Best CPUs for programming 2026

Compiling big projects, Docker and virtual machines like many cores, while the IDE, tests and small builds like one fast core. Both count equally here.

#	CPU	Type	Task score	cores/threads	Score
1	Ryzen 9 9950X	Desktop	100.0	16 / 32	100.00
2	Ryzen 9 9950X3D	Desktop	100.0	16 / 32	100.00
3	Core Ultra 9 285K	Desktop	91.0	24 / 24	90.61
4	Ryzen 9 7950X	Desktop	89.3	16 / 32	89.63
5	Ryzen 9 7950X3D	Desktop	87.8	16 / 32	87.61
6	Core i9-14900K	Desktop	84.8	24 / 32	82.96
7	Ryzen 9 9900X	Desktop	84.7	12 / 24	80.49
8	Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme X2E-96-100	Laptop	84.4	18 / 18	80.33
9	Core Ultra 7 265K	Desktop	81.6	20 / 20	79.26
10	Core i9-13900K	Desktop	81.5	24 / 32	79.58
11	Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme X2E-94-100	Laptop	80.6	18 / 18	77.13
12	Snapdragon X2 Elite X2E-90-100	Laptop	77.9	18 / 18	71.79
13	Core Ultra 9 285HX	Laptop	76.5	24 / 24	72.57
14	Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus	Laptop	76.5	24 / 24	72.57
15	Ryzen 9 9955HX	Laptop	76.4	16 / 32	70.65
16	Ryzen 9 9955HX3D	Laptop	76.4	16 / 32	70.65
17	Ryzen 9 7900X	Desktop	76.0	12 / 24	72.58
18	Apple M5 Max 18-core	Laptop	75.4	18 / 18	66.96
19	Apple M5 Pro 18-core	Laptop	75.4	18 / 18	66.96
20	Core i7-14700K	Desktop	75.4	20 / 28	72.52
21	Ryzen AI Max+ 395	Laptop	75.1	16 / 32	70.63
22	Snapdragon X2 Elite X2E-88-100	Laptop	73.2	18 / 18	67.49
23	Core Ultra 9 275HX	Laptop	72.7	24 / 24	68.09
24	Core i9-13980HX	Laptop	71.9	24 / 32	67.93
25	Apple M5 Pro 15-core	Laptop	70.0	15 / 15	59.84

Compare the top two: Ryzen 9 9950X vs Ryzen 9 9950X3D →

How we rank

Formula: 50% multi-core, 50% single-core. For virtual machines and big databases, also check the maximum memory.

The score is our own estimate from the specs (cores, threads, clocks, architecture generation), not a benchmark run. 100 = the fastest CPU in our database.