When it comes to picking the CPU that will suit your gaming and mining needs, there is one thing that is sure. You should pick an AMD CPU. AMD CPUs are well known for better mining performance. Also, the latest AMD Ryzen series CPUs are cheaper and more effective overall than Intel CPUs are.

In 2020, we will most likely only mine the RandomX (Monero) algorithm with our CPUs. Hashrates on CPUs vary based on your RAM timings. Lower timings perform better. For example, CL 18 will perform worse than CL 15.

Same as in Best GPU for mining and gaming in 2020 blog post, we will split this guide into 3 parts:

• Low budget (under 200€)
• Medium budget (under 400€)
• High budget (above 400€)

TL;DR

• Go team red! 
• Buy AMD CPU.

Mining CPU - Low budget (under 200€)

If you are going with a lower budget of under 200€, then we suggest buying AMD Ryzen 5 3600 (non-X version).

Ryzen 5 3600 comes with 6 cores and 12 threads. It works at 3.60 GHz frequency stock. Which is more than enough for higher-end gaming.

It performs practically the same as AMD Ryzen 5 3600X but it is about 30€ cheaper, which can be spent on a better GPU. There is about a 2% difference when it comes to gaming. 

When mining, the GPU will perform at around 6kH/s (depending on your RAM timings) on the RandomX algorithm and use around 85W. Mining with AMD Ryzen 5 3600 will earn you some pocket money, it might even pay for itself over time.

AMD Ryzen 5 3600 (source: www.amd.com)

Mining CPU - Medium budget (under 400€)

When it comes to CPUs under 400€, we suggest going with AMD Ryzen 7 3700X. 

The processor has 8 cores and 16 threads and runs at 3.60 GHz stock. It can be easily overclocked to 3.90 GHz or even 4.00 GHz. Which makes it as fast or faster than AMD Ryzen 3800X at stock speed with the same core count.

We used the NiceHash compare table to compare Ryzen 7 3700X vs Ryzen 7 3800X.

When mining, Ryzen 7 3700X hashes at around 8 kH/s, depending on your RAM timings. It uses around 110W of power. 

AMD Ryzen 3700X is enough for high-end gaming. It will work great on all modern games as long as it has a solid GPU companion. You can check what kind of GPU to chose here.

AMD Ryzen 7 3700X (source: www.amazon.com)

Mining CPU - High budget (above 400€)

We did not include the HEDT CPUs (Threadripper series, i9 X) in this guide since it is simply not that common for an average user to use a HEDT.

If you are planning on buying a high-end CPU (just under the HEDT range) that is capable of great gaming and mining performance, we suggest the AMD Ryzen 9 3900X which runs at 3.80 GHz stock and has 12 cores and 24 threads. It is priced at around 450€ and it is almost half the price of the AMD Ryzen 9 3950X.

Ryzen 9 3900X hashes at around 14 kH/s, again, depending on your memory (RAM) timings and uses around 150W.

Ryzen 9 3900X will allow you to game on high FPS at pretty much every game. It is also a great CPU for a workbench computer.

AMD Ryzen 9 3900X (source: www.amazon.com)

Whatever CPU you pick, please note that out of the box, only X570 chipset motherboards support Ryzen 3rd gen CPUs. However, you can still use Ryzen 3rd gen CPUs on older motherboards by updating the BIOS.

Happy mining!