Is 6 Cores Enough For Gaming: Read Before Choosing CPU Cores

Is 6 cores enough for gaming? How many CPU cores are enough for gaming today? This post is the ultimate guide to help gamers like you choose the right CPU cores for gaming.

With new CPU releases from Intel and AMD comes a host of the latest features. These include the latest technology, clock speed, and cores. 

The need for CPUs with higher cores has never been as important as it is today. But the question is, do gamers have to pay higher fees for more cores? Are 6 cores sufficient? Here is what you need to know.  

Is 6 Cores Enough For Gaming:

Yes, CPUs with 6 cores are considered the sweet spot for gaming. In most cases, you will also discover that 4 cores are enough for gaming. 

However, if you desire a better gaming experience and performance, you might want to consider CPUs with more cores. 

But as we said earlier, 6 cores are enough for gaming in this era. Years ago, 4 cores were the real deal. 

What CPU Cores Entails

We have clarified that 6 cores are enough to enjoy an optimal gameplay experience. Now, let’s find out what cores entails to appreciate the CPU more. 

So what are cores? What do cores do?

Let’s discuss the questions and reveal more about CPU cores.

The CPU is one of the essential components you’ll find in a computer. It’s one of the components gamers that wish to enjoy optimal gameplay experience from their newly built computer, cannot forgo. 

The CPU (Central processing unit) is the brain of the computer system, much like the human brain. It plays a vital role in executing program instructions. And these include moving data around, adding and removing data, and other crucial roles. 

Years back, the CPU had only a single processing unit because it had only one instruction to process. In 2005, things started changing as the first dual-core found its way into the market.  

After the 2005 breakthrough, it didn’t take so long before CPUs with 4, 6, and 8 cores hit the market.  

These days, video games, operating systems, and programs boast plenty of data. Thus, they have more instructions to process, making the need for multiple processors obvious. 

CPUs now boast multiple processing units to handle the numerous instructions from programs, video games, and operating systems. The processing units are what the tech world calls cores. 

What does this imply? A single processor can process several instructions simultaneously, enhancing the CPU’s speed. 

So, if you’re wondering why your computer can run several video games or programs simultaneously, you already know the answer to that. Processors have gotten bigger and better. And they now include several processing units called cores. 

That is not all. CPU cores will enhance performance and offer high-level multitasking capacity. You’ll discover the cores in these systems’ CPU divide into threads, though it depends on whether your system can handle it. The process is called multithreading, hyper-threading, simultaneous multithreading, and others. 

These virtual cores or logical cores (threads) are created when the need to fully utilize the CPU’s cores arises. 

Physical Cores Vs. Threads (Virtual cores)

Many years back, high core count meant nothing to gamers and video game developers. It didn’t have any importance on gaming performance either. 

Why was it so? The creators of video games were the culprits. They were creating video games that couldn’t take advantage of the multiple CPU cores available.

Today, the focus has shifted. PC makers have already played their part by making multicore CPUs available, so it was left for game developers to take advantage of it, and they did.

The video gamers you’ll come across today are designed to take advantage of the CPU’s capabilities. Games are now optimized for multicore performances. 

Another question is, should gamers neglect multicore CPUs for single-core performance? The simple answer is no, and for obvious reasons. 

Some of the games that developers create these days utilize multiple CPU cores. So, if you wish to play games that use multicore CPUs, ensure you don’t turn a blind eye to core counts when choosing a CPU. 

Now, this takes us back to the question: Is a 6-core CPU good enough for gaming today? The 6 cores are the sweet spot, or “the best middle-ground” for gaming in this era. 

A Handy Tip: If you’re building a mid-range gaming PC, the Intel Core i5 9600K and the popular AMD Ryzen 5 3600X are wise choices. 

Are 8 Cores Better Than 6 Cores For Gaming?

The 8 cores are exceptional at all tasks. They can handle heavy gaming and perform great productivity-wise. 

However, the 8 cores are a step ahead of the 6 cores, though many gamers view the 8 cores as overkill. Well, it isn’t. 

Gamers need to understand one thing. The performance difference between the 6-core and 8-core is meager. In other words, there isn’t a massive difference between both CPU cores. 

The PC’s GPU will determine if there will be any performance-related difference between both CPU cores. A low-end GPU on an 8 core CPU won’t deliver any performance difference. 

In other words, you won’t notice any change in performance when using a powerful 8 core CPU on a low-end GPU. 

An example is the Radeon RX 6600 XT, a mid-range and slow GPU. You won’t record any performance improvement when running an 8 core CPU on such a GPU. 

A Guide On CPU Cores And Recommendations: 

This guide details the different CPU cores on the market and their capabilities. The brain behind the table below is to enable you to pick the ideal CPU cores for your PC build. Let’s dive in.

Things To Consider When Choosing CPU Cores

Getting the ideal amount of CPU cores determines the success of your computer build. But then, how can you choose the right CPU core? What factors should you consider when deciding on CPU cores to obtain? 

We believe the information provided about cores thus far would be enough to help you choose the right CPU. However, if you still can’t make up your mind, or know how to pick the ideal CPU cores, consider the questions below. 

The following questions would help you choose a CPU core for your computer build. 

Computer’s intended use: What do you plan to do with your new computer? Do you plan to game only or perform other tasks like video editing, graphics design, etc.? Consider your system’s intended usage when deciding the CPU core to get. 

The option to choose between 6 cores and 8 cores processor would be the best option for good reasons. 

With the Octa-core, you can multitask, and enjoy better gameplay, provided you’re using a powerful GPU.

Duration of Your Work: How long are the tasks you wish to perform using the computer? If you plan on spending a long time, more CPU cores will give you better performance. 

Gaming duration: Most people are okay with spending almost the entire day gaming. They may only spend time taking a shower, eating, and probably sleeping. 

Even though you aren’t spending the whole day gaming, provided you game for many hours non-stop, consider getting higher CPU cores. 

Anything around 6 cores or above will give you impressive gaming experiences. 

Quality of Games You Wish To Play: What are the games you hope to play? Are they high-graphic games or low ones? In other words, are the games competitive or graphically demanding?

Quality of Tasks You Wish To Perform: These include non-gaming tasks such as video editing, rendering, graphics design, encoding, and other related tasks. If you wish to perform these CPU-intensive tasks while playing video games, consider a CPU with enough cores to deliver exceptional multitasking ability. 

The Conclusion 

Is 6 cores enough for gaming? Yes, it is. A 6 core CPU is considered the sweet spot of gaming and can run top games (triple-A games).

We took the liberty of explaining the meaning of cores, including how they impact performance. We also believe these tips will help you choose the right CPU cores for your computer build. 

You can go with the recommendation provided in the table or decide based on your research.