Get a Core i7 11700K for £279 at Ebay (was £340, RRP £404)
Core i7 CPUs have had a weird few years. Initially, they were the fastest possible CPUs compared to the slower and fewer-cored Core i3 and Core i5 classes, but that changed with the ninth generation as Intel added the Core i9 9900K - likely as a way to push back against what was then a rapidly-improving competitor in AMD’s Ryzen. We then had a couple of generations with the Core i7 offering fewer cores and lower frequencies than the flagship Core i9, but with 11th-gen the Core i7 option looks a lot more promising once again. As alluded to in the introduction, the Core i9 this year has the same eight-core, sixteen-thread layout as the Core i7, so the only reason to go for the more expensive i9 is a unique feature called Adaptive Boost Technology that pushes frequency higher when temperature allows. That doesn’t result in a massive uptick in gaming performance, so the Core i7 11700K feels like the much better value option! The Core i7 11700K will work on Intel 400-series or 500-series motherboards, e.g. the Z490 and Z590, with the former normally requiring a BIOS upgrade to add support for the CPU as it was released later. If you already have a Core i5 10400 or similar, this would be a strong upgrade. Otherwise we recommend this chip for those currently using a significantly older Intel or AMD CPU (e.g. first or second-gen Ryzen, or seventh-gen Intel Core), as this will ensure a big enough performance leap to make the decision to get a new motherboard and potentially new RAM worthwhile!
