I knew this was make out — I just did n’t expect it to find quite just yet . It turns out that some of thebest processorsare on their way toward retreat , because eight - substance CPUs are slowly becoming the go - to , depart their six - core twin in the rear view mirror . The info comes from a trustworthy source , too . Does this mean it ’s prison term to trench your six - core CPU , then ? Not quite — but maybe . Below , I ’ll explicate why .
Eight-core CPUs finally overtake six-core chips in new report
CPU - Z is a organization validator and a free profiling pecker that gives you a lot of useful info about your computer ’s computer hardware . Unsurprisingly , its primary centering is on the CPU , with useful information such as the manufacturer name and model , act of cores , and clock speed .
Today , CPU - Z released a newreportbased on its findings , and it ’s clear that eight - pith CPUs are on the rise — largely thanks to the succeeder ofAMD ’s Ryzen 7 9800X3D(and its previous loop ) . Intel ’s last few generations tend to sport more cores , so only really budget - oriented C.P.U. offer just eight or few . For the sleep of them , you ’ll find more cores ; for good example , the Intel Core i5 - 14600 K is n’t the dear mainframe in the world , but it still sports a total of 14 cores .
According to the late CPU - zee stats for the first quarter of 2025 , eight - heart and soul CPUs are now the most pop , sitting at a 24.7 % share — up 32.6 % from last year . Six - core chip now make up 22.5 % of CPU - Z data point , with a -6.9 % reduction compare to 2024 .
CPU-Z
This is followed by four - marrow mainframe and dual - core CPUs , both of which are likely found in budget PC and smaller devices , such as tablets ( CPU - Z also works on Android ) . Next come the giving batter , with 12 - Congress of Racial Equality and 16 - core CPUs , followed by 10 - effect and 14 - centre chip . All of those ( exclude the 12 - core ) saw a modest increase equate to last year , but they still do n’t make up a pot of the data .
astonishingly , the most democratic processor to appear in testing was the Ryzen 7 9800X3D. In a way , this is n’t that shocking given that this is an splendid mainframe , but the reality is that it ’s pretty pricey and was quite hard to come by initially . Now that it ’s in stock more often than not , it ’s clear that gamers may have flocked toward it and upgrade their PC to the new gambling beast . But still , the low Ryzen 5 5600X from two generations ago take the 2d place with a 2.1 % portion and an -8.9 % reducing equate to last twelvemonth ; the Ryzen 7 7800X3D and the Ryzen 7 5700X3D are both close , though .
Finding a CPU that offers more than eight essence is n’t prosperous in the CPU - Z report . In fact , only one crisp does that , and scarcely so — the Core i5 - 12400F score a measly 1.3 % percentage . Every other C.P.U. in the top ten sits at eight center or fewer .
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
Why are six-core CPUs growing less popular?
The data from CPU - Z is interesting , and it ’s definitely indicatory of a larger trend — but it ’s important to keep a few things in judgement .
First , CPU - Z only gets datum from mass who apply the peter . Oftentimes , this instrument will be used by power users more than casual users . This stand for that the data might have underrepresented the figure of six - core CPUs still out there . AMD keeps defecate six - nitty-gritty C.P.U. , and they ’re still pick up for both daily drivers and gaming purpose , not to mention all the laptops , tablets , and other devices that definitely fall below eight cores .
With that said , six - Congress of Racial Equality CPUsaregrowing less popular . They ’re bound to be . When AMD announced the Ryzen 9000 serial , I was mildly surprised to see the comeback of the six - coreRyzen 5 9600X. With the increasing demand for multi - thread workloads , six - gist C.P.U. often just do n’t trim it for power user anymore . They still do a beneficial line in budget - oriented PCs , though , although if I were to personally build one , I might swivel to Intel for the number of centre .
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
Does this mean you need to upgrade?
This young datum might have you feeling like it ’s fourth dimension to raise , but the realness is that you should only upgrade once your microcomputer or laptop just does n’t reduce it anymore .
There ’s no special intellect why a six - marrow mainframe might not be enough now if it was enough in 2024 . However , over meter , you might run into more central processing unit bottlenecks . This is especially authoritative if you ’re a gamer and you use one of thebest graphics visiting card . I ’m firmly against pairing peachy GPUs with budget CPUs — it ’s often better to satisfy in the center .
I will say this , though . The next time you find fault out a equipment or work up a PC , consider scale up to eight burden — especially if you tend to run multiple things at once and desire them all to run swimmingly .
