For a gaming PC, there is not any higher worth CPU than a Core i5. For many of 2022, we really helpful the Core i5 12600K for the best gaming CPU (opens in new tab) and the Core i5 12400 as the very best gaming CPU on a finances. Final 12 months, the Core i5 13600K (opens in new tab) took excessive spot. And immediately, the Core i5 13400F pushes Alder Lake out of the runnings with an much more spectacular specification for the cash.
The Intel Core i5 13400F is a processor I have been ready patiently to check since I first heard wind of it final 12 months. You may perceive why when you learn these specs: A ten-core processor made up of six Efficiency-cores (P-cores) and 4 Environment friendly-cores (E-cores), the Core i5 13400F has a complete of 16 threads. Its quickest cores will run as much as 4.6GHz out of the field, a clock velocity that would not have appeared misplaced on the field of a Core i7 only some years again.
For that spectacular spec, the Core i5 has been given an Intel-recommended price ticket of $196. Take into account the opposite choices: that is a handful of {dollars} greater than the Core i5 12400 (opens in new tab) from final 12 months, or $33 cheaper than AMD’s Ryzen 5 7600.
All of which implies, as somebody who has been fortunately operating an Intel Core i7 6700K over the previous six or seven years, and which now resides in a PC I constructed for my companion, that is the primary time I’ve thought of upgrading that chip for one thing newer.
Core i5 13400F specs
Cores (P+E): 6+4
Threads: 16
L3 Cache (Sensible Cache): 20MB
L2 Cache: 9.5MB
Max P-core Turbo frequency (GHz): 4.6
Max E-core Turbo frequency (GHz): 3.3
Unlocked: No
Graphics: No iGPU
Reminiscence assist (as much as): DDR5 4800MT/s, DDR4 3200MT/s
Processor Base Energy (W): 65
Most Turbo Energy (W): 148
RRP: $196
It truly is severely spectacular on paper. And within the check bench it continues to impress.
The Core i5 13400F is barely a handful of frames shy of the Core i9 13900K in Complete Struggle: Three Kingdoms, Metro Exodus, and F1 2021. In Far Cry 6, this chip is considerably slower than Intel’s high-end processors, nonetheless, exhibiting Far Cry 6 to be a extra CPU-limited recreation than the others. To a lesser extent, the identical is true for Shadow of the Tomb Raider.
But even in these two video games the place the Core i5 13400F falls off the tempo of the sooner thirteenth Gen processors, it stays faster than final 12 months’s greatest gaming CPU, the Core i5 12600K. It is also considerably sooner than the Core i5 12400, although is extra power-hungry for it.
Gaming benchmarks
Picture 1 of 7
The Core i5 13400F would not assist BCLK overclocking, nonetheless, and that was one thing we completely adored concerning the Core i5 12400. Intel blocks multiplier overclocks with all however its Ok-series chips, which means neither the Core i5 13400F or Core i5 12400 ought to have been in a position to do it, however just a few motherboard producers made BCLK overclocking out there to non-Ok twelfth Gen processors. With one such overclock in place, at 4.8GHz, the Core i5 12400 truly manages to high the Core i5 13400F in some video games.
That mentioned, I would nonetheless take the Core i5 13400F for the additional cores any day, even when it meant giving up the illicit overclocking capabilities of its predecessor.
AMD has a aggressive stack of Zen 4 chips to compete with Raptor Lake immediately. Whereas its 3D V-Cache chips look set to be essentially the most aggressive versus Intel, they’re far too dear for comparability with this Core i5. As a substitute, the i5 13400F goes head-to-head with the Ryzen 5 7600X, a $299 chip that is extra like $250 in immediately’s market, and the $229 Ryzen 5 7600.
