LABS TEST / PROCESSORS
W
hen the Core i5-8400 was first
released, the lack of cheap Coffee
Lake-compatible motherboards
meant that it didn’t provide particularly good
value, as its lack of overclocking made it a poor
choice to couple with an expensive Z-series
board. Eventually, though, once cheaper
motherboards arrived, it proved its worth,INTEL CORE i5-9400F /£145 inc VAT
SUPPLIER scan.co.ukbettering equivalent 1st and 2nd-generation
Ryzen CPUs in games, and costing
significantly less than the K-series models.
A few years later and the lack of overclocking
remains with the Core i5-9400F but cheap
motherboards are plentiful now, so there’s no
need to wait to make the most of this chip. To
the uninitiated, the addition of an F signifies
that this particular iteration of Intel’s 6-core
9000-series CPU lacks integrated graphics.
Thankfully, it’s cheaper than the Core i5-9400
as a result, leaving you with change from £150.
Frequencies are fairly lowly, though,
especially compared with the upper tiers
of Intel’s 9th-generation CPUs. The peak
Turbo Boost frequency is just 4.1GHz and its
base clock is 2.9GHz – a long way back from
the 3.7GHz of the likes of the 9600K. It also
lacks hyper-threading, so its six cores can
only handle six threads at a time. You still get
9MB L3 cache, though, which is as much as
the 9600K. What’s more, despite a 14nm
manufacturing process, the Core i5-9400F
has a TDP of just 65W, making it a potentially
handy CPU for a low-power, low-heat and
affordable gaming system.
Our game tests bore this out too, with Far
Cry New Dawn’s 99th percentile minimum
frame rate of 88fps
bettering all the AMD
CPUs on test, with a
similar result in Metro
Exodus too. However,
once overclocked,
only the Ryzen 5 3600
and Ryzen 5 3600X
were noticeably slower
and even then just by
single digits, which was
the same in Metro Exodus
too. The problem for the
Core i5-9400F and most
of Intel’s CPUs in general, is
that they get monstered in
other benchmarks. The Core
i5-9400F’s system score of129,805 was woeful, with the Ryzen 5 3600
managing 185,659, with huge leads in the
multi-tasking and video encoding tests.
Despite Intel’s dominance further up the
scale in Adobe Premiere Pro, the fact the 6-core
Intel CPU lacks Hyper-Threading meant it was
vastly inferior to the AMD chips here too. It took
nearly a minute and a half longer to complete our
relatively short 4K video project export, meaning
that budding content creators should avoid the
Core i5-9400F. Cinebench offered a similar
situation with the Ryzen 5 3600 outstripping it by
over 1,000 points and offering far better single-
threaded performance too.Conclusion
If ever there was a clear case for Intel to add
Hyper-Threading to its entire product stack, the
likes of the Core i5-9400 are it. Below the Core
i9-9900K, Intel is lacking in multi-threaded
grunt, which means these CPUs are only
worth considering for pure gaming systems.
Admittedly, the Core i5-9400F is still worth
considering as a budget gaming CPU and
punches above its weight here, offering slight
gains over AMD’s more expensive options too.
However, AMD offers a huge amount more
performance outside of games for similar cash
and isn’t far behind in terms of frames per second
either. The gap has closed considerably with Zen
2, and as the similarly priced Ryzen 5 3600 was
only a little slower in games, but huge amounts
quicker elsewhere, it’s a much better buy.SPEC
Base frequency 2.9GHz
Turbo frequency 4.1GHz
Core Coffee Lake
Manufacturing process 14nm
Number of cores 6 x physical
IGP None
Hyper-Threading No
Cache 9MB L3 cache, 1.5MB L2 cache
Memory controller Dual-channel
DDR4, up to 2400MHz
Packaging Intel LGA1151-V2
Thermal design power (TDP) 65W
Features FMA3, F16C, SHA, BMI / BMI1 +
BMI2, AVX-512, AVX2, AVX, AES, SSE4a,
SSE4, SSE3, SSE2, SSE, MMXVERDICT
Without Hyper-Threading, this Intel CPU
stands no chance outside of games, but
it’s worth considering as an affordable
gaming chip.OVERCLOCKING
+^ Good gaming^
performance
+^ Modest cooling^
requirement
+^ CheapSILICON LOTTERY-^ Poor multi-threaded
performance
-^ Only worth it
for gaming
-^ No overclocking
PERFORMANCE
26 / 50FEATURES
13 / 15OVERALL SCORE
67 %%
VALUE
28 / 35LABS TEST / PROCESSORS
W
hentheCorei5-8400wasfirst
released,thelackofcheapCoffee
Lake-compatiblemotherboards
meantthatit didn’tprovideparticularlygood
value,asitslackofoverclockingmadeit a poor
choicetocouplewithanexpensiveZ-series
board.Eventually,though,oncecheaper
motherboardsarrived,it proveditsworth,
INTELCOREi5-9400F/£145inc VAT
SUPPLIER scan.co.uk
bettering equivalent 1st and 2nd-generation
Ryzen CPUs in games, and costing
significantly less than the K-series models.
