A big question that comes up for many builders as well as those picking out a pre-built PC is what processor should I go with?  This question however can be easily broken down by asking yourself a few smaller questions:

• What am I going to use this PC for?
• What is my budget for my PC?
• Do I want to go big now, or can I upgrade later?

For our example, let's use the following answers:

• Gaming PC
• Budget < $1200 USD
• Comfortable with upgrading later

When building a Gaming PC, the main component that is going to drive your performance isn't the CPU but rather the Graphics Card and its GPU.  For this reason most Gaming PC builders tend to set aside at least half of their budget just for the graphics card alone.  If you go all out with a $600 top-of-the-line CPU, when you factor in other components this gives you less and less to put towards a powerful GPU and can result in an unbalanced PC for your goal.

Dedicated Gaming PCs generally don't need super high core counts provided by higher-tier CPUs, so it may be best to go with a Middle Tier CPU rather than a High or Top Tier CPU.  Thankfully both Intel and AMD provide a pretty easy to follow guide on their CPU tiering:

Who should I choose:  AMD or Intel?

A big question that comes up for many builders is picking between the two biggest brands: AMD and Intel.  With previous generations, the common answer was the following:

"If you're looking for raw gaming performance, go with Intel.  For productivity and multitasking, go AMD."

However, this answer has changed with recent hardware generations as the performance gap between both AMD and Intel has shrunk with both AMD and Intel having compelling options for both gaming oriented single-core performance and productivity oriented multi-core performance.  Therefore, it's instead recommended to look at al CPUs within the performance tier you're considering and to check out various reviews and news available before making your choice.

Go Big, or Upgrade Later?

A strong advantage to PC Gaming is the ability to upgrade your PC later on down the road.  This ability opens up new roads when selecting your CPU as you don't need to go big from the start and can instead go with a lower tier CPU and make the choice to upgrade later if you need the performance.  As mentioned in the example above, going with a mid tier CPU is a great way to free up your budget for other parts such as a more powerful graphics card, ore storage, etc.

Going with a middle tier CPU on a long-life platform can also be a good option.  Many users who started with AMD's X370 or X470 platform started with a mid tier Ryzen 5 2600X and were able to upgrade all the way to the Top Tier Ryzen 9 5950X thanks to the long life of the AM4 socket.

What about High-end Desktop (HEDT)?

High-end Desktop or HEDT is a class of products aimed at mega tasking enthusiasts and professionals that value stability and consistency above all else.  These processors include support for advanced features such as Error Correcting Code (ECC) memory that are not normally found in Consumer tier parts.  These would include products such as AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ and Intel® Xeon®.

HEDT is generally not recommended for gaming-oriented users.

Further Reading

• What is a CPU?
• Installing a CPU (coming soon)