With our guide to today’s best processor deals, you’ll be looking to save some serious cash on the most integrated part in any PC. Whether you’re on a tight budget, a gamer, or building a machine for working from home, we’ve rounded up all the latest offerings from Intel and AMD and searched tirelessly to find the best prices on the best processors.
What is your price range?
1. high end
Above $330 / £300 / AU$400
2. mid range
About $200 / £200 / AU$300
3. income
Under $200 / £200 / AU$300
We’ve broken down this week’s best CPU deals into sections for high-end, mid-range, and budget shoppers, which you can navigate to using the provided navigation links.
In short, if money is no object and you want the best, you will surely see the benefits of using a high-end chip, as these abominable processors will give you excellent performance for years to come. Still, this week’s mid-range processor deals will be more than enough for someone who wants advanced gaming performance and to build a machine that will last a good few years. Finally, our CPU deals take into account those who simply want a functional and reliable machine, although you might be surprised at just how much performance you can get from these options—inexpensive processors have come a long way in recent years.
You’ll find discounts from Amazon, Best Buy, and other popular retailers in our processor deals roundup. All of our CPU prices on this page are updated daily, so feel free to bookmark and come back.
The best high-end processor deals
High-end processors are aimed squarely at the enthusiast and professional market, and as you’d expect, they can carry some pretty hefty price tags. If cost isn’t a factor, these 8-core and sometimes 16-core beasts will give you the best possible performance — so much so, in fact, that they might be overkill for some users.
AMD’s Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 9 chips are the company’s flagship chips at the moment, with the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X being the current performance king from the red team. Retailing north of $700 / £700 means this chip is a serious investment, although the good news is that the less ridiculous Ryzen 9 7900X can sometimes be had for as little as $500 / £500 if you can find a good CPU deal. .
As for Intel processors, the Core i9-12900K and Core i7-12700K are the current high-end chips, with the latter being more than enough for most applications including gaming. Performance on the i9-12900K is somewhat neck and neck with the Ryzen 9 7950X in most apps and games, though the good news for Intel fans is that the i9 tends to retail for a bit less than the Ryzen 9 currently.
The best mid-range CPU deals
Mid-range CPUs generally target most mainstream gaming builds, being better than high-end enthusiast chips. They’ll also be the kind of thing you want to invest in if you want something that works decently for intensive applications and lasts a good few years after that. Intel’s long-standing Core i5 range has dominated the mid-range processor market, but in the past few years, we’ve seen that near monopoly shattered by AMD’s Ryzen 5 chips, which are very popular these days.
The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X is the latest mid-range entry from the red team and is a fantastically solid chip for the money, although it’s slightly more expensive than the previous 5600X iteration at $349 / £349. If you want to save a little money, the older Series 5000 chip can be had for $200 / £200 and is still widely available at most major retailers. This older chip is about 20% slower than the newer entry but it’s still a great cost-effective mid-range component for both gaming and productivity.
On the Intel side, the Core i5-12600K is the current leader in performance and is designed for easy overclocking. Its full retail price is the same as the Ryzen 5 7600X but retailers seem more willing to offer price cuts on this model versus the AMD counterpart. The slightly older i5-11600K and i5-10600K are still knocking at the moment but we’d only recommend them if you can get them in the under-$200 to $150 range. It’s not a slow chip, but it certainly isn’t as fast as the latest model (about a 20% benchmark improvement per generation).
The best CPU deals for beginners
Budget CPUs mostly come in the form of the latest Intel Core i3 and AMD Ryzen 3 series processors — essentially consumer-grade chips dedicated to building cost-effective throughput. These chips generally retail for around $100 / £100, and are great if you’re building a desktop for work from home or everyday use.
Surprisingly, these chips have come a long way in recent years and can really handle a bit of gaming on the side as well, though you can expect bottlenecks if you’re pairing them with a serious graphics card.
The latest Ryzen 3-3200G processor from AMD is a good cost-effective processor with integrated Vega graphics that delivers amazing graphical performance. However, retailers often run out of stock and remaining sales tend to inflate prices above the original retail price of $99 / £80. Note, there are newer and faster
An AMD Ryzen 3 4100 is also on the market but this model doesn’t have integrated graphics, so it’s probably a much more expensive option overall considering you might need to pick up a discrete graphics card.
On the Intel side, we have the Intel Core i3-12100 as the latest budget CPU. Like the Ryzen 3-3200G, this one features integrated graphics, so it’s a great option if you’re not going to be gaming and want to skip the graphics card. Note that there’s also an Intel Core i3-12100F version of this chip, which is another great option but doesn’t have the handy integrated graphics. Consider this if you are going to build a budget gaming machine with a discrete graphics card.