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AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Ryzen 7 9800X3D are the best gaming CPUs around, but both of those cost well over $400 and are often out of stock. What if you're planning a PC Build that's more budget-conscious? The Ryzen 5 9600X is a great choice for mid-range gaming and productivity.

This 6-core, 12-thread CPU can run at up to 5.4 GHz and now it's on sale for its lowest price ever: $223 at Amazon.

AMD Ryzen 5 9600X: was $230, now $223 at Amazon
This 6-thread, 12-core CPU operates on the Zen 5 architecture and has a maximum boost clock of 5.4 GHz.

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When we reviewed the Ryzen 5 9600X, we tested it against our suite of 1080p games and found that it was capable of outputting an average of 163 fps. When we turned on Precision Boost Overdrive, the number jumped to 175 fps.

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

These numbers are with an RTX 4090 card so your results will vary, depending on your graphics card. However, the point is that you will not be significantly CPU limited and can depend on your discrete GPU for good gaming performance.