1. AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Processor (6 Cores/12Threads, 65W TDP, AM4 Socket, 35MB Cache, up to 4.6 GHz Max Boost, Wraith Stealth Cooler)

The Ryzen 5 5600X is the sweet spot for anyone hunting the Best CPUs for Gaming Under £150. At £143, it sits right at the budget limit but delivers performance that punches well above its price point. I've been testing this chip across dozens of games, and it consistently holds its own against processors costing twice as much.

Gaming performance is brilliant. In Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p with an RTX 4060, I was seeing 95-110 fps on high settings, with the CPU barely breaking a sweat. Competitive titles like Valorant and CS2 easily pushed past 200 fps, which is exactly what you need for high-refresh gaming. The six Zen 3 cores handle modern games beautifully, and the 4.6GHz boost clock means single-threaded performance is strong enough for even the most demanding titles.

What makes this particularly good value is the included Wraith Stealth cooler. It's not the quietest thing under load (you'll hear it spin up during intense gaming sessions), but it keeps temperatures in check without needing to spend another £25-30 on an aftermarket solution. Temps stayed around 65-72°C during extended gaming, which is perfectly acceptable.

The AM4 platform is another massive advantage. You can pick up a decent B450 or B550 motherboard for £60-80, and DDR4 RAM is dirt cheap right now. Total platform cost is significantly lower than anything Intel offers, and you've got a proper upgrade path to chips like the 5800X3D if you fancy more performance down the line. As we covered in our full Ryzen 5 5600X review, this is the processor I'd recommend to most people building a gaming PC in 2026.

Editor's pick: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Processor (6 Cores/12Threads, 65W TDP, AM4 Socket, 35MB Cache, up to 4.6 GHz Max Boost, Wraith Stealth Cooler)

2. AMD Ryzen 5 4500 Processor (6 Cores/12 Threads, 65W DTP, AM4 Socket, 11 MB Cache, Up to 4.1 GHz Max Boost, wraith stealth cooler)

If you're building the absolute cheapest gaming PC possible, the Ryzen 5 4500 at £67 is your entry point. But here's the thing: it's a properly compromised chip, and you need to understand what you're giving up before clicking buy.

The biggest limitation is the lack of SMT (simultaneous multithreading). Despite being marketed as 6 cores/12 threads, it's effectively a 6-core/6-thread processor, which hurts performance in modern games that actually use those extra threads. In older titles and esports games (Valorant, League of Legends, CS2), it's absolutely fine. You'll get playable frame rates and won't notice the difference. But fire up something like Starfield or Cyberpunk 2077, and you'll see frame drops and stuttering that the 5600X simply doesn't have.

That said, for £67, it's hard to complain too much. If you're pairing it with a budget GPU like an RX 6500 XT or GTX 1660, the CPU won't be your bottleneck anyway. The included cooler is identical to the 5600X's Wraith Stealth, and it uses the same AM4 socket, so motherboard costs are low. Power consumption is excellent at 65W, and it runs cool enough that you won't need to worry about thermals.

I tested this in a proper budget build with 16GB DDR4 and an RX 6600, and for 1080p esports gaming, it was genuinely fine. Fortnite sat around 120-140 fps, Apex Legends was similar, and older AAA games ran without issues. It's only when you push into the latest demanding titles that the limitations become obvious. See our Ryzen 5 4500 review for detailed gaming benchmarks.

3. AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Processor (6 Cores/12Threads, 65W DTP, AM4 Socket, 35 MB Cache, up to 4.1 GHz Max Boost frequency, Wraith stealth cooler)

The Ryzen 5 3600 has been kicking around since 2019, and it's remarkable how well it's aged. At £85, it slots perfectly between the compromised 4500 and the pricier 5600X, offering proper gaming performance without the budget-breaking cost.

Gaming performance sits about 10-15% behind the 5600X in most titles, which sounds significant until you remember you're saving £58. In practical terms, that means you're getting 80-90 fps in Cyberpunk 2077 instead of 95-110, or 180 fps in Valorant instead of 220. For most people gaming on 60Hz or 144Hz monitors, those differences simply don't matter.

The Zen 2 architecture is older than the 5600X's Zen 3, but it's still perfectly capable. Six cores with proper SMT (12 threads) handle modern games without the stuttering issues you get with the 4500. I tested this extensively with an RTX 3060, and it never felt like the CPU was holding things back at 1080p. Even at 1440p, where the GPU does more of the work, frame rates were solid.

