Best AMD processors: the best AMD CPUs in 2022

Best AMD processors: the best AMD CPUs in 2022

Find the best AMD processors for gaming, content creation, and more

The best AMD processors on the market can do everything, from multitasking like a champ to giving you the fastest frame rates for gaming. 

When it comes to the best PC games, the top AMD processors rival the best of the best Intel processors, like the Intel Core i9-12900K. With new technology like AMD 3D V-Cache, Team Red definitely provides an excellent balance between performance and affordability.

The best processors will let you blow through workloads like content creation with relative ease while also providing good value, especially when it comes to more budget-oriented chips for general computing and light-to-medium productivity work. Fortunately, AMD chips have something for everyone, but it can be daunting to sort through the different options to find the processor that fits your specific needs and budget.

Have no fear — we’ve put all of the best AMD processors through their paces to identify those that simply blow away the competition regardless of price, while also looking at those that provide excellent performance at lower price points for more price-conscious shoppers. Our list of top picks will make it easier than ever for you to find exactly the right AMD processor.

It’s impossible to tell the best processors from the worst just by looking at them. All of the core components are hidden away in identical-looking packaging, and even if you were to peel back that packaging, the transistors on the CPU die (the neurons of the CPUs “brain”) are literally measured in nanometers. How can you tell a million transistors on a chip from a billion, and how can you measure a processor’s clock cycle by looking at the box?

Fortunately, there are tests we can run to see how well a processor performs in the real world, and the best way to do that is to push a processor to its limits by running finely-calibrated benchmarking tools that produce comparable scores based on how well a processor performs a specific task like compressing a video file or performing the very complex math used in 3D gaming.