If you don’t mind skipping the very high-end options, then the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X should prove ideal for the serious but slightly budget-restrained streamer. While top streaming and gaming performance is one thing, the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X becomes an even more viable option when we consider it priced incredibly competitively compared to other CPUs boasting similar performance.
Even then, the difference is marginal, and a single PC setup running an AMD Ryzen 7 3700X will push out a quality broadcast while handling everything even the most demanding games throw its way. Much like its more powerful older brother, the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X excels when it comes to encoding and productivity performance while more than holding its own when it comes to gaming, which once again is slightly better over at camp Intel. It features 8 cores, 16 threads, a base clock speed of 3.6 GHz, a boost clock speed of 4.4 GHz, and a 65 W TDP. Sitting just below the AMD Ryzen 9 3900X, we have another offering from team red, the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X. All this at a lower price (though still not cheap) than an Intel equivalent, making it a no brainer for those wanting to jump into streaming with all bases covered. Excellent gaming performance (although slightly under Intel counterparts) and x264 encoding performance thanks to its stellar multithreading capabilities combine to offer an all-round CPU offering that others simply can’t contend with in a meaningful sense.Īn Intel option may stump the AMD Ryzen 9 3900X ever so slightly in gaming performance (this is more a technical difference than a gaping chasm and when paired with a quality GPU, the 3900X tears through games with frame rates above 120 at 1440p solutions while streaming), but this processor more than makes up for this in overall all-round productivity. The AMD Ryzen 9 3900X shines in offering a best of both worlds solution for streamers. A powerhouse, if there ever was one, this chip channels all the power of AMD’s Zen 2 architecture to deliver a chip boasting 12 cores, 24 threads, a base clock speed of 3.8 GHz, and a boost clock speed of 4.6 GHz, and a 65 W TDP. Securing our top spot of the best CPU for streaming is AMD’s mighty Ryzen 9 3900X. Below you’ll see these fall into different categories highlighting where each CPU shines, but overall each of these picks should cater to the needs of most, if not all, budding streamers. Our search ultimately led us to five CPUs that we deem excellent options for streaming on Twitch, Facebook, YouTube, and other alternative platforms. We also factored in the type of content streamed because, for example, tackling the most demanding games while streaming or simply beaming a bargain bin webcam feed to a dozen viewers has different demands on the CPU. We used budget, specifications, single-core and multi-threading performance, and encoding efficiency to guide our selection process. Our focus was very much on CPU performance in the context of streaming, which differs significantly from, say, pure gaming or creative-based applications. While the natural inclination is to go all out and opt for the most powerful CPU out there, our search for the best CPU for streaming was a little more nuanced.