Price vs. Performance

Earlier we wrap upwards this review we've put together a few price vs performance scatter plots to work out just how well the Core i5-8400 stacks upward in terms of value.

In Premiere Pro CC the Core i5-8400 did uncommonly well, chirapsia not merely the Ryzen five 1500X but also the R5 1600 by a convincing margin. Here we can meet that the only CPU to deliver better value is the Ryzen 7 1700.

For those seeking maximum blindside for their cadet while achieving fast encode times, the R7 1700 is the all-time CPU to get. All the same, if you don't take $300 to spend on the just the processor then the Core i5-8400 presents a great value.

That said, if y'all pair the R7 1700 with a B350 motherboard and the Core i5-8400 on a Z370 lath and factor in those costs, the Ryzen 7 CPU isn't a keen bargain more expensive. Nonetheless, the i5-8400 all the same stacks up well and is once again quite competitive.

What almost Corona you lot ask? Here the Core i5-8400 was less impressive. For a little extra coin the Ryzen 5 1600 offers quite a bit more functioning and here we see that Intel's Coffee Lake i7 and i5 CPUs fall a bit curt in this one. This one is by no means a slam dunk for the Core i5-8400.

Once we factor in entry-level motherboard prices the Ryzen five 1600 looks to exist considerably improve value for these productivity workloads.

Lastly, allow'southward have a look at the Ashes of the Singularity heavy batch results using the GTX 1080 Ti. For games that tin utilize all half dozen of the Core i5-8400's cores, it appears to offer a noticeable performance advantage over the Ryzen CPUs.

The Coffee Lake series really is the new king of gaming. I'm keen to see how the Ryen five 1600 and Core i5-8400 stack up when testing 20 - 30 games and this is something I'll exist doing in the not besides distant future.

Although the Cadre i5-8400 still looks to be the best value option, including the motherboard prices makes for a much closer fight. Even though the Cadre i5-8400 is locked and can't be overclocked, its operation is nevertheless exceptional. I should also note that base of operations clock overclocking isn't possible on these locked parts and on the boards I tested you couldn't enable enhanced cores either.

There is also the consequence of retention operation. If you use a Z370 lath then you can employ loftier-speed memory and in certain situations that will help, but next year'south B360 boards will likely exist limited to lower speeds. We tin can say that with DDR4-2400 memory the gaming results are less impressive -- quite a flake in some cases.

I still remember information technology's pretty clear that adding two extra cores and some actress cache to the Core i5 range was a winning motion, it's just a shame information technology took Intel then long. Anyway, for $180 the Core i5-8400 is going to be hard to vanquish. As we said in our review of the Core i3 Coffee Lake chips, we all the same need affordable motherboards to actually jump on the offer just things are looking skilful.

Depending on the application, the Core i5-8400 can be faster than the Ryzen 5 1600, though information technology can likewise be quite a bit slower so choose wisely for your specific needs.

You can of course overclock the R5 1600 and that's a comparison I'll explore before long with a heap of games. For now, one thing'south for sure: the Core i5-8400 puts Ryzen in an awkward position when it comes to gaming and peradventure fifty-fifty the new Core i7 range for that affair.

Shopping Shortcuts:

  • Intel Core i5-8400 on Newegg

Six high speed cores are going to exist more than than plenty for the vast majority of gamers to play all the latest games without any frame hitches, while those seeking extreme frame rates for high refresh charge per unit gaming shouldn't take any problem with these new Coffee Lake Cadre i5s either.

Pros: Intel's best value chip. Peachy for gamers beyond the board, decent at productivity, thermals in line with a 7700K.

Cons: Intel'due south B360 motherboards won't exist available until 2022 and the cost of Z370 boards strains the value of this offer.