Intel doesn't get too much love around here, but find me a better CPU for $180.
Great for a ~$500-$600 office/WFH build for everyone under COVID lockdown. Good choice for gaming given LGA1151 boards are pretty cheap. Benchmarks show it to be around the same gaming performance as a Ryzen 5 3600 (which is ~$100 more). Could pair it up with something like a 1660 Super for a $800 gaming focused build.
At $180, this is far superior to either the Ryzen 3 3100 or 3300X.
Referee: $10 off 1st purchase.
Referrer: $10/$20/$30 off $100/$150/$250 Spend.
Where are you finding the 1600AF?
plenty of 2600's on aliexpress: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33052556779.html?
Yeah, but you can't really compare used stuff with no warranty vs. new stuff, otherwise we might as well include CPUs you can get on eBay and Gumtree right?
Gaming and anything that likes high boost frequencies, the 1600af is a bit harder to find at decent prices most I’ve seen are around $185, you also get an igpu which as op mentions is great for an office build or heck use it for Plex Server and leverage the igpu for decoding.
That's if it can be found in stock anywhere and need to budget in a basic GPU.
It does look like stock is an issue, they used to be $150 but obviously very popular
This is nice, also has graphics if that's a factor for building a pc on the cheap. Or using an output less mining gpu to make a super cheap gaming rig.
not a fan of intel, so whats the budget mobo i can get to pair this ?
Anything that takes gen 9 (without bios flash) and look for what ever connection you want on the mobo (hdmi, vga) if you're using the igpu. Gaming or office use?
general use and some light gaming as well.
I recently upgraded my pc and I can reuse all my old parts to form a second pc
now I got mobo: Asrock ab350m pro4 - the mobo has some issues sometimes it gave me BSOD, so I'd like to get a budget b450m board to pair with my old Ryzen 5 1600, or I can get this cpu with intel platform; also I got gtx 1060 6g, 16 ram and 1tb ssd.
Same gaming performance as a Ryzen 5 3600.
Really?
It's same in a lot of titles some games that take advantage of more coress/threads there was about a 10% difference. I was surprised but I guess it's because a lot of games don't utilise more cores and this has a higher boost.
Hmm, guess that would be true for older games.
It’s more to do with the microprocessor architecture and the latency differences that creates between the two. Clock speed is not everything, the 9590 was 5GHz and slow as shit.
games dont utilise cores as much as some people make you believe
Even games like Gears 5 and BFV
Yes really. AMD hype is ridiculous.
Well it good to have AMD back.
Having only one player isn't good for consumers :-)
There's something everyone here is missing. The memory frequency. The i5-9400 on a reasonably priced B360/B365 board is capped at 2666MHz, that's going to put it at a disadvantage across the board in comparison to the Ryzen 5 3600. Sure you could put it on a Z390 board, but that makes it a fair bit more expensive.
2666 MHz is fine for Intel.
Although capping memory speed is a bad practise on Intel's part, the CPU itself being a monolithic 6 core should offset that quite a bit. This processor isn't impacted nearly as much as Ryzen by slower ram speeds. For the price, this seems to be great value. Especially considering prices of many entry level AMD processors and certain motherboards are inflated at the moment.
If the 10400 is outperformed by the 3600 with 2666 memory what do you think would happen with the 9400?
@Void: Nobody is arguing that the 9400 is better than the 3600. That's a silly comparison, the 3600 is literally more than 50% more expensive.
@Void: Yes but this is in the same price bracket as the 3300x/3100 and 2600. Compare products within their own price brackets.
@TeddyBear: I'm not saying this is bad at all and that you should get a 3600, but it definitely doesn't have the same game performance as the 3600.
I'm not saying this is bad at all and that you should get a 3600, but it definitely doesn't have the same game performance as the 3600.
And the 3600 doesn't have the same performance as a 3700X, which doesn't have the same performance as a 3900X, which doesn't have the same performance as a 3950X. What's your point?
@p1 ama: To be fair gaming performance does kind of plateau at around the 3600/3700x on the AMD side. But neither of them can match a 10900K. I get your point that the price premium between this 9400 and the 3600 isn't much. But gaming isn't always the primary use case for everyone.
Anyone can keep aiming higher and higher in the stack. But at some point it becomes too cost prohibitive.
@p1 ama: Again, this isn't a fair comparison because the 9400F is running the same memory speed as the 3600.
