Parts Guide: CPU [2026-02]

The Central Processing Unit (CPU) is effectively the brain of a computer. They do much of math and computing on your device. When picking a CPU there are a handful of things you need to consider.

Number of Cores: Cores are the basic worker unit of CPU. More cores equates to more workers doing potentially more work. It is up to individual applications to optimize for additional core usage. Unoptimized applications may only make use of 1 or 2 cores despite more being available. Check reviews and application specific benchmarks to check for core scaling. Cores, while purpose-built to do the same thing are not built equal. Generational improvement in core design may bring several percentage point improvements in performance, clock speed potential and power efficiency. For example, a newer 4 core Ryzen CPU will often outperform older 8 core FX CPUs from AMD, despite the latter having both higher core counts and higher clock speeds.
Type of Cores: With some newer CPUs we're seeing multiple different core architectures being used in a single CPU. They're often labeled as "Performance" and "Effeciency" cores. Or othertimes as "Big" and "Little". A different mix of cores can have various performance impacts depending on your use cases. Performance cores are physically larger, have more and more complex features, and can typically achieve much higher peak performance. This makes them great for situations where you need lots of performance on one, or maybe a small number of cores. However, efficiency cores are physical much smaller and their feature set is often pared back some. This means if you have a workload that is capable of being extremely multi-threaded, it's normally a great option for you as the CPU can physically fit many more of these types of cores on them. With modern CPUs, there are arrangements everywhere from 100% efficiency cores to 100% performance cores, and about any mix inbetween. Although, some manufacturers and some market segments may have more options than others.
Number of threads: If cores are mouths crunching data, threads are akin to hands feeding the mouths. More threads allow for more data to be fed to a core. If the core is able to allocate resources to handle the increased data flow, you get a performance uplift. CPUs typically only have one thread per core, but technologies like Intel’s Hyper-Threading and AMD’s Simultaneous Multi-Threading allow for two threads (or “hands”) per core. Similar to multiple cores, applications must be specifically optimized to take advantage of multiple threads. It should be noted that in terms of performance, for CPUs of the same architecture/generation more cores will be equal to or better than more threads. Meaning a 4 core CPU will be equal to or better than a 2 core CPU with 4 threads.
Clock speed: CPU clockspeed is measured in billions of cycles per second (GHz). It indicates how many work cycles a single core is able to undergo per second. Generally, for CPUs within the same generation/architecture and featuring the same number of cores, one with a higher clock speed will perform better. Clock speed comparisons between CPUs of different generations/architectures or with different core or thread counts are NOT valid. Performance does not scale linearly with clock speed; a 5GHz processor will typically not perform 2x better than a 2.5GHz processor. It is possible to increase the clock speed of some processors beyond what they’re rated for by the manufacturer. This process is called overclocking. Overclocking comes at the expense of increased power draw and heat output. Intel CPU models with a K or X suffix, and all AMD Ryzen CPUs are capable of overclocking so long as you have an overclocking capable motherboard and adequate CPU cooling.
Socket: The socket is the physical interface between the motherboard and the processor. CPU and motherboard physical compatibility is dictated by the socket (ie. will this CPU fit in this motherboard). CPU compatibility can also depend on the motherboards chipset and motherboards software version - just because it physically fits doesn't mean it will work!