With our guide to today’s best processor deals you’ll be looking to save some serious cash on the most integral part of any PC build. Whether you’re on a budget, a gamer, or simply building a machine for working from home, we’ve rounded up all the latest offerings from Intel and AMD and tirelessly searched to find the best prices on the top processors.
What’s your price range?
We’ve separated this week’s best CPU deals into sections for high-end, mid-range, and budget shoppers, which you can jump to using the navigation links provided.
In a nutshell, if money’s no object and you want the best, you’ll definitely see the benefits of going with a high-end chip, since these beastly processors will give you excellent performance for years to come. That said, this week’s mid-range processor deals are going to be more than adequate for someone who wants top-end gaming performance and to build a machine that’ll last a few good years. Finally, our budget CPU deals take into account those who simply want a functional, reliable machine, although you might just be surprised at how much performance you can get out of these options – cheap processors have come a long way in recent years.
You’ll find discounts from Amazon, Best Buy, and other well-known retailers in our processor deals roundup. If you’re visiting from outside the US, you’ll also find relevant prices for your region, which we’ve factored in accordingly. So, without further ado – check out today’s best CPU prices just down below.
Best high-end processor deals
High-end processors are squarely aimed at the enthusiast and professional market, and, as you’d expect can carry some pretty hefty price tags. If cost is no factor, however, then these 8-core and sometimes even 16-core beasts will absolutely give you the most performance possible – so much in fact that they might be overkill for some users.
AMD’s Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 9 chips are the companies flagship chips right now, with the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X being the current performance king from team red. Retailing for around $549 / £599 means this chip is a serious investment, although the good news is the now older AMD Ryzen 9 3900X is starting to come down in price, giving users another great viable option.
For Intel processors, the Core i9-10900K and Core i7-10700K are the current high-end chips, with the latter being more than enough for most applications including gaming. Performance on the i9-10900K is more or less neck and neck with the Ryzen 9 5900X on most applications save from the most intensive productivity tasks, although the good news for Intel fans is the i9 tends to retail for quite a bit less than the Ryzen 9 currently.
Best mid-range CPU deals
Mid-range CPUs are generally targetted towards most mainstream gamer builds, being better bang for the buck than the high-end enthusiast chips. They’ll also be the sort of thing you’ll want to invest in if you’re wanting something that will perform decently for intensive applications and last a few good years down the line. Intel’s long-standing Core i5 range has traditionally 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 just as popular these days.
The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X is the latest mid-range entry from team red and is a fantastically powerful chip for the money, although availability can be so-so at its original $299 / £279 asking price. Another option is the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X; a previously high-end processor, but now it’s superseded by the latest 5-series version, prices are dropping, making it a really compelling alternative. The best-selling AMD Ryzen 5 3600 series are also widely available right now still great cost-effective component for a mid-range build for both gaming and productivity.
On the Intel side of things, the Core i5-10600K is the current mainstream performance flagship and is built for easy overclocking. That said, those on more of a could also consider the Intel Core i5-10400 – which isn’t quite as speedy, but still offers great performance with its six-cores.
Best entry-level CPU deals
Budget CPUs mostly come in the form of the latest Intel Core i3 and AMD Ryzen 3 series of processors – which are essentially consumer-grade chips meant for cost-effective productivity builds. Generally retailing for around $100 / £100, these chips are great if you’re simply building a desktop for working from home or everyday use.
Surprisingly, these chips have come a long way in recent years and can actually handle a bit of gaming on the side too, although you can expect bottlenecking if you’re pairing them up with a serious graphics card.
AMD’s latest Ryzen 3-3200G is a good cost-effective processor with its in-built Vega graphics processing providing surprisingly good graphical performance. That said, it’s often out of stock at retailers and those remaining sales tend to feature prices inflated above the original retail price of $99 / £80.
More readily available is the Intel Core i3-10100 – a CPU that doesn’t quite match the Ryzen 3 in gaming and multi-threading performance, but still has plenty of bang for the buck. It’s also got fully integrated Intel graphics too, which means you can forgo that expensive graphics card and simply run the monitor directly from your motherboard.