How Many CPU Cores Do You Need for Gaming?

If you’ve ever built a gaming rig, you’ve probably spent hours tweaking parts and components in your cart without ever actually checking out – and you’ve probably asked yourself more than once: how many CPU cores do I actually need for gaming?

With modern CPUs boasting anything from 4 to 16+ cores, it’s easy to assume that more cores equals better performance. But the reality is a bit more complicated. Unless you’re gaming in a NASA control room or cryptocurrency mine, you probably don’t need as many as you think.

Let’s look at what really matters for gaming performance – and how to make the right choices for your setup.

What are CPU Cores?

CPU (Central Processing Units) cores are like mini-processors inside your main processor. Your main processor is, these days, actually more like an umbrella network that organizes tasks between different cores it has available – so the more cores you have, the more tasks your CPU can handle at once (i.e., ‘in parallel’). This is especially useful for multitasking, such as editing video while running background apps, or streaming while gaming.

Are More CPU Cores Always Better for Gaming?

When it comes to gaming alone, more cores don’t always mean more frames per second. This is because most popular games are still optimized for fewer cores with higher clock speed, not necessarily lots of parallel processing. And this makes sense for two main reasons: 

Firstly, game manufacturers exist by being able to sell their games, and it’s hard to sell a game profitably when only a small handful of gamers are able to run it. 

Secondly, most titles (especially with e-sports and indie games) are optimized for fewer cores and higher clock speeds for a crucial reason that we’ll have to spend a moment explaining.

CPU vs GPU for Gaming

CPUs aren’t the whole equation when it comes to gaming because gaming needs to also utilize GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), as well as RAM (Random Access Memory). 

The main role of a CPU is to handle all of the computational parts of a game. That usually means things like the physics engine or story/environment triggers. You might imagine that a physics engine is handled by a GPU, but the GPU only handles the rendering of the results of those physics calculations.

Crucially, multi-core graphics rendering is much easier to accomplish because it’s fairly straightforward to ask different cores to render different parts of an image and then stitch them all together (this is a little more complex with 3D worlds, but you get the picture). 

When it comes to computations like physics calculations, in-game AI, input responses, and so on, they tend to rely on a form of sequential logic; that is to say, “if this happened, do this and then this…”. So it’s therefore much harder to split those tasks up across different cores, process them in parallel, and stitch them back up in the correct sequence without introducing more latency to everything, which results in a lower framerate or more lag.

In short, what this means is that clock speed is king when it comes to most gaming. So, a 6-core CPU with a really strong single-thread clock speed is likely to outperform a 10-core CPU for most gaming tasks.

But that doesn’t mean you should opt for the least amount of cores. Sure, you may not need those extra cores if you’re only planning on gaming, but games are constantly pushing technological boundaries, so it’s often sensible to future-proof your setup.

Quad-Core vs Hexa-Core vs Octa-Core

Here’s how the most common core counts stack up in real-world gaming use:

Quad-Core (4 Cores)

If you’re gaming at 1080p on less demanding titles like Valorant, League of Legends, or Minecraft, a solid quad-core processor can still get the job done satisfactorily. So it’s a great starting point for budget builds or setups that need to stay compact or more mobile.

Hexa-Core (6 Cores)

This is the sweet spot for most gamers in 2025. A 6-core CPU like the Intel i5 12400 delivers excellent performance in modern titles at both 1080p and 1440p. It also handles light multitasking quite well, which is great if you’ve got Discord or Spotify open in the background while you game.

Octa-Core (8 Cores)

Ideal for those who game and stream, or run heavier apps like OBS, game launchers, and browsers at the same time. 8-core CPUs are also a great option if you’re gaming at higher resolutions or want a bit of future-proofing for more demanding upcoming titles.

Is 10 Cores Overkill for Gaming?

In most cases, yes. CPUs with 10 cores or more are generally designed for users doing a mix of gaming and heavy productivity, like video editing, rendering, or multitasking with multiple high-performance apps. If you’re just gaming, you likely won’t see a noticeable difference between a 10-core chip and a well-optimized 6 or 8-core processor.

So you’ll be spending extra money for power that most games won’t (at least yet) take advantage of.

Is an 8-Core CPU Overkill?

These days, opting for a high-quality 8-core CPU is likely to get you a lot of mileage, especially if you play demanding AAA titles, stream on Twitch, or want to keep your system future-ready. Games like Cyberpunk 2077, Starfield, and Hogwarts Legacy are all built to utilize multiple threads.

And provided you’ve got the GPU to back it up, an 8-core CPU can handle 4K gaming pretty well.

So, How Many Cores do You Need?

These aren’t hard and fast rules, but should get you in the right ballpark.

Customize and Decorate Your Game Setup

Once you’ve figured out your core count and locked in your hardware, don’t forget to consider your setup as a whole. It’s one thing to have a monster PC that can handle everything, but it’s another thing to make the PC and your gaming space look cool.

We’re not saying a well-decorated space makes you play better… but we’re also not not saying that either.

If you need to spruce up your vibe, check out our massive collection of gaming-related metal posters. They’re super durable, so you never have to worry about them tearing, and they mount to walls really easily using a magnet strip – so you can also swap them around whenever you need a refresh.

If you’re ready to step up to the next level, check out our Displate blog for all the latest gaming insight and hacks to elevate your experience. If it’s one thing we know, it’s how to game like a pro!