@p1 ama: If you are not using a good z series board, the 9400 is garbage.
The cost of a good z series board + 9400 is more vs a decent b450 + 2600 (my 2600 does 4.2/1.35V on MSI b450 mortar)
Everyone here seems to think they can buy this processor, pcpartpicker the cheapest board that is compatible and expect good speeds.
Pair the 9400 with a cheap board and you will not be able to boost to even 4.1 nor will you be able to use good memory.
@p1 ama: Read the conclusion:
"The Core i5-9400F is a good processor today, but when you consider the platform, future upgrade options are slim. In two years you’ll ideally want more than six threads and you will be stuck to second hand 8700K, 9700K or 9900K processors for a more powerful drop-in replacement. Unfortunately we don't believe the prospects will be great then either. Hoping over to eBay we found the cost of Core i7-7700K completed listings — that is 7th-gen Core i5 owners looking to upgrade — spending Ryzen 5 3600 money on the 36 month old quad-core."
As tempting as this deal is, future proofing would be better with the ryzen with zen3 support.
As tempting as this deal is, future proofing would be better with the ryzen with zen3 support.
If that's important to you, then go with Ryzen. I'm not trying to convince you one way or another. I have 3 Ryzen systems and only 1 Intel system, so FWIW, I personally agree with you.
However, that being said, if you want to just put together a $700 gaming PC today, you'd be hard pressed to go past this + a 1660 Super.
@p1 ama: This!
I just put together a budget $700 gaming rig for my sons first pc. Its about 1/3 cost of my old gaming rig and this is about twice as fast. Hes going to be playing older titles @ 1080p. I considered a NUC (small and portable) but for same price i get this pc which will serve him well for next 6 years (then he can build his own!).
I have a gigabyte z370 hd, apparently with a bios update it can support gen 9 cpus, has people have had success with this?
Does it require another 8th gen chip to do the updating?
If you talk with computer alliance they might flash a bios for free if you purchase as a set. They have for me before but that was in person and not on a sale like this tho so do check with them if you plan on asking them to flash for you
Edit: I misunderstood your question. Yes a bios update is very easy just go to your manufacturers website and Download the latest bios onto a usb and restart your computer. Hit delete to enter bios and click update bios.
Ah yeah that makes sense. I have a 8700k that I am not using so should be ok.
I know the 8700k did not come with a cpu fan, any chance the i5 come with some stock cooler?
The i5 would come with a stock cooler. Are you looking at buying this over the 8700k??
@bobsmidie: I already have the 8700k but that might be overkill for a office machine so been thinking about getting another cpu then maybe selling the 8700k.
@zman09: That makes a lot of sense. You should be easily able to flash the bios and pop in one of these and sell the 8700k with hundreds the spare.
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Z370-HD3-rev-10/support…
As long as you have a BIOS version F11 or later you should be golden. That motherboard does require an 8th gen installed to be able to update.
Check for the exact model of motherboard to get the right BIOS. It could be different to the one I linked.
Thank you
Will this RAM work with this Intel i5?
https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B07RM39V5F/
The ram didn't work on Ryzen 7 3700.
Do you have the ram already? If so I'd say claim warranty or return.
They should absolutely work with ryzen unless you're trying to overclock to a speed that the ryzen can't take.
1800 FCLK is sometimes not achievable without voltage tweaking. The RAM is not at fault. 1800 FCLK is already a speed some chips can't take without tweaking.
Tweaking? I just want to plug and play :-(
@congo: 3600MHz isn't guaranteed plug and play, it really should be better disclaimed. See how the maximum "supported" frequency of the 3700X is 3200MHz? Anything above that is an overclock, and can't be guaranteed.
3600MHz isn't guaranteed plug and play, it really should be better disclaimed. See how the maximum "supported" frequency of the 3700X is 3200MHz? Anything above that is an overclock, and can't be guaranteed.
Incorrect, anything above JEDEC specification is an overclock, i.e. anything over 2133 MHz is an overclock. RAM kits sold are simply validated to run at their printed frequencies, which are overclocks. There is never a guarantee that RAM kits will run at their printed speeds. These days, they generally will because DDR4 is mature.
If you've been around for a while, you'd know that XMP used to be a joke. When DDR4 was new, very often you couldn't get RAM to run at their XMP speeds. If you were on Haswell-E back in the day, good luck running anything above 2400 MHz or 2666 MHz.
