of are the following:
K, X, XE: High Performance/Unlocked for Overclocking
3D (AMD Only): Increased Cache
F: Discrete Graphics (No Graphics Included)
S: Special Edition (Improved Performance/Tweaked for best performance by Intel)
KS: High Performance Special Edition (best available)
For a comprehensive guide for Intel, check out Intel's Guide to Latest Processor and Naming Updates on their website:
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