How Many Cores Do You Need For Gaming In 2022?

PC gaming in 2022 is still a pretty expensive thing to get a hold of, for one simple reason: PC hardware, specifically graphics cards, are still pretty darn expensive. But we're not talking about GPUs in this article, because we will instead focus on the CPU.

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When it comes to building a gaming PC, you also need to consider what kind of CPU you're putting into it. Case in point, how many cores do you need for gaming overall? Well, this article will answer that to help you make a far more informed decision when you go out to source your parts.

Minimum And Recommended Number Of CPU Cores

The absolute bare minimum number of CPU cores you need for gaming, according to boutique PC builder ApexGamingPCs, is four. That's it. Anything less and you'll be getting a sub-par gaming experience that won't even be remotely enjoyable, to say the least. If you wanted a rule of thumb, this is what you need to keep in mind moving forward.

Four-core CPUs remain the most popular among PC gamers in the world, according to the latest Steam Hardware Survey results for April 2022. These chips have a 33.98% market share compared to others, but they're not the only popular ones, of course.

If you want something that's a bit more powerful and will have you set for years, go for a six-core CPU. Hexa-core chips are the second-most popular ones in terms of global market share on Steam at 33.06%. The main reason is because modern games have been evolving enough to take advantage of more CPU cores - something they've never been able to do back in the day.

But of course, only relying on the core count for your next gaming PC is not the end of the discussion. That's because not all CPU cores are made the same, and both Intel and AMD do it a little differently than the other. The next few paragraphs will discuss other important bits of information that should matter for your next purchase.

The Importance Of Single-Core Performance

When we said that not all CPU cores are made the same, we mean it. A specific CPU with six cores, for instance, is not always faster for gaming because it might have very weak single core performance. Whereas a four-core CPU with higher single-core performance will almost always be a better choice, despite being two cores short.

Historically, Intel has always had the better, faster, stronger individual cores. But after the brouhaha that was the FX series, AMD has since made that up with their Ryzen line competing - and in most cases beating - Intel's offerings, up until the release of Team Blue's 12th gen Alder Lake chips.

So when you go out and buy a CPU for your next gaming PC, you won't really be making a wrong choice as both modern Intel and AMD CPUs are pretty good.

Hyperthreading/SMT

Hyperthreading is an Intel trademark, while SMT (simultaneous multi-threading) is AMD's. But both terms mean the same: they allow one CPU core to function as two.

In modern Intel and AMD chips, you may find them having something like 4 cores and 8 threads. That means that for every single core, there are two threads allowing it to process more information at the same time. There aren't a lot of chips without hyperthreading or SMT from the past few years, because this technology has become more or less a standard.

When it comes to gaming, however, going for a 4-core, 8-thread CPU should be your absolute minimum. This is more than enough to run modern games while also allowing you to do other tasks, like stream or record your gameplay while you're playing the game.

The Lowdown

At the end of the day, knowing how many cores you need for gaming depends on the kind of games you want to play - and how you want to play them. If you want to just play without anything extra, go for 4 cores and 8 threads as a minimum. But if you want to play and stream/record, go for anything beyond that.

Story posted on GameNGuide

Written by RJ Pierce