

And the Core i9 chipsets are, you guessed it, more powerful than the i7s. The Core i7 is more powerful than the Core i5 series.

And they use less power than a Core i7 or i9, which is nice. They have enough power for high-end gaming, intensive image editing work and video editing.

You can ’ t really go wrong with an i5, particularly with the 11th generation chipsets. I’m talking about titles like Kingdom Come: Deliverance and The Witcher 3, not genuine oldies like Skyrim.Ĭhoosing between an Intel Core i3, i5, i7 and i9Īn Intel Core i5 is a sensible place to start whether you plan to buy a laptop or desktop. These chipsets are better than the integrated GPUs of their respective desktop cousins, and let you play games once thought of as ultra-demanding on a thin and light laptop. However, the i5-1135G7, i7-1165g7, i5-1185g7 and i7-1185g7 mobile processors are the 11th Gen laptop highlights as they have Intel Xe graphics. Not all laptops come in all varieties of processor. I ’ ve picked the laptop Core i5 as the laptop CPU of choice, but your options are likely to determined in part by the model you choose. Hardcore PC gamers would disagree, not least because the Intel Core i4-11400F is not an unlocked processor, meaning it cannot be overclocked properly. That ’ s right, a £ 150 CPU can be paired with a GPU that costs £ 649-£2000, depending on timing and luck when you try to buy a graphics card. We haven’t reviewed this processor, but the specs suggest that i t probably offers the biggest proportional generation jump in performance of the 11th Gen desktop series, and is not a bad pairing even for very high-end cards like the Nvidia RTX 3080 with most games. But this saves you a little cash over the standard i5-11400. It doesn ’ t have its own GPU, so needs to be paired with a graphics card. A snapshot of recommendations Best Intel processor for budget gaming desktops: Intel Core i5-11400FĬonsider the Intel Core i5-11400F if you want a processor for a gaming PC and have a tight budget. Let ’ s start with a few recommendations for different scenarios. The higher-end chipsets disappoint, struggling to compete with AMD Ryzen rivals, and even Intel ’ s last generation 10th Gen CPUs.īut what are the best Intel processor options you should buy. 11th Gen laptop CPUs (aka Tiger Lake) have been around for some time now, and are great for someone who wants a slim and light laptop that can do some light gaming.ġ1th Gen desktop processors (aka Rocket Lake) are much newer, and a mixed bag. The first thing you need to know is that Intel is now in its 11th Generation for both laptops and desktop chips. If you’ve already sided with Team Blue in the Intel vs AMD debate, then we’ve provided a rundown of all the best Intel processor options here, as well as multiple explanations if you’re not well rehearsed in CPU lingo.