A few years later and the lack of overclocking
remains with the Core i5-9400F but cheap
motherboards are plentiful now, so there’s no
need to wait to make the most of this chip. To
the uninitiated, the addition of an F signifies
that this particular iteration of Intel’s 6-core
9000-series CPU lacks integrated graphics.
Thankfully, it’s cheaper than the Core i5-9400
as a result, leaving you with change from £150.
Frequencies are fairly lowly, though,
especially compared with the upper tiers
of Intel’s 9th-generation CPUs. The peak
Turbo Boost frequency is just 4.1GHz and its
base clock is 2.9GHz – a long way back from
the 3.7GHz of the likes of the 9600K. It also
lacks hyper-threading, so its six cores can
only handle six threads at a time. You still get
9MB L3 cache, though, which is as much as
the 9600K. What’s more, despite a 14nm
manufacturing process, the Core i5-9400F
has a TDP of just 65W, making it a potentially
handy CPU for a low-power, low-heat and
affordable gaming system.
Our game tests bore this out too, with Far
Cry New Dawn’s 99th percentile minimum
frame rate of 88fps
bettering all the AMD
CPUs on test, with a
similar result in Metro
Exodus too. However,
once overclocked,
only the Ryzen 5 3600
and Ryzen 5 3600X
were noticeably slower
and even then just by
single digits, which was
the same in Metro Exodus
too. The problem for the
Core i5-9400F and most
of Intel’s CPUs in general, is
that they get monstered in
other benchmarks. The Core
i5-9400F’s system score of129,805 was woeful, with the Ryzen 5 3600
managing 185,659, with huge leads in the
multi-tasking and video encoding tests.
Despite Intel’s dominance further up the
scale in Adobe Premiere Pro, the fact the 6-core
Intel CPU lacks Hyper-Threading meant it was
vastly inferior to the AMD chips here too. It took
nearly a minute and a half longer to complete our
relatively short 4K video project export, meaning
that budding content creators should avoid the
Core i5-9400F. Cinebench offered a similar
situation with the Ryzen 5 3600 outstripping it by
over 1,000 points and offering far better single-
threaded performance too.Conclusion
If ever there was a clear case for Intel to add
Hyper-Threading to its entire product stack, the
likes of the Core i5-9400 are it. Below the Core
i9-9900K, Intel is lacking in multi-threaded
grunt, which means these CPUs are only
worth considering for pure gaming systems.
Admittedly, the Core i5-9400F is still worth
considering as a budget gaming CPU and
punches above its weight here, offering slight
gains over AMD’s more expensive options too.
However, AMD offers a huge amount more
performance outside of games for similar cash
and isn’t far behind in terms of frames per second
either. The gap has closed considerably with Zen
2, and as the similarly priced Ryzen 5 3600 was
only a little slower in games, but huge amounts
quicker elsewhere, it’s a much better buy.SPEC
Base frequency 2.9GHz
Turbo frequency 4.1GHz
Core Coffee Lake
Manufacturing process 14nm
Number of cores 6 x physical
IGP None
Hyper-Threading No
Cache 9MB L3 cache, 1.5MB L2 cache
Memory controller Dual-channel
DDR4, up to 2400MHz
Packaging Intel LGA1151-V2
Thermal design power (TDP) 65W
Features FMA3, F16C, SHA, BMI / BMI1 +
BMI2, AVX-512, AVX2, AVX, AES, SSE4a,
SSE4, SSE3, SSE2, SSE, MMXVERDICT
Without Hyper-Threading, this Intel CPU
stands no chance outside of games, but
it’s worth considering as an affordable
gamingchip.OVERCLOCKING
+Goodgaming
performance
+Modestcooling
requirement
+CheapSILICONLOTTERY- Poor multi-threaded
performance - Only worth it
forgaming - No overclocking
PERFORMANCE
26 / 50FEATURES
13 / 15OVERALLSCORE
67 %%
VALUE
28 / 35