The best desktop processors - leaderboard 2025

Every desktop computer requires a processor to operate. It's like the brain of the computer. We have compiled the best desktop processors in our list of the best for the year 2025 for you here. The selection of the best processors is based on various characteristics.

In addition to the clock frequency, the number of CPU cores in particular determines the speed of a processor. The CPU cores in newer processors even have different sizes and are divided into performance cores and more economical efficiency cores.

Find the best processor

It's not always easy to find the best processor for your needs. While many visitors only pay attention to the theoretical speed of a processor, others want to read detailed test reports that also deal with the processor's speed in practice. Therefore, we have collected a large number of benchmarks in order to meet as many requirements as possible.

We have not only listed our results for you in map form at the top of this page, but also in a clear table at the bottom of this page. So everyone can quickly find their way around and find the best processor for themselves.

AMD, Apple or Intel - who is currently ahead?

For a long time and for many years, Intel, as the largest manufacturer of processors, had virtually no real competition. That changed at the latest with the 2nd generation of AMD Ryzen processors (AMD Ryzen 2000). From the third Ryzen generation, AMD even has a 12 or 16 core processor in the mainstream range with the larger models AMD Ryzen 9 3900X and AMD Ryzen 9 3950X.

Then, in Q4 2020, AMD launched the Ryzen 5000 series, led by the two Ryzen 9 top models AMD Ryzen 9 5900X with 12 CPU cores and the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X with 16 CPU cores. The increase in performance of the AMD Ryzen processors manufactured in 7 nm probably surprised Intel so much that the market leader was only able to catch up with the performance deficit a year later with the 12th generation of the Intel Core i series.

With the Apple M1 processor, Apple released a processor for notebooks and desktops for the first time in 2020. The Apple M1 has 8 CPU cores and is currently used in the Apple mac mini. It combines good computing power with exceptionally high efficiency. The processor is already manufactured at TSMC in 5 nm.

List of the best desktop processors

In this list view, we have presented the currently best desktop processors in tabular form for you. We sorted the processors by popularity and the Geekbench 6 multi-core result achieved.

	Processor	Socket	TDP	Memory
	Intel Core i9-14900KS 24C 32T @ 3.20 GHz	LGA 1700	150 W	DDR5-5600, DDR4-3200
	Intel Core i9-14900K 24C 32T @ 3.20 GHz	LGA 1700	125 W	DDR5-5600, DDR4-3200
	Intel Core i9-14900KF 24C 32T @ 3.20 GHz	LGA 1700	125 W	DDR5-5600, DDR4-3200
	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 16C 32T @ 4.50 GHz	AM5 (LGA 1718)	170 W	DDR5-5200
	Intel Core i7-14700K 20C 28T @ 3.40 GHz	LGA 1700	125 W	DDR5-5600, DDR4-3200
	Intel Core i7-14700KF 20C 28T @ 3.40 GHz	LGA 1700	125 W	DDR5-5600, DDR4-3200
	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16C 32T @ 4.20 GHz	AM5 (LGA 1718)	120 W	DDR5-5200
	AMD Ryzen 9 7900X 12C 24T @ 4.70 GHz	AM5 (LGA 1718)	170 W	DDR5-5200
	AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D 12C 24T @ 4.40 GHz	AM5 (LGA 1718)	120 W	DDR5-5200
	Intel Core i5-14600K 14C 20T @ 3.50 GHz	LGA 1700	125 W	DDR5-5600, DDR4-3200
	Intel Core i5-14600KF 14C 20T @ 3.50 GHz	LGA 1700	125 W	DDR5-5600, DDR4-3200
	AMD Ryzen 7 7700X 8C 16T @ 4.50 GHz	AM5 (LGA 1718)	105 W	DDR5-5200
	AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 8C 16T @ 4.20 GHz	AM5 (LGA 1718)	120 W	DDR5-5200
	AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D 8C 16T @ 3.40 GHz	AM4 (PGA 1331)	105 W	DDR4-3200
	AMD Ryzen 5 7600X 6C 12T @ 4.70 GHz	AM5 (LGA 1718)	105 W	DDR5-5200
	AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D 8C 16T @ 3.00 GHz	AM4 (PGA 1331)	105 W	DDR4-3200

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