The Nvidia RTX 4070 and RTX 4070 Ti are among the best graphics cards you can buy for high frame rate gameplay at 1440p, and even a little 4K in the right title. But you'll only be able to make the most of these graphics cards if you pair them with a powerful processor.
Matching CPUs with GPUs can be tricky. When upgrading your PC, you might have a certain GPU in mind based on price and performance, but knowing what the best processor to pair with is may not be as obvious. For the RTX 4070 or 4070 Ti, these are your best options to consider.
The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D is a true unicorn of its generation. It offers competitive gaming performance with the most expensive processors available today -- the Ryzen 7950X3D and the Intel Core i9-14900K -- but it does so at a fraction of the price and a fraction of the power draw. Thanks to its massive 96MB of L3 cache, this CPU punches well above its weight in games, and because it's got eight Zen 4 cores, it's perfectly suited for modern gaming. With an RTX 4070 or 4070 Ti working in tandem with it, this CPU can help your games run smoother and faster, with much faster load times.
The additional cache is particularly good in heavy simulation games, so if you like to play expansive strategy titles with long load screens and complicated AI turns, this CPU is a great pick.
You do have to take a hit on productivity with this chip, as the 3D V-Cache demands that the CPU run at a lower clock speed than the comparable eight-core 7700X. It also falls well behind the top Intel and AMD CPUs on that front, because they simply have more cores to work with.
But for pairing with a powerful graphics card? The 7800X3D is the best CPU for the job. It'll help you make the most of your 40-series graphics card
The Intel Core i5-13600K might not be the most cutting-edge of Intel processors, but when it comes to cost, efficiency, and performance, it's one of the best CPUs Team Blue has to offer. With 14 cores in total (6 performance plus eight efficiency), it offers impressive multitasking and gaming performance, with its high 5.1GHz boost clock speed ensuring this chip really flies when it's put under pressure.
Unlike the top-tier CPUs from the 13th and 14th generation, though, the 13600K does not overheat or draw incredible amounts of power just to run. It is still less capable and less efficient than our 7800X3D, but it's not far behind and it's equally affordable. You can pair it with DDR4 memory and older motherboard designs too, if you want to save a little more money.
When paired up with an RTX 4070 or RTX 4070 Ti, this chip will deliver excellent performance in games. It won't be as impressive as the 7800X3D, especially at lower resolutions and in more demanding sim games, but if you want an Intel CPU for the job, especially if you're upgrading from a compatible 12th generation CPU, then the 13600K is a great pick.
If you're looing for the best pure bang-for-the-buck CPU to pair with the 4070 or 4070 Ti, there's no question that the Ryzen 9 7800X3D CPU is what you need. But for raw power? The 7950X3D is the better processor. It's much more expensive, and in some games even performs slightly worse, but it does have more cores -- 16 versus 8 -- and it can boost higher on individual cores sometimes, making it generally slightly faster at gaming.
With its 16 cores, it's also far more capable at productivity tasks. Especially since those additional eight cores don't have the extra cache, so can operate at their full boost clocks. This is the kind of CPU that can truly go toe-to-toe with Intel's best and come out competitive, or on top -- and do it with far less power draw, too. But if you know how to overclock your CPU, you get to claim some extra performance.
It is more competitive, rather than a blowout, compared to the 7800X3D, though. So only get this if you want the additional productivity performance, and don't mind increasing your budget to include it.
If you want a more affordable CPU to pair with your RTX 4070 or 4070 Ti, the Ryzen 5 7600X is your best bet. At around $230 at the time of writing, it represents excellent value for the money, with a long upgrade path ahead of it where you'll be able to swap it out for a faster CPU for years to come, without upgrading your motherboard.
You will need DDR5 memory for it, and the 600-series AMD motherboards are still expensive compared to their previous-generation counterparts, but overall this represents the best budget CPU for gaming or productivity with a 4070, at a low, $200-ish price.
The Intel equivalent would be an Core i5-13400, but while it is slightly cheaper, it's performance is worse, and there's a much more limited upgrade path.
Buying a new processor isn't something you should go into blind. In fact, if you don't know when to upgrade your CPU hold off until you know the time is right.
Do your research, and make sure you know what you're buying. Our guide to buying a new CPU should help you here.
Jon Martindale covers how to guides, best-of lists, and explainers to help everyone understand the hottest new hardware and software in desktops, laptops, and on the web. He's also written articles on how to make your PC more efficient for the summer, and how he fixed his backpain with an annoying pop-up app.
Although Jon covers a wide range of topics, his particular focus is on PC components and peripherals. He's also written gaming performance guides.
Jon also writers for Forbes, Lifewire, and Microcenter, has authored two novels, and provided back story and dialogue for a handful of games. He's an amateur game developer, and has made a few game prototypes in his spare time -- with a little help from ChatGPT. Jon's also an avid board gamer, getting in regular games of epic tabletop fare like Twilight Imperium and War of the Ring where he can. He's a father to two kids who recently discovered the joys of Pokémon, and keeps his aging French Bulldog cross busy on regular walks.
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