The processor – also known as the CPU (central processing unit) – is the centerpiece of a PC system. It is the brain of your computer and everything that you do goes through the processor. It can dictate what you can and you can’t do with your computer. So, it is very important that you pick the right processor for the system you are building. Picking the inappropriate processor for your system might lead to unsatisfying performance or overspending if you decided to upgrade later.
Here are a some key guidelines on how to pick the right processor for your system.
Define the Purpose and Intended Use of the System
AMD and Intel are the leading processor manufacturers, and they make each processor specifically for its purpose – for gaming, video editing, or for office use. Picking a processor intended for office use and light tasks and then use for gaming might not perform as expected, resulting to poor performance of your system.
Buying a workstation processor for gaming can still deliver the performance, but it will spend you a lot of money compared to the processors intended for gaming. It is very important that the purpose of the system you will build is clearly defined.
Pick the Latest Processors
AMD and Intel consistently improve and optimize their processors to be on top of the competition and attractive to the consumers. Picking their latest processor means you will get the optimized and improved version of their previous processors. It will also have the latest technologies and features which, some are really useful and some not so much.
Core Count and Threads
Processors have cores which act as workers to process the operations. More cores are usually better, but still depends on what you will do with the system you are building. Some software can utilize more than 4 cores, for some, two cores are enough. So even though you picked a 6 or 8-core processor but you are just doing light tasks, or the software you will be using does not make use of all the cores, you will not feel the difference in performance and you will be just wasting money.
Thread is just a subdivision of the core, like having an extra hand from a single arm to do the job. A quad-core with Hyper threading (for Intel) or Simultaneous Multi-Threading (for AMD) technology will have 8 threads, dividing the cores into two.
For office computer, browsing or home theatre PC, a dual core or a cheap quad-core processor is enough to get the job done. For gaming and streaming, a fast quad-core up to 8 cores, and 6 cores or more with hyperthreading for video editing, 3D rendering, and other workstation tasks.
Don’t compare an Intel quad-core to an AMD quad-core because they are totally different in many ways – in architecture, clock speed, features, power consumption and many more. You can compare processors in the same series or generation, compare Intel i5-14400F and i3-14100F for example, they are in the same 14000 series (14th Gen) of Intel Core processors.
Performance cores and Efficiency cores
Introduced in Intel’s 12th Gen core processors, these processors have two types of cores – the Performance cores (P-cores) and the efficiency core (E-cores). Performance cores are physically larger, designed with higher clock speeds and instructions per cycle (IPC) to handle heavy single threaded workloads like games. It can also have hyper-threading depending on the model.
The efficiency cores, meanwhile, are physically smaller, designed with lower clock speeds and optimized to run background tasks efficiently. This helps the P-cores to focus on running the main program without interruption from programs running in the background like anti-virus software. E-cores also helps the P-cores in multi-threaded programs like video and 3D rendering.
Core Clock and Instructions Per Cycle
Core clock or frequency, measured in Hertz (Hz), is the number of cycles the processor can do in a second. In those cycles, it is when the processors execute instructions. So, if the processor is clocked at 4 GHz, it can execute 4 billion instructions in a second.
But higher frequencies don’t necessarily give you better performance. There is another factor – the Instructions Per Cycle or Clock (IPC). IPC tells you how many instructions can a processor execute in each cycle. So the processor clocked at 2 GHz but can execute 3 instructions per cycle will be faster than the 4 GHz processor that can only execute 1 instruction per cycle.
You can check which processor has higher IPC over the other by looking at their single core or single thread performance.
In our example, despite having faster clock frequency at 2.90 GHz, the 10400 still gets lower score than the Intel Core i5-11400 at 2.60 GHz. This means that the i5-11400 executes more instructions per cycle. So do not be deceived easily that higher clock will give you better performance, that’s not always the case.
Integrated graphics
Some processors have graphics card built-in to the chip, some don’t. And some of these integrated graphics processors (IGP) are just as fast or even faster compared to some of the discrete graphics cards.
The AMD Radeon 780M integrated graphics that came with the Ryzen 7 8700G processor outperformed the entry level cards Intel Arc A380 and GeForce GTX 1630. Though it fell short against the Radeon RX 6400, the gap is really not that wide and it is surprising that the integrated graphics nowadays can compete with the entry level cards. This is helpful for gamers under strict budget to opt for processors with integrated graphics and buy a powerful graphics card later on.
Neural Processing Unit
Neural Processing Unit (NPU) is a dedicated hardware or chip for AI computing and machine learning tasks. This will accelerate AI programs ranging from productivity to content creation to security. This also free up the CPU and GPU to handle other tasks.
Cache and 3D V-Cache
Cache in processors are high speed memory storage used for storing instructions and frequently accessed data by the running application. Since these instructions and data are stored within the CPU chip, access time is a lot faster compared when these instructions and data were stored and accessed from the RAM.
Most of the processors today has two levels of cache, the L1 and L2 cache, while some has L3 cache. The L1 and the L2 are usually inside the CPU core while the L3 is outside and usually is shared by the CPU cores.
AMD developed the 3D V-Cache technology that further increases the cache size by stacking additional layers on top of the CPU cores. The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D processor has 128 MB of L3 cache while the Ryzen 9 9950X without V-Cache technology has only 64 MB of L3 cache.
Gaming, simulation, 3D and video editing are the main beneficiaries of the V-Cache technology as these tasks require rapid data processing and executes different instructions at the same time. Intel has yet to implement this kind of technology in their processors.
Coolers
Processors usually come with a cooler, but some don’t, both on AMD and Intel. And if you are overclocking, you might end up buying a better air or liquid cooler and not using the stock cooler because it is not enough for overclocking. Both AMD and Intel have different coolers that came with their processors.
Overclocking
Latest AMD Ryzen processors all have unlocked multiplier meaning you can overclock out of the box. Intel X and K series are the only ones with unlocked multiplier. Click here for Intel processors you can overclock.
Unfortunately, not all motherboards are capable of overclocking your processor. And not all motherboards can give stable performance while overclocking your processor. There are some things to consider if you want to overclock. First, check if the motherboard has the chipset that supports overclocking. For AMD Ryzen, the A620 and B840 doesn’t support overclocking.
For Intel, look for the motherboard that has the Z version of the chipset, Z390 for example.
For stable overclocking, look for the motherboard that has more voltage regulator module (VRM) and has heatsink on it. VRM consists of Metal-Oxide Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistors (MOSFET), chokes (the cube ones) and capacitors (the circular one). It regulates the voltage and power before the processor use it. More VRMs means that the power is more regulated resulting to more stable voltage especially when overclocking.
If you are overclocking, get the motherboard with heatsink on the VRMs to keep the components cool and stable.
Upgrading Your Processor
If you are upgrading your processor, make sure it is compatible with your current motherboard. You can check your motherboard CPU compatibility list on their website. Look for the BIOS version of the motherboard that support the processor, and compare it to your current motherboard’s BIOS version. If it is the same, the processor is supported, if not, you need to upgrade your motherboard’s BIOS.
