Best CPU for ASUS ROG X570 Crosshair VIII Extreme 2021

ASUS ROG X570 Crosshair VIII Extreme
ASUS ROG X570 Crosshair VIII Extreme (Image credit: Rich Edmonds / Windows Central)

The ASUS ROG X570 Crosshair VIII Extreme is one of the best motherboards. It's also one of the best X570 chipset-touting boards from ASUS for AMD processors, and we've rounded up the best CPUs for the ASUS ROG X570 Crosshair VIII Extreme right here.

Choosing the best CPU

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There's no "wrong" processor to choose for a motherboard, so long as it supports the socket. The ASUS ROG X570 Crosshair VIII Extreme is a killer motherboard with plenty of high-end features that make up the premium price. To make the most out of the board, you'll want an AMD Ryzen 9 processor.

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X is the best CPU for consumers before entering Threadripper territory. It has an impressive 16 cores and 32 threads with a clock speed of 3.4GHz. You can even overclock this thing to extract yet more performance from the power-hungry CPU.

If you don't need that much performance or don't have nearly $1,000 to spend on a processor, we'd recommend the Ryzen 9 5900X, which is the entry model for the 5000 series of Ryzen 9 CPUs. It's still a mighty processor with 12 cores and 24 threads and is better suited to tasks like gaming.

Rich Edmonds
Senior Editor, PC Build

Rich Edmonds was formerly a Senior Editor of PC hardware at Windows Central, covering everything related to PC components and NAS. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a PC chassis. You can follow him on Twitter at @RichEdmonds.