@p1 ama: I'm going based on the CPU, not the DRAM. Anything past 3200MHz on the 3700X is an IMC overclock.
yes, will work with i5 ,
Should work for both, just make sure the ram is not faulty
If you're not using a Z370/Z390 board it will not operate at full speed, only at 2666MHz.
I tried it on the MSI B450M MORTAR MAX AMD AM4 with 3700, maybe its faulty…
3300X is faster according to reviews.
But the 3300X is more expensive with two less cores. The i5 will be better for applications that utilise more cores.
2 less cores but 2 extra threads, in practice the 3300x wins because of the superior architecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QwGRDcqAiQ
the whole 6c/6t thing was a sham imo to force people to upgrade down the road, 4c/8t cpus are more future-proof just because of the 2 extra threads
That's bullshit. If you are buying this for gaming, 6 cores are enough for even modern game titles. Majority of games are still geared for higher clock-speed than multithreading.
It's different if you are buying this for a video editing/productivity PC. In that case even the 3300x is not enough. You really need a 8 cores and above CPU it.
6 cores is the sweet spot for gaming right now. Should be enough to last you 2-3 years before game engine advances allows for better multithreading and therefore a PC upgrade
@Marx: My 3500X currently suffering in AC: Odyssey, Battlefield 1, Rainbow Six Siege, and multitasking would like to have a word with you. Many games are unplayable without setting them to "High" priority because there simply aren't enough threads even for my basic background tasks:
Email client.
qBittorrent.
Discord.
Logitech Gaming Software.
Overwolf.
Adguard.
The five million game launchers.
@Void: How is that possible? My old i5 4570 played R6 flawlessly back in the day, how could a 3500x struggle?
@s1Lence: Not low fps, it just had microstutter all the time. As the engine gets more and more bloated due to not being designed for the game it is, the performance gets worse. It's flawless now, but the fact I have to hinder the performance of my background tasks to shit isn't good.
@Marx: i mean i agree with you 2-3 years sounds about right, but if i'm buying a pc i'd like it to last longer than that, particularly when the current i3's have 2 extra threads. the PS5 will have 8c/16t that's more than double the amount of threads of the i5 and you can bet developers are going to write some spaghetti code to use that extra power
the thing people don't understand is if your frequency is lower yes you lose 10-20% fps, but when you don't have enough threads you start to stutter and that is a jarring experience
@abctoz: You shouldn't be buying 3300x anyway if you are concerned about futureproofing. Also PS4 will still be supported for a number of years, that means future games will still be limited by hardware.
I myself have a 3900x for my gaming PC but a i5-10400 for my TV gaming rig. It'll still be a while before games have better multithreading, likely 2-3 years after PS5/Xbox Series X release (going by history many PS3 games were still released by 2015, 2 years after PS4 release).
@Marx: rdr2 say what? doom eternal not even looking, upcoming cyberpunk, spit on it, horizon zero dawn just casually walks pass
the whole 6c/6t thing was a sham imo to force people to upgrade down the road, 4c/8t cpus are more future-proof just because of the 2 extra threads
By that logic, every part is a "sham" to force people to upgrade down the road.
@p1 ama: if you bought a 2500k when it was released it would have lasted you almost 10 years, that's the difference
if you bought a 2500k when it was released it would have lasted you almost 10 years, that's the difference
This is a huge exaggeration. The 2500K was released in 2011. By around 2016 it was already showing its age against Skylake, then later when Ryzen came out, the 2500K was no longer really relevant.
The 2500K and 2600K were very good CPUs, but no, they wouldn't have given you top-tier performance for 10 years, more like 5 - 6 years.
@p1 ama: of course you can't expect constant top tier performance, it's all relative
iirc the 2500k was stronger than the PS4 generation of CPU's and all the triple AAA titles are designed around this, it was something ridiculous like 5x the ipc but the ps4 had double the threads
the PS5 currently has 1.3*1.5 = ~2x the compute of the i5 9400 and that doesn't bode well for its longevity
Yeah but it has more threads, it’s mostly a wash. I think the 3300X is like $10 more expensive at its cheapest location atm.
Ryzen 5 1600 (AF version) is $185 at CPL. 6 cores/12 threads and overclocks to 4.2ghz.
