Best 1150 CPU For LGA 1150 Motherboards in 2023

LGA 1150 Sockets are not dead, there’s a ton of CPUs in the market that utilizes this socket despite the fact that it’s been about 7 years since they were initially released.

With these fourth-generation Intel Core CPUs, you could build a very powerful gaming PC. Couple one of these bad boys with something like a GTX 1650 and you could play the Witcher 3 all day long, the graphics would still be amazing and the gameplay would be just as smooth.

So, if you’ve already got a motherboard compatible with LGA 1150 Socket, and don’t want to spend a lot of money getting into the newest generation of CPUs; good news everyone! Because, I’ve searched around and got a list of all the best Intel CPUs that would go along with an LGA 1150 socket. We also have here for LGA 1151 and if you need help on how you can safely remove a CPU from a motherboard, we have a guide here.

What to look for in an LGA 1150 Compatible CPU

A CPU is not a simple component that you just slap on your PC. After first considering the GPU, the CPU is what many tend to focus on, those two components are the most crucial and expensive components of any PC build.

So, if you’re planning to get a good CPU for your LGA 1150 compatible mobo, there are some specifications that you need to keep in mind so that you can make a more informed decision.

Number of cores

This isn’t the old days where single core CPUs were all the rage. Nowadays the multi core CPUs have become the mainstream. Advancements in technology have made it possible to pack several cores inside a single processor, this makes it possible to share the workload, and in return makes processing much faster and efficient.

In the modern day and age, we’ve got the option to utilize about eight cores in our conventional consumer class CPUs. However, all of those cores won’t mean anything if the software you are using it for, is not programmed to take full advantage of these cores.

So when you’re trying to find a good CPU, remember to take note of how many cores you will actually need for your applications, whether it’s for gaming, video editing, or programming.

Frequency

The frequency is a direct measurement of how fast the CPU is at performing calculations. In the past this can be directly correlated to performance but now, with the introduction of different architectures, this metric has become somewhat unreliable. However, It is still widely used to compare CPUs which are in close proximity to one another.

Most video games and softwares use the frequency as one of their specs, but in order to avoid confusion, they also include an example of a CPU. For example, Red Dead Redemption 2’s minimum CPU requirement is the Intel Core i5-2500K, which has a base clock of 3.3 GHz. This spec allows you to easily recognize that you need a CPU that’s faster than 3.3 GHz and more performance heavy than a second generation Core i5.

Thermal Design Power

CPUs are high-performance electronic components and they also generate large amounts of heat. The Thermal Design Power spec is used to let the user know how much heat this CPU is expected to give off. The reason for including this spec is to get an idea about the power requirements of the CPU along with the ability to make a decision on sizing up a suitable CPU cooler.

So if you need to get a proper CPU cooler to match your new CPU, I’d suggest you size up the cooler based on the TDP spec.

Integrated Graphics

This is something that most users neglect, especially budget gamers, owing mostly due to the fact that CPUs with integrated graphics without this feature are a little bit cheaper.

An external GPU will be more than enough to maintain the graphical side of things and most often, an integrated GPU will never be utilized. It will come into play only during the off-chance that the external GPU breaks down, for whatever reason.

So if you’re ever in the market for a CPU and wondering if that extra money for an integrated GPU is going to be worth the investment, I’d highly recommend you go for it because then it will be able to burden the simple daily tasks. The PC will only let the external GPU kick in during intense graphically demanding sessions such as gaming. Besides, having an integrated GPU adds an extra layer of safety.

Cache

This isn’t very useful for gamers but it’s better to know about the cache memory. Basically it’s an even faster version of the RAM but it’s a very small storage space, about 6 to 8 MB.

The cache is located in the processor itself and therefore, the CPU can retrieve the data stored in this cache much faster, about 10 to a 100 times faster than the RAM. It’s an optional spec to look out for, only useful for the most detail-oriented of users.

The numbers Mason, what do they mean?

So the LGA 1150 Socket only supports Intel Core series CPUs and Intel has this weird numbering system when it comes to their beloved CPU series. What I learnt the hard way was that the Core i7 did not feature 7 cores. This “knowledge”, if I’d have known it sooner, could have saved me a lot of embarrassment.

Intel has an in-depth guide on what these numbers mean, so without going back there, here’s a quick guide to those numbers.

Before we start, let’s assume that we are trying to find the details for an “Intel Core i7-4790K”

Brand: The first couple of names is the brand of the CPU. These can take anything from “Intel Pentium”, “Intel Celeron” and so on. Intel refers to this as the “Overall product line the processor was created for”. In our example, this processor belongs to the “Intel Core” series.

Brand Modifier: This is the i3, i5 and i7 variants. They define how performance heavy they are, compared to their lower numbered cousins. Most of the higher numbers, like the i7s, can also include additional features such as hyperthreading. In our example, the brand modifier is the “i7”.

Generation Indicator: The first two digits in the four digit number represents the generation that the CPU belongs to. In this situation we have a fourth generation Core i7 processor.

SKU numeric digits: The last two numbers aren’t that important for consumers, but if you want to know: it is used to represent the order in which those processors are developed in the product line.

Product Line Suffix: The last part of the name indicates some of the processor’s key features. Such as U; to indicate processors built for power-efficient laptops, F; to indicate processors that do not have any onboard graphics, XE; for extreme edition maximum performance processors and, in our case, K; for processors that can be overclocked. There’s a ton more suffixes, but for us, these will be enough.

So, I’ve covered a lot of ground regarding CPUs; Intel Core series CPUs to be exact. In the following section I’ll list out four CPUs that you could consider buying, along with the best option which I believe, provides the most value for your money.