Best CPU for Gaming & Streaming in 2022
The world of gaming has come a long way. At first, gaming was considered something that only children would do. However, now things have changed quite a bit. We have come to the point that everyone these days has either played a video game or watched gameplay for a video game. Gaming is now slowly making its way into pop culture and is becoming one of the largest forms of entertainment.
There is one thing that has become a big part of gaming that not even gamers would have predicted. We are talking about streaming. If you were to tell someone ten years ago that you will be playing a video game and then stream that gameplay so you can make money out of it, people would have laughed at you. However, streaming has acquired a huge chunk of online viewership in recent years.
If you want to enter the world of streaming as well, then you need a gaming PC. However, if you are new to this, then you probably don't know which parts to get. One of the most confusing parts to get is the CPU, as there are tons of different options with different versions of the same iteration. To help you with this, here is our complete guide on the best CPU for gaming and streaming in 2022.
Gaming VS Streaming
If all you care about is gaming, you really don't need to spend a lot of money on a gaming PC. CPU technology has made soo many improvements over the years that even entry-level CPUs manage to crank out respectable performance numbers.
Not only that but video games and windows software have made tons of improvements as well. Video games are now a lot more optimized for performance, and most video games can run on older generation hardware. Windows and drivers crank out as much performance from the hardware as possible. It is because Windows and drivers are optimized to apply the least amount of load on the hardware.
So basically, even if you have a decent laptop that is three to four years old, you will have little trouble achieving 60 FPS at 1080p. Moreover, if all you do is play esports titles, you might even be able to crank out over 144 FPS.
However, when it comes to streaming, things are different. It is because while you live stream, your PC has to allocate its resources to both the live stream and the game that you are playing. So if you want to play video games and stream your gameplay while doing so, you will have to get at least a decent entry-level PC. Fortunately for you, we are here to guide you for precisely that.
Intel Core i3-12100 - Best Budget CPU for Gaming & Streaming in 2022
As we have already mentioned, CPU technology has made tons of improvements over the years. For the longest time, the Core i3 from Intel was considered just an entry-level CPU that was best suited for office work like creating a document or using a spreadsheet.
The Core i3 was not a popular choice for gamers, and quite frankly, even we would not have recommended an older generation Core i3 for gaming. You were way better off paying a couple of extra bucks for a Core i5 that had way better performance for gaming.
However, the Intel Core i3-12100 is a beast of a CPU. Its performance is comparable to the Ryzen 5 3600, which was one of the most popular and one of the fastest CPUs of its time.
The Core i3-12100 will have no trouble cranking out over a hundred frames on 1080p no matter what game you throw at it. Even if you are a competitive gamer and want over 144 frames, you can do so by playing on low settings for most games.
When it comes to streaming, you won't have any problems here either. You will easily be able to stream your gameplay at 1080p without a major dip in the framerate that you are getting.
What makes the 12th gen Core i3 so great is its price point. The Core i3-12100 dominates the 100 to 130 USD price point with no CPU from AMD coming even near its performance. If you don't care about integrated graphics then you can get the F-series Core i3 which is listed for 104 USD on Newegg right now.
With a base clock speed of 3.3 GHz, a boost clock of up to 4.3 GHz, and 4 high performance cores with 8 threads, all in the price of just around 100 to 130 USD, it is really difficult to recommend any other CPU than the Core i3-12100 or the Core i3-12100F.
Intel Core Core i5-12400 - Best Overall CPU for Gaming & Streaming in 2022
The Core i5 from Intel has always been a solid choice for gamers. It has always provided a good mix of budget pricing and great performance. Almost all games that come out, the Core i5 at that time had no trouble running them at respectable framerates.
It's the year 2022, and things have not changed. But it is not a bad thing in any way because the Core i5 is still the mid-range gaming king. However, this time the Core i5 has managed to outdo itself with the Core i5-12400. The Core i5-12400 is undoubtedly the best mid-range gaming plus streaming CPU for 2022, as of writing this article of course.
You might be wondering that this is a bold claim. However, we have numbers to back it up. What if we were to tell you that with some tuning, you can take the performance of the Core i5-12400 near to the performance of a previous-gen flagship Core i9 processor that cost a whopping 549 USD. Well, that's exactly what you get with the Core i5-12400.
Even if you are looking to play video games at 1440p instead of 1080p, the Core i5-12400 will have no problem cranking out over a hundred frames on medium to high settings. Needless to say that the streaming you are planning to do with the latest video games won't be a problem for this beast of a CPU.
The Core i5-12400 has 6 core and 12 threads, which is the sweet spot for video games these days. Along with that, you also get a boost clock speed of up to 4.4 GHz and support for DDR5-4800 memory as well. On top of all that, you get 16 PCIe 5.0 lanes and four additional ones of PCIe 4. What's amazing about the Core i5-12400 is that you get all that in an incredible price of under 200 USD.
Ryzen 7 5800X3D - Best Value High Performance CPU For Gaming & Streaming in 2022
If you are looking to play the latest games at 4k and then stream your gameplay at 4k as well, then you will probably need a high-performance CPU for that. However, this doesn't mean that you will have to get whatever the most expensive CPU is on the market. But it is going to cost you over two times the price of the Core i5-12400.
The best CPU that you can get right now for 4k gameplay and 4k streaming is the Ryzen 7 5800X3D. Want to play the latest games at 4k, no problem. Need over a hundred FPS with maxed-out graphics settings, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D has got that covered too. Basically, anything that you throw at it, it will be able to handle it quite well.
In certain situations, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D manages to outperform the Core i9-12900K and the Core i9-12900KS. What's impressive about this is that the Core i9-12900K costs around 590 USD and the Core i9-12900KS costs around 740 USD, while the Ryzen 7 5800X3D costs only around 450 USD.
That is really impressive and is exactly the reason why we recommend that you get the Ryzen 7 5800X3D. Even if the two other processors that we have mentioned here manage to outperform the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, it will be by a small margin, which is not worth the extra 100+ dollars that you will have to spend.
However, it should be noted that if you are not planning on playing video games on or over 1440p, then there is no need for this CPU. You won't be seeing any performance benefits at 1080p.
Summary
Live streaming has been getting tons of traction these days, and more and more people are starting to get into it. This means that more and more people are going to get a gaming PC for live streaming.
If you are on a budget, then you can get the Intel Core i3-12100. It is super powerful for the price, and you won't be having any trouble with it on 1080p. If you want the best gaming CPU on the market, go with the Intel Core i5-12400. But if you want great 1440p or 4k performance, you will definitely like the Ryzen 7 5800X3D.
