Productivity, or everything else. Where do you need powerful CPU, apart from games?

Strong processors are also useful in a number of other activities related to the broadly understood productivity. Below are some examples of areas where they are often useful:

1. Working with virtual machines – here the processor is crucial, as not only does it have to drive the host, but also ensure adequate performance of the virtualized system. In this case, what CPU you need depends on the desired power of the target virtual machine, but the bigger it is, the better the user experience will be.
2. Compressing and unpacking files – contrary to appearances, zipping and unpacking compressed files (rar, zip, 7z, etc.) is a very resource-intensive activity. It requires a powerful processor and a sufficiently fast disk to operate quickly and efficiently. In this case, the combination of these two elements is crucial, as a slow disk paired with a great processor will be a bottleneck for the CPU power. Similarly, it works the other way around, where a slow processor will not be able to keep up with the very fast SSD.
3. Excel – many of you may be surprised, but Excel requires a lot of computing power in certain situations. When it comes to really large files with huge databases, opening, browsing, or performing tasks on individual cells can be very straining. A fast processor (and a good SSD) can definitely improve the comfort of using this program. In this case, however, it has been assumed that the highest possible CPU clock speed is desirable, not necessarily more cores (although it certainly won't hurt).