We’ve all seen the PC builds that go all out, relying on the most expensive components to guarantee the best performance possible. But it doesn't require best-in-slot PC parts to have a little fun with most games, and usually there’s a point of diminishing returns as you invest in ever more powerful and expensive hardware. If you’re trying to build or upgrade a rig within a moderate budget, there's plenty of hardware that strikes a great balance between performance and value in the Intel Core CPU and Intel Arc GPU lines.
Intel has been known for strong gaming CPUs for years. From the 12th Gen onward, many of the Core i5 and Core i7 CPUs are more than up to the task. 12th, 13th, and 14th Gen Intel Core CPUs have some big perks for gamers, with potent Performance Cores that can wrangle most games you throw at them. And they back those up with Efficient Cores that help handle your system’s background tasks, thereby freeing up the P-Cores to focus on ensuring consistent gaming performance. With older games, a single fast core can be all it takes to get good performance, and most of Intel’s recent Core processors will give you a handful, so even newer games that leverage more cores have plenty of system resources.