Yeah but this wipes the floor with it in gaming performance.
https://www.techspot.com/review/1829-intel-core-i5-9400f-vs-…
9400F vs. 2600X (similar to 9400 vs. 1600 AF). Yes, the 1600 AF is better for core-heavy tasks, but for gaming, there's no real competition - the 9400 will win easily.
This, an $80 board, $100 ram and a $110 SSD, would make for an awesome upgrade to my parents' i5 750 PC. Dropping the GPU and the old i5 would reduce power consumption by 75% while being massively more powerful.
In saying that I'll wait for the new Ryzen 4000G Apus (zen 2) before making a decision.
Yeah the 4000G APUs seem like they're gonna be crazy. A Ryzen 3 4350G/4300G sounds like it'd be great for your parents' use case.
80bux intel board …. you mean used ?
I might be imagining it but I recall a low end b360 for close to $80. In saying that $105+ seems to be the rate.
Link to board please…
Not the one I was thinking of but I can't find it now.
Here's a refurb ASRock b360 for $95, I don't think it's worth it since you can get a gigabyte new for $105 https://www.newegg.com/global/au-en/p/N82E16813157952?&quick…
Idk about you but I doubt my parents would notice much of a performance upgrade, but power consumption would be much better. What about a Dell Optiplex 9020 or something along those lines though?
Nothing wrong given the audience. I just prefer custom builds because of how easy they are to service. No custom powers supplies, cooler designs and cables to contend with. If something fails i can grab a used spare or drop into any pc store and pick whatever it is up.
Just buy a spare 9020 lol.
DDR3 work with this?
My old mobo seems stuffed for an i5 2500k which was fine but stuff that old wears out. Still wouldn't mind using most of The parts for an new tv connected PC, would probably end up building another new one but the PSU and stuff fine.
No. And any motherboard that can do i5-2500k is a few gens too old for this CPU.
No. You'll need a new motherboard compatible with the 9th Gen's socket and you'll need new memory compatible with the new motherboard.
Not compatible. They don't fit in the slots physically.
Yeah thanks guys, probably just have to bin that setup then, 2012 tech lasted me a while. Pretty sure the dust or rust would have got to it eventually, won't even boot to load windows and freeze ups etc.
Did build a good ryzen 7 3700x b450m machine over covid, been great, wouldn't mind something else for cheap.
F to another 2500k
Mine still running strong as daily driver, have a R9 280 in it.
Just put this 9400 cpu together for $700 gaming rig for my som, its going to be faster than my old rig…
@Roger Wilco: true that, there's been nothing wrong with my i5 2500k, stock cooler, easily capable office tasks, cad, only had 8gb g.skill but was fine with for remote desktop. seems like a waste but writing that mobo off. Have a HD6950 in that machine, maybe the only thing i can salvage (and the gold 600w PSU) that would do for a while if i could get a small htpc case or m-ITX etc.
May be you can sell them on ebay and use that money to buy DDR4.
Ram probably still worth sormthing not sure about the CPU unless the board goes with it in working condition
Cheers
Questions, I’ve seen the i9 9900K for now as cheap as $639.
Is there any cheaper anywhere? And is it decent value at that price point for those on z390?
Great — was waiting to see i5-9400F drop below $200 to upgrade my i3-8100, but this will do even better!
Do you think there's much difference in it for gaming? I'm in the same boat..
Depends on what GPU you're running - check a bottleneck calculator.
For me, 8100 was ~40% bottleneck, whereas 9400 will be 10%. 10% still not ideal but it's fine enough, and it would be double the cost to get anything in the same socket below 10% (9600K would be great, but would require buying a new CPU cooler, and my H370 board doesn't support OC, so not much point)
I would recommend a Asrock motherboard with BFB support or Asus motherboard with APE given its a locked processor, its a good way to get the extra performance gains!
Thanks OP. bought the CPU. Also ordered Gigabyte B365M DS3H from Amazon for $114.26 (using below link sold by Amazon UK as Amazon US is expensive)
https://www.amazon.com.au/Gigabyte-B365M-DS3H-Socket-Express…
that seems good for the price and nice ratings
Just grabbed the i5 9400 CPU and ASUS RX580 8GB Dual OC for $400
(don't know why but may as well build pc out of my half broken old one).
![[eBay Plus] Intel Core i5 9400 4.10GHz 6C/6T CPU $179.10 Delivered @ Computer Alliance eBay](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/24/561924.jpg?h=f1936dc6)
ram is cheap, need to find bargain motherboard for this ….