The CPU is an important part of a gaming PC. It performs all of the calculations and tasks given to it by the memory, and is often the primary component of most computers in general. In other words, the CPU is like your brain!
Meet the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D. It's considered the (second) greatest gaming CPU on the market right now! It boasts 8 cores, 16 threads, and a 96MB L3 Cache!
You might look at that 96MB of cache and think it's pretty small, but consider the competition: Standard Ryzen 7000 series only have 32MB, and Intel's core i9 series only have 36MB. Our 7800X3D over 2.5x the amount!
But why is this important?
Think of this cache as something like the CPU's own personal RAM. It stores small amounts of important data it needs when making millions of calculations. This is good for gaming because games are complicated and interactive- They require frequent access to memory. Not only does it need to look at the previous frame, it also needs to know what the next frame will need.
You're probably looking at this and going, "Well hold up, Mr. Josh- This CPU is a load of bullshit! There's only like 8 cores when I looked on Amazon and they had a Ryzen 9 7950X3D that's 16 cores!"
Ryzen 9 7800X3D:
Ryzen 9 7950X3D:
The Ryzen 9 7950X3D is not a gaming CPU- Sure, it's pretty good at it, but it's built for more intensive tasks like animations, professional video editing, etc. Even then, only half of the 16 cores actually use it's 3D cache, making it about the same as our 7800X3D. Also, this shit is like $700 on Amazon and you can just get a 7800X3D for half that.
Anyway, this little shit can do just about anything I want to do with it, an I LOVE it.
And it does this for every single frame.
While RAM is cheaper, it is also significantly slower and further away compared to the CPU cache. With a good CPU cache, it doesn't to wait for the RAM to send it more data. Don't shoot me on this one- They don't develop these at the same time!
Like the CPU and the RGB fans, the CPU cooler is the most important part of the PC!
You basically have 2 options when it comes to CPU cooling- you have or you have the expensive, stupid liquid cooling, or you have the simple, effective, air cooling. As you can see, I chose correctly!
Okay, I'm Just Joshing™ you. Liquid cooling isn't the worst thing ever- It's actually more effective and tends to look cooler! But they are harder to maintain, it costs more, and it can leak everywhere. Liquids and I are just not compatible and I dread the day I'll need to use one. There's also how loud fans can be compared to liquid cooling, but to be honest, I prefer having some bit of noise. Having things too quiet makes it seem off.
With air cooling, you can just slap a heatsink and a fan and call it a day, like what I have here! The brown fan you see up front is a Noctua fan. It's reliable and effective. The white fan in the back is some silly fan I found at work. It's mostly there for aesthetics.