I'm putting together a new PC around an MSI RTX 4070 12GB and don't have a strict budget limit. I mainly want the best-balanced CPU and memory pairing for gaming, while also leaving enough headroom for future graphics card upgrades. I may also use the system for some AI-related workloads, so recommendations for both gaming and productivity would be helpful.
2 Answers
If you’ll be doing substantial non-gaming work in addition to gaming, an Intel processor such as the Core i5-13600K can be a good alternative. It provides strong gaming performance and plenty of multi-core capability for productivity tasks, although the X3D Ryzen chips are generally the better choice when gaming is the main priority.
For an Intel-focused build with no budget concerns, a higher-end Core i7 or i9 can work, but it may be more CPU than an RTX 4070 needs for gaming. I’d prioritize a good motherboard, cooling, and 32GB of fast DDR5 rather than overspending on the processor.

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