Is a 6-core CPU enough for gaming in 2025?

It’s the age-old question: are six cores enough for gaming? Gamers have been asking this question for many CPU generations now, and the answer has always been “yes” until recently. Although a modern 6-core CPU is still almost always enough for most games, 8-core CPUs have been able to make use of their additional cores to offer extra performance in some recent AAA titles and, of course, in many CPU-heavy games.

An important thing to remember when making these comparisons is to always pit a 6-core CPU against an 8-core chip from the same architecture or generation. For instance, compare the Ryzen 5 7600 against the Ryzen 7 7700 or even the Core i5-14600K.

Yes, six cores are still enough, mostly

What is your definition of “enough?”

When someone asks, “Are six cores enough for gaming?” they’re probably wondering about one of three things. First, and most likely, is the comparison with an 8-core CPU from the same architecture. So, someone building a new gaming PC might wonder whether they’re losing any performance by opting for the Ryzen 5 7600 instead of the Ryzen 7 7700. To answer that — no, the 7600 and 7700 are virtually identical in almost all games and all resolutions.

Games are still heavily reliant on faster single-core performance rather than more cores. Even if you compare the Ryzen 5 7600 with the newer 8-core Ryzen 7 9700X, the 6-core chip will only be around 5 to 7% slower, on average. Choosing the 6-core chip is not something I would call “leaving performance on the table.”

Second, a new PC builder might be worried about bottlenecking their high-end graphics card if they consider a 6-core CPU “too weak.” I want to allay anyone’s fears about this, as the Ryzen 5 7600 is powerful enough even for the RTX 4090, and won’t bottleneck it significantly.

Third and last, a gamer might be skeptical about getting a universal 60+ FPS experience across all their games. To be fair, without upscaling, even the RTX 4090 can’t deliver a native 60+ FPS experience in some of the heaviest games. However, since you’ll most likely be enabling DLSS, FSR, or XeSS on your graphics card, upscaling and frame generation will push you over 60 FPS in 99% of situations, provided you have a high-end to premium graphics card (RTX 4070 Ti or above).

In summary, a modern 6-core chip such as the Ryzen 5 7600, Ryzen 5 9600X, or Core i5-14600K is still more than enough for any demanding game, provided you also have the GPU horsepower to pull off the required FPS.

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But eight cores are not “unnecessary” either

More cores do bring benefits to games

It’s clear that games still don’t strictly need more than six CPU cores, but having additional cores isn’t completely insignificant. For instance, an 8-core or 12-core CPU will undoubtedly increase your FPS in most games, albeit by a small margin. More importantly, however, more cores can significantly boost FPS in specific titles that rely on CPU horsepower, such as RTS or simulation games like Civilization VI, Cities: Skylines, Baldur’s Gate 3, Microsoft Flight Simulator, and more.

Competitive gamers who need as many FPS as possible can also find the additional cores on an 8-core or 12-core CPU worthwhile, especially at 1080p. Furthermore, games like Cyberpunk 2077 can easily reach 90%+ CPU utilization on 8-core CPUs, making the case stronger for investing in 8-core CPUs in 2025. Gamers will also sometimes see smoother gameplay with 8-core CPUs, thanks to the higher “1% low” FPS compared to that on 6-core chips.

As game developers optimize for more cores, the importance of 8-core CPUs will continue to grow. For now, you can choose an 8-core CPU (or something more powerful) if you have the budget or you want to pair a high-end CPU with your high-end graphics card. Otherwise, 6-core CPUs will comfortably last you for a few more years, at which point you’ll probably be due for an upgrade, anyway.

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More cores mean more performance, but not that much

Gaming performance can indeed scale with more CPU cores, often up to 12 cores and then tapering off, but the differences are most pronounced only when jumping from four cores to six cores. Moving to eight cores will improve FPS only by a small margin in most games and significantly in limited scenarios, sometimes improving the 1% low FPS.

If you’re building a budget or mid-range gaming PC in 2025, you can blindly pick a 6-core CPU and invest the bulk of your budget in a better graphics card. For high-end shoppers building an enthusiast gaming PC, investing in an 8-core CPU might be worth it for the near future. You can also pick one of AMD’s Ryzen X3D processors if you are targeting the absolute best gaming performance.