Content material creation and artificial benchmarks
Picture 1 of 4
Check rigs
Intel
Motherboard: Asus ROG Strix Z690-F Gaming WiFi
Storage: 2TB Sabrent Rocket 4.0 Plus
Cooler: Asus ROG Ryujin II
PSU: Gigabyte Aorus P1200W
AMD
Motherboard: ASRock X670E Taichi
Storage: 1TB WD Black SN850
Cooler: Corsair H100i RGB
PSU: NZXT 850W
Shared
Reminiscence: G.Talent Trident Z5 Neo DDR5-6000 CL30 2x 16GB
Graphics card: Nvidia RTX 3080 10GB
In our testing, neither the Core i5 13400F or Ryzen 5 7600X can declare an outright win throughout the testing suite, although when AMD’s chip is quicker, it’s fairly a bit sooner. AMD’s chip does come out because the clear winner on the productiveness and content material creation aspect of issues, however it’s that rather more costly for it. AMD-compatible motherboards additionally fall on the costly aspect versus the cheaper Intel-compatible 600-series boards, so total prices will most likely tack on round $100 extra for the X-series AMD choice. That mentioned, the Core i5 13400F is round $210 on Newegg at time of writing, and the Ryzen 5 7600 is barely $229.
Intel’s platform is surprisingly low cost for the inclusion of each the newest 700-series motherboards and older 600-series motherboards. Equally, we’re saving a bit of money right here on the ‘F’ designated mannequin. The ‘F’ denotes the Core i5 13400F’s lack of built-in graphics, which is not a deal breaker by any stretch of the creativeness. Typically, that built-in GPU is not going to return a lot in helpful for gaming, and even immediately’s least expensive discrete graphics card will outperform it by a rustic mile.
I might suggest pairing this CPU with both AMD’s RX 6600 (opens in new tab) or RX 6600 XT (opens in new tab), two GPUs which have mightily improved in standing because of latest worth cuts. A latest worth reduce to Intel’s Arc A750 (opens in new tab) means you may additionally go all-Intel on a finances and see some spectacular 1080p efficiency, too. However make no mistake, a higher-end GPU will nonetheless carry out effectively with the Core i5 13400, as per our benchmark outcomes utilizing an RTX 3080.
Thermals and energy draw
Picture 1 of 4
There’s something else to say on the Core i5 13400F. In contrast to the opposite thirteenth Gen processors we have reviewed to date, the Core i5 13400F would not utilise all the advantages out there to the brand new Raptor Lake structure. It is sophisticated.
Intel is utilizing each new Raptor Lake and outdated Alder Lake dies for the Core i5 13400F. The ultimate product is identical, no matter which die is beneath the hood, however this does imply that you do not see the L2 cache enhance that Intel launched with Raptor Lake on the Core i5 13400F. However earlier than you assume that is solely an Alder Lake chip in disguise, whereas that is technically true, the Core i5 13400F does include extra cache than the Core i5 12400F on account of having extra cores. It simply would not embrace extra L2 cache per core just like the higher-end Raptor Lake chips.
A reminder of the distinction in cache per core between Alder Lake and Raptor Lake:
- Raptor Lake: 2MB L2 per P-Core + 4MB L2 per E-core cluster
- Alder Lake: 1.25MB L2 per P-Core + 2MB L2 per E-core cluster
To attempt to put it extra plainly, the Core i5 13400F is both a Core i5 12600KF in a downclocked disguise or made to seem like one. It is pretty immaterial which you truly obtain, however you will discover out whether or not you’ve got a Raptor Lake or Alder Lake die from the CPU revision listed in purposes reminiscent of CPU-Z. A B0 stepping is Raptor Lake and a C0 stepping is Alder Lake. Our assessment pattern is a C0 chip.
With that out of the best way, let’s get again to the great things: the Core i5 13400F. This chip is formally the great things. There’s so much to love about this processor, from its speedy gaming efficiency to the ten cores beneath the hood, sufficient to make any older four-core CPU really feel extraordinarily outdated. Whereas the Core i5 13600K stays the choose for the very best gaming CPU, and AMD could be very aggressive within the ~$275 market, Intel’s Core i5 13400F is a shoe-in for the very best finances gaming CPU in 2023.
