Best Budget CPUs of 2026, Benchmarked and Ranked By Paul Alcorn, Jake Roach last updated 11 March 26 You can get a surprisingly powerful processor on the cheap. We've tested several cheap budget CPUs to help you find the right one for your needs and budget.
Intel announces Arrow Lake Refresh CPUs, claims 15% higher gaming performance and multi-threaded boost ā Core Ultra 7 270K and Core Ultra 5 250K come with more cores, faster memory, and a price cut By Jake Roach published 11 March 26 Arrow Lake is suddenly looking a lot more attractive.
Intel keeps socket LGA 1700 alive with new P-core-only CPUs ā 'Bartlett Lake' is official, but targets embedded applications with up to 12 cores By Jake Roach published 9 March 26 You wonāt find these chips at retail.
Microsoft confirms next-gen Xbox will play PC games ā 'Project Helix' teased as more than just a console By Jake Roach published 5 March 26 Microsoft CEO Asha Sharma confirmed that the next-gen Xbox, codenamed Project Helix, will be capable of playing both Xbox and PC games.
āCPUs are cool again,' Intel and AMD reporting spikes in CPU demand due to agentic AI, shortages ā Lisa Su says business exceeded expectations while Intel is looking at long-term agreements with potential customers By Jowi Morales published 5 March 26 Both AMD and Intel reports increased demand for CPUs, driven by AI agents' need for general computing power.
The Best CPU for Gaming in 2026 By Jake Roach last updated 3 March 26 Here is the best CPU for gaming.
AMD details Ryzen AI 400 desktop with up to 8 cores, Radeon 860M graphics ā APUs wonāt be available as boxed units, only in OEM systems By Jake Roach published 2 March 26 Still holding out hope for Ryzen 9000G.
AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D vs Intel Core i9-14900K faceoff ā Intelās Raptor Lake platform continues to be relevant in 2026 By Kunal Khullar published 28 February 26 Two flagship CPUs, two very different philosophies.
Behind the scenes of our massive CPU retest for Bench ā testing at 1080p, choosing new apps, and gathering data for a decade of CPUs By Jake Roach published 27 February 26 Premium Weāre retesting a decadeās worth of CPUs for our CPU hierarchy and Bench database, and weāre taking 3DTested Premium users behind the scenes to show you how itās done.
Testing CPU scaling in Resident Evil Requiem ā and why we werenāt able to finish the job By Jake Roach published 26 February 26 Denuvo strikes again.
Asus and Acer back online in Germany after patent dispute took them out ā laptops and desktops still not available following injunction (Updated) By Jake Roach published 23 February 26 Following a temporary injunction on sales, Asus and Acer have restored their German websites for sales and support. However, some products are still unavailable.
DXRacer Martian Pro Red Triangle review: Built for the fans By Jake Roach published 15 February 26 The DXRacer Martian Pro is packed to the brim with features, and it comes with a price tag to match. But if you have the cash to burn, youāll come out the other side a happy customer.
AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D vs Ryzen 7 9800X3D faceoff ā an extra $30 buys you very little performance By Hassam Nasir published 14 February 26 One of the tightest races between two CPUs we've ever seen.
Get a 4K upgrade for $200 with MSI's 144Hz gaming monitor ā save $80 on dual-mode display in Newegg's Valentine's Day sale By Jake Roach published 14 February 26 Deals The MSI MAG 275UPD E14 is one of the cheapest 4K gaming monitors around, and you can score it for $200 ($80 off) for Newegg's Love For Tech sale.
Our testing shows the Ryzen 7 9800X3D can match the pricier Ryzen 7 9850X3D with simple PBO settings ā AMD's latest CPU can't leverage extra clock speed in games By Jake Roach published 11 February 26 Turn your Ryzen 7 9800X3D into a Ryzen 7 9850X3D with a two-minute BIOS detour.
CPU scaling with DLSS ā investigating CPU performance in the age of upscaling By Jake Roach published 6 February 26 Premium In a time of ubiquitous upscaling, your CPU can quickly become a performance bottleneck.
AMD CEO downplays PC memory crunch, saying 'our focus areas are enterprise' ā company wants to focus on growing 'higher-end of the market' By Jake Roach published 3 February 26 AMD's CEO doesn't seem concerned with current memory prices, suggesting the company is focusing its efforts on the enterprise.
AMD reveals next-gen Xbox could launch in 2027 ā CEO says semi-custom SoC ready to 'support launch in 2027' By Jake Roach published 3 February 26 AMD's CEO Dr. Lisa Su let out a hint about the next-gen Xbox, which will sport a semi-custom SoC that should be ready next year.
Intel returns to boxed workstation CPUs with Xeon 600 ā Granite Rapids WS delivers up to 86 cores, 4TB of memory, and 128 PCIe 5 lanes By Jake Roach published 2 February 26 Intel is returning to desktop workstations with Xeon 600. Granite Rapids WS CPUs deliver up to 61% better multi-threaded performance, according to Intel, sporting up to 86 cores and 4TB of memory.
AMD CES 2026 gaming trends press Q&A roundtable transcript ā 'we see a little bit of an uptick in the percentage of AM4 versus AM5 platforms' By Zak Killian published 29 January 26 Premium We sat down with AMD at CES 2026 for a roundtable Q&A all about consumer products for gaming. We cover the full transcript of the press-only session right here.
Here are the tools I use as 3DTested resident CPU reviewer ā a cheap aluminum open bench, thermal paste wipes, platform-labeled external power buttons, and more By Jake Roach published 29 January 26 Benchmarking CPUs for 3DTested requires more than just running a few tests. Hereās how I get through our 10-hour benchmarking gauntlet for each chip efficiently.
AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D review: The world's fastest gaming processor, again By Jake Roach published 28 January 26 The Ryzen 7 9850X3D was never set up for success, but our testing reveals the ugly side of AMDās latest X3D CPU: higher power consumption for minuscule performance gains.
'We can't completely vacate the client market' says Intel amid wafer supply shortages ā Nova Lake still on-track for late 2026 release, 14A in 2028 By Jake Roach published 22 January 26 Intel says it is facing wafer supply shortages, but it's not going to "completely vacate the client market" as a result.
AMD ROCm CES 2026 press Q&A roundtable transcript ā 'ROCm from 2023 is completely unrecognizable to ROCm today' company details, as it seeks to break down barriers to AI development By Zak Killian published 22 January 26 Premium We had the opportunity to sit down with AMD at CES 2026 for a press roundtable discussion, where we discussed ROCm and other AMD software, as captured in this transcript of AMD's Q&A session.
AMD FSR Redstone press roundtable CES 2026 transcript ā company speaks out on why AI 400 lacks RDNA 4 GPU By Zak Killian published 16 January 26 Premium We attend a roundtable interview with AMD to discuss their graphics technologies like FSR Redstone, and more at CES 2026.
