Best CPU for only gaming

[KingEddie]

Hello looking to build a new pc and was looking for some help. Currently looking for a cpu that is going to be use mostly for gaming, no streaming or any other stuff. Was planning to use some of my old stuff on my current pc into the new one Here is the list of what I currently will use. I have a Evga 80 plus 600w, gtx 970 sc (will use this until I see a deal on something else), SSD 250gb, 2 x 1T hard drives. Looking into playing on 1080p, high/ultra settings. I Know my gpu might not be the best for that but like I said I will upgrade when I see a good deal on like a 1070. will probably put 16gb ddr4, just need a good cpu for all this and a fan recommendation(will do air no liquid cooling). Anything else I'm missing please let me know  Thank You!

[Princess Luna]

A Ryzen 5 2600 should do.

[GoldenLag]

Ryzen 5 2600 with an optional Arctic freezer 33 or dark rock 4

[NunoLava1998]

Ryzen 5 2600

[3 Lions]

For what budget? 

[KingEddie]

Sorry I did forget to put a budget, was looking to spend with the DDR4, cpu and cooler around $500-600. Was looking at the i5 but also i7. Just want one that is not an over kill and that will last me few years.

[FloX04]

Probably Intel is the way to go since if you‘re not gonna stream, Intel has a slight advantage over AMD.

 

The absoluetly best is the i9-9900K though to build a balanced system it‘s going to be very very expensive. Otherwise go for an 8700K, a 7700K is OK but then consider the i5-8400 if you want to game now or, as others mentioned before the Ryzen 5 2600.

[LogicWeasel]

3 minutes ago, KingEddie said:

Sorry I did forget to put a budget, was looking to spend with the DDR4, cpu and cooler around $500-600. Was looking at the i5 but also i7. Just want one that is not an over kill and that will last me few years.

For 100% pure gaming and getting a bit more gaming optimization you're liking looking at options like
Budget Intel: i5-8500 CPU, H370 mobo , 16GB DDR4      or

Power Intel: i5-9600k CPU, Z390 mobo, 16GB DDR4-3000Mhz (or better).

[FloX04]

4 minutes ago, KingEddie said:

Sorry I did forget to put a budget, was looking to spend with the DDR4, cpu and cooler around $500-600. Was looking at the i5 but also i7. Just want one that is not an over kill and that will last me few years.

Sorry I had overlooked that. If you want it to last probably the Ryzen 2600 is the way to go. 

 

i5-8400 is similarily priced but probably won‘t hold the performance as long.

[LogicWeasel]

1 minute ago, deltaF said:

Probably Intel is the way to go since if you‘re not gonna stream, Intel has a slight advantage over AMD.

 

The absoluetly best is the i9-9900K though to build a balanced system it‘s going to be very very expensive. Otherwise go for an 8700K, a 7700K is OK but then consider the i5-8400 if you want to game now or, as others mentioned before the Ryzen 5 2600.

-that budget doesn't fit a 9900K so no point it even mentioning it here.
-8700k is more reasonable but the gaming performance is almost the same as i5-9600K (which costs a lot less) and they have the same # of real cores (just HT on the i7)

-7700k is now a ripoff when one can buy an i5-8600k for less and get 6 cores instead of 4 cores, why bother with 7th gen if buying new, not enough of a discount.

[LogicWeasel]

14 minutes ago, KingEddie said:

Sorry I did forget to put a budget, was looking to spend with the DDR4, cpu and cooler around $500-600. Was looking at the i5 but also i7. Just want one that is not an over kill and that will last me few years.

Here's an idea of what a $500 budget buys on the Intel side of things (based on my 9600k template):

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-9600K 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($273.00 @ SuperBiiz) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($26.80 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte - Z390 UD ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($123.98 @ SuperBiiz) 
Memory: Team - Vulcan 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($94.83 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $518.61
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-27 12:46 EST-0500

 

[LIGISTX]

Depending where you live, microcenter currently has some killer deals on 8700k's. I got an 8700k and a Z390 motherboard for 450 bucks total a couple weeks ago! Can't beat that for the price.

 

Slapped my old but tried and true Hyper 212 Evo on there, and I am at 5GHz all core OC, 16 GB of DDR4 3000 for ~110 fucks on amazon, and its a pretty sweet little machine! 

 

In store pickup only  but if you can, thats the best deal your going to find around!

 

https://www.microcenter.com/product/5002281/intel-core-i7-8700k,-msi-z390-a-pro,-cpu---motherboard-bundle

[Princess Luna]

If you want Intel the only senseful chips for pure gaming are either the i7 8700K or the i7 9700K.

[LogicWeasel]

3 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

If you want Intel the only senseful chips for pure gaming are either the i7 8700K or the i7 9700K.

I've looked at anandtech's review of all the 9th Gen Intel CPUs (9600k, 9700k, 9900k) and their testing and facts would highly disagree with your assessment that the 9600k isn't a great bang/buck on "pure gaming".  Compare what they got in testing with 8700k vs 9600k and tell me it's worth paying $80-100 more for virtually the same FPS at 1440p and 4K gaming.

[KingEddie]

OK so I see that the I5 9600k is the better choice. no micro center where I live but I do have a frys about an hour or so away. I have seen some deals on newegg if I bundle stuff up. on both the i5 and i7. 

[Princess Luna]

Just now, LogicWeasel said:

.

This is disregarding minimums and longevity the i7 8700K is a wiser choice than a 9600K, hyper-threading pays off whenever you want to step up from just gaming with nothing open on system, which people tend to get interested eventially.

 

The i7 9700K higher price is not justified that I know, however it is still the highest possible fps you can get with a CPU right now, since hyper-threading can mess on games a little, talking marginal margins though.

 

If you're 'fine with 9600K already paying high for overclocking I'd find wiser grab a high end motherboard on x470 and the 2600 with anticipation to a sooner upgrade on ryzen 2 whenever he steps up from the GTX 1070.

[LogicWeasel]

Just now, Princess Cadence said:

This is disregarding minimums and longevity the i7 8700K is a wiser choice than a 9600K, hyper-threading pays off whenever you want to step up from just gaming with nothing open on system, which people tend to get interested eventially.

 

The i7 9700K higher price is not justified that I know, however it is still the highest possible fps you can get with a CPU right now, since hyper-threading can mess on games a little, talking marginal margins though.

 

If you're 'fine with 9600K already paying high for overclocking I'd find wiser grab a high end motherboard on x470 and the 2600 with anticipation to a sooner upgrade on ryzen 2 whenever he steps up from the GTX 1070.

-minimums were fine on that test, go read the review.  Longevity?  Since when does a conversation about "pure gaming" mean hyperthreading is a must?

-Highest possible FPS right now with a CPU is the 9900k that was already covered in this thread.  Also confirmed by the anandtech review (which it appears you have not read)

-paying high for overclocking?  It's almost the exact same price as the 8600k and even non-overclocking 8600 and 8500.  Not sure where you're going with that.  Also I thought the idea of buying a good CPU was not having to upgrade just 1-3 years down the road (unless use-case drastically changes).