Buying Guides
Best CPU for your GPU
Pick a graphics card to see the processors that keep it fed, enough CPU to hit the card’s frames without overspending. Each guide ranks real CPUs across AM4, AM5 and Intel platforms, with the frame ceiling each chip delivers and where to buy.
Nvidia GeForce
GTX 1650 →Entry-level 1080p graphics cardGTX 1660 Super →1080p graphics cardRTX 2060 →1080p graphics cardRTX 3050 →Entry-level 1080p graphics cardRTX 3060 →1080p graphics cardRTX 3060 Ti →1080p / 1440p graphics cardRTX 3070 →1440p graphics cardRTX 3080 →1440p / 4K graphics cardRTX 4060 →1080p graphics cardRTX 4060 Ti →1080p / 1440p graphics cardRTX 4070 →Mainstream 1440p graphics cardRTX 4070 Super →1440p graphics cardRTX 4070 Ti →1440p / 4K graphics cardRTX 4080 →4K graphics cardRTX 4090 →Flagship 4K graphics cardRTX 5050 →Entry-level 1080p graphics cardRTX 5060 →Entry-level 1080p graphics cardRTX 5060 Ti →1080p / 1440p graphics cardRTX 5070 →High-end 1440p graphics cardRTX 5070 Ti →1440p / entry-4K graphics cardRTX 5080 →4K graphics cardRTX 5090 →Flagship 4K graphics card
AMD Radeon
RX 5500 XT →Entry-level 1080p graphics cardRX 570 →Older budget 1080p graphics cardRX 580 →Older budget 1080p graphics cardRX 6600 →1080p graphics cardRX 6700 XT →1440p graphics cardRX 7600 →1080p graphics cardRX 7700 XT →High-end 1440p graphics cardRX 7800 XT →High-refresh 1440p graphics cardRX 9060 XT →1080p / 1440p graphics cardRX 9070 →1440p / 4K graphics cardRX 9070 XT →4K graphics card
Intel Arc
How these picks work. Each CPU is ranked by the real 1080p frame ceiling it can sustain, then matched to what the card needs. A chip that can’t reach the card’s frames is a bottleneck; the value pick is the cheapest CPU that clears the bar.
Want the reverse? See best GPU for your CPU, or check a specific pair on the bottleneck pages or the bottleneck calculator.