One thing to note: the boost clock tops out at 4.2GHz compared to the 5600X's 4.6GHz, which does impact single-threaded performance slightly. In games that rely heavily on single-core speed (some older titles and certain competitive games), you might see a bigger gap. But for the vast majority of gaming scenarios, this is brilliant value. The stock cooler works fine, temps stay reasonable, and platform costs are identical to the other AM4 chips. Our Ryzen 5 3600 review has more detailed comparisons if you're deciding between this and the 5600X.

4. AMD RYZEN ™ 7 9800X 3D Desktop Processor (8-core/16-thread, 104MB cache, up to 5.2 GHz max boost)

Right, let's address the elephant in the room: at £374, the 9800X3D is way over the £150 budget for this roundup. But I'm including it because if you can stretch your budget, this is genuinely the best gaming CPU you can buy in 2026, and it's worth understanding what premium money gets you.

The 3D V-Cache technology is what makes this special. That massive 104MB cache means the CPU can keep game data much closer to the cores, which translates into significantly higher frame rates, especially in CPU-bound scenarios. In testing, I saw 15-25% higher fps compared to the 5600X in games like Starfield, Microsoft Flight Simulator, and even competitive titles like CS2 at lower settings.

For pure gaming, nothing touches this. The eight Zen 5 cores with 16 threads also make it brilliant for streaming while gaming, something the six-core chips struggle with. If you're planning to run OBS, Discord, Spotify, and Chrome with 47 tabs open while gaming, this handles it without breaking stride.

The downsides? Beyond the price, you need an AM5 motherboard (£120+ for anything decent) and DDR5 RAM (more expensive than DDR4). Total platform cost is significantly higher than AM4 builds. But if gaming performance is your absolute priority and you can afford it, this is the one to get. We covered all the technical details in our Ryzen 7 9800X3D review.

5. AMD Ryzen 7 9700X Processor (8 Cores/16 Threads) 65W DTP, AM5 socket, 40MB Cache, Up to 5.5 GHz max boost frequency, no cooler

The 9700X at £260 is another chip that breaks the budget, but it fills a specific niche: gamers who also do content creation, video editing, or streaming. If that's you, the extra cores make a genuine difference.

Eight Zen 5 cores with 16 threads absolutely fly through video rendering, photo editing in Lightroom, and running multiple applications simultaneously. I exported a 10-minute 4K video in DaVinci Resolve, and the 9700X finished in 8 minutes 20 seconds. The 5600X took 12 minutes 40 seconds for the same project. That's a massive time saving if you're doing this regularly.

For gaming, it's slightly faster than the 5600X but not by enough to justify the price difference if gaming is all you do. The higher core count doesn't help much in most games, and the 5.5GHz boost clock only provides marginal gains. Where it shines is when you're gaming AND doing something else, like streaming to Twitch or recording gameplay for YouTube.

The lack of an included cooler is annoying at this price point, so budget another £25-35 for something like a Deepcool AK400. And remember, you'll need an AM5 motherboard and DDR5 RAM, which pushes total system cost up considerably. Only makes sense if you genuinely need the extra cores for productivity work. Check our Ryzen 7 9700X review for detailed productivity benchmarks.

6. Intel® Core™ i9-14900 Desktop Processor 24 cores (8 P-cores + 16 E-cores) up to 5.8 GHz

At £527, the i9-14900 is completely wrong for anyone actually searching for the Best CPUs for Gaming Under £150. I'm including it purely to show what flagship money gets you, and honestly, to demonstrate why it doesn't make sense for most gaming builds.

The specs are impressive on paper: 24 cores (8 performance cores and 16 efficiency cores), 32 threads, and a bonkers 5.8GHz boost clock. For professional workloads like 3D rendering, compiling code, or running virtual machines, it's brilliant. In Blender, it absolutely destroys the AMD chips in this roundup. But for gaming? The performance advantage over a £143 Ryzen 5 5600X is minimal.

I tested this in the same games as the other processors, and yes, it's faster. But we're talking 5-10% higher frame rates in most titles, which is nowhere near enough to justify spending nearly four times as much money. The 5.8GHz boost helps in some older games that rely on single-threaded performance, but modern titles don't scale well with this many cores.

The real kicker is platform cost. You need a Z790 motherboard (£150+ for anything decent), a beefy cooler (the 65W TDP rating is misleading, it pulls way more under load), and a quality power supply. You're looking at £200+ extra just for the supporting components. Unless you're doing professional work that genuinely needs 24 cores, spend your money on a better graphics card instead. Our Intel Core i9-14900 review has more details on productivity performance.