Best CPU for the RX 570
The processors that pair with an RX 570 without a bottleneck, ranked, with the best-value and best-overall picks, and where to buy.
Quick answer
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Everything else a RX 570 build needs, matched to the card.
The RX 570 is an old AMD Polaris card that refuses to die, still turning up in first builds and hand-me-down PCs because it's cheap and plays 1080p esports well. It shipped in 4GB and 8GB flavors, draws about 150W, and by today's standards it's slow, which is the whole reason the CPU question is easy. A card this modest doesn't ask much of the processor.
That flips the usual buying logic. Rather than hunting for a fast chip, you want the cheapest processor that won't get in the way, because the RX 570 will be the limiting part in almost any modern pairing. Older quad-cores that would strangle a new GPU are perfectly adequate here, so the list below is about matching, not maxing. Find a chip that keeps the card fed and put nothing extra toward it.
Does the CPU matter for the RX 570 at 1080p, 1440p and 4K?
The RX 570 lives at 1080p, usually on medium settings, so there's no 1440p or 4K story to tell. The honest question is which older CPUs still keep up.
At 1080p the CPU matters most. Frame rates are high and the RX 570 finishes each frame quickly, so a slow processor is what holds you back in CPU-heavy games. This is the resolution where picking the right CPU makes the biggest difference.
At 1440p the balance evens out. The RX 570 works harder per frame, so the gap between a mid-range and a high-end CPU shrinks. A solid modern 6-core is plenty for most players here.
At 4K the CPU barely matters. The RX 570 is the limit (around 31 FPS in AAA games), so almost any chip on this list keeps up. If you only play at 4K, buy the cheapest CPU that clears the "no bottleneck" bar and spend the savings elsewhere.
Best CPU for the RX 570 on AM4, AM5 and Intel
This card is happy with cheap, older silicon. Here's a sensible low-cost pick per platform.
AM4 (older AMD boards): the Ryzen 7 5700X3D is the standout gaming chip, with the 5800X3D a step up. Both let you pair the RX 570 without changing motherboard, the easiest upgrade path for an existing AM4 build.
AM5 (current AMD): the Ryzen 5 7600 is the value pick; the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is the best gaming chip and the one to get for the highest frame rates and future GPU upgrades.
Intel: the Core i5-13400F or 12400F is the value option; the Core i7-14700K adds headroom for streaming and heavy multitasking.
For the very fastest cards, lean toward AM5 or a high-end Intel chip; on mainstream cards the value picks above are all you need.
Best CPUs for the RX 570, ranked
Ryzen 9 9950X3D
Best overallRyzen 7 9800X3D
Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Core i9-14900K
Ryzen 5 9600X
Core i7-14700K
Ryzen 7 7700X
Core i5-14600K
Ryzen 5 7600X
Ryzen 7 5800X3D
Ryzen 5 7600
Core i5-13400F
Core i5-12400F
Ryzen 7 5700X
Ryzen 5 5600X
Ryzen 5 5600
Ryzen 5 5500
Ryzen 5 3600
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How to read the pairing labels
No bottleneck, ideal: the sweet spot. This CPU keeps the RX 570 fed at 1080p without you paying for more chip than you need.
More than enough: comfortably ahead of what the RX 570 needs, great for high-refresh play, streaming and future GPU upgrades.
Slight limit at 1080p: a little short in the busiest games at 1080p, but fine at 1440p and 4K.
Holds it back at 1080p: caps the RX 570 in CPU-heavy games at 1080p. Still perfectly usable at 4K, where the GPU is the limit anyway.
The "FPS ceiling" is roughly how many frames each CPU can push in demanding, CPU-heavy games before it becomes the limit, it's why a stronger chip helps most at high refresh and with 1% lows. Average FPS in GPU-bound games is set by the RX 570 itself.
Check your exact combo
Want the precise bottleneck and frame rate for the RX 570 with a specific CPU and game? Run it through the calculators.
Best CPU for the RX 570: your questions answered
There's no need to reach high. A Ryzen 5 3600 or 2600, or an Intel Core i3-10100F, gives the RX 570 all the gaming speed it can use at 1080p. Anything beyond that is money wasted, since the card tops out well before these chips do. Match it, don't overshoot it.
A used Ryzen 5 1600/2600 or an Intel Core i3-9100F is about as cheap as you'd want to go, and either keeps the RX 570 fed at 1080p. Even older four-core, eight-thread chips do the job. The card's low ceiling means you have plenty of slack.
Yes. Haswell-era chips such as the i7-4790 or i5-4590 still drive an RX 570 fine at 1080p, which is why this exact combo is so common in budget and second-hand builds. You may see the odd stutter in the most CPU-heavy modern games, but for esports and older titles it holds up well.
No. Those chips are far quicker than the card needs, so the RX 570 stays the bottleneck and that's fine. It's a slightly lopsided pairing, but it's a good position to be in: the CPU is ready for a future GPU upgrade whenever you're able to swap the 570 out.
For a strict budget, it's still usable at 1080p in lighter games. Think Valorant, League, CS2, Rocket League and Fortnite on lower settings. It struggles in demanding modern AAA titles and lacks the features of current cards, so treat it as a stopgap rather than a card to build around.
The 8GB model is the one to have if the price gap is small. Several modern games spill past 4GB of VRAM at 1080p even on medium settings, causing stutter, so the extra memory buys smoother frame times and a bit more life out of the card.
Yes. This is its comfort zone. Competitive titles run at high frame rates at 1080p on the RX 570, especially with settings tuned for performance. It's demanding single-player AAA games, not esports, where the card shows its age.
Yes, in the games that offer it. The RX 570 can use AMD's FSR upscaling, which runs in software on a broad range of GPUs. To lift frame rates, a handy tool on a card this old. It does not support Nvidia's DLSS, which only works on GeForce RTX cards.
AMD suggests around a 450W unit. The card pulls roughly 150W through a single 8-pin connector, so a decent 450W or larger PSU covers it comfortably. That said, the RX 570 can spike hard, so lean toward a quality supply rather than the cheapest one you can find.
Yes. It's a native PCIe 3.0 card, so it runs at full speed on the older boards it's usually paired with. There's no PCIe penalty to worry about here; the card's own age, not the slot, sets the limit.