No idea about whether its optimized for single thread, but in general most things use parallel processing only lightly, or so I hear. Having 8 cores is really only great when you want to manually divide which processes run on which cores. At that point you can actually see some gains when you're running a lot of software. However if you're not streaming + playing + other software in the background, I'd say the amount of cores you have is not a huge concern.

Anyway I'm not an expert, but as far as CPU recommendations, Intel chips are considered the industry best. They do come at a slightly higher price point, but are generally worth it.

I5 4-core is the best bang-for-your-buck CPU. It'll run all games plenty fine. General pricing is around 250 US$, +/-

If you want to splurge, the I7 is the way to go, but those will be around 330.

In the end it just comes to your budget and needs though. I've had other processor brands that were fine.

Most games are optimized for single-threaded performance. Where higher clock speeds and IPCs (instructions per clock) are more important. This is where Intel CPUs excel.

Most programs on the other hand are multi-threading enabled. Especially workstation applications like Adobe Premier. This is where AMD CPU's can flex their silicon muscles (usually).

But to answer the question, you want to look for a CPU that first fits your budget and needs. I went with Ryzen since I do video editing and gaming on the same machine. If it was gaming and nothing but gaming, I'd have saved up the extra cash for an Intel CPU (and compatible motherboard).

Peekachu99 wrote: »

High end, high ghz, four core Ryzen should suffice and will be cheaper than the Intel equivalent. Since multithreading in this game is so bad, you don’t need eight cores.

You don't even need six. However, a Ryzen 5 chip is generally the sweet spot to most people for an AMD gaming PC. The Ryzen 3 1300X doesn't have multi-threading, but its an excellent value for an entry level chip and should be plenty powerful for games. The Ryzen 5 1600 is also an excellent value if you plan to have more things going on in the background while you are gaming.

But here's the thing. Ryzen CPU performance largely depends on what speed your DDR4 memory is rated for. Faster is better, though Ryzen motherboards are not yet ready to handle 3000+ MHz RAM.

You also need a good GPU. A Ryzen 3 1300 can do just fine with a Radeon RX 580. A Ryzen 5 1600 works best with a faster GPU like a GTX 1070 or better. But good luck getting a decent GPU anywhere close to MSRP any time soon. Cryptocurrency miners are still inflating the GPU market prices beyond what's "reasonable" for gamers on a budget.