Core i5 10400F + Radeon RX 6800 Tested: Looking for the Best Value CPU

[Irata]

"An MSI representative has shared some interesting information about Intel's pending 11th Generation Rocket Lake-S processors over at the Danawa forums... The statement also seemingly confirms that current 400-series motherboards, including the H410, B460, and Z490 chipsets would support Rocket Lake-S." (link)

"The Z490 chipset will be the first to get a BIOS/firmware update to offer full compatibility, with H410 and B460 boards to follow suit." (link)

So MSI guy says all 400 chipsets will be Rocket Lake compatible (which certainly fits in with the fact that B365 being a 22nm "Kaby Lake Refresh chipset" (instead of 14nm of other Coffee Lake chipsets) didn't prevent it from having identical compatibility with the full range of 8th & 9th Gen CPU's. It would be nice to hear official confirmation on this as "Z490 will be updated first" and "only Z490 will be updated" are two completely different things and it's possible someone at AT got confused.

Like I said, maybe, maybe not. I do tend to trust Ian Cutress (he posted this after CES, I.e. later than the articles you linked).

There‘s also a way that both statements are true, but that depends if the i3 which are supposedly not RKL but instead Comet Lake refresh are / were considered 11th gen, or not. This way, 410 and 460 boards will support 11th gen but not RKL.

We will see soon enough and I do keep my fingers crossed that they are fully RKL compatible.

 

[Stardude82]

An i5-10400/F on a reasonable Z490 is a pretty good idea right now. I moved over from a real budget 1600AF/B450 combo. As the Intel B5xx boards will support XMP, this means a good opportunity for spinoff builds after a Rocket Lake-S upgrade. Now only if I could get a RX 6800.

P.S. MSI already has 11th Gen Bios updates for Z490 boards out.

 

[Reehahs]

IF you need a faster CPU. Gamers will be alright with a 10400F for years in my opinion and going to have to cough up serious cheddar for the GPUs which are practically non-existent in the retail sector.

That's what I told myself when I got 3570k. I am still stuck with it because I was naïve in thinking that it would have similar upgradability like I had on the LGA775 platform (went from Pentium 4 single core 2.93 GHz > Pentium D dual core 2.93 GHz > E2180 1.8 GHz (still faster), overclocking to 4.2 GHz > Q6600 quad core at 2.66 GHz, overclocking to 4.4 GHz).

Today is not 2012 where quad cores were top of the line, it's 2020 where even the current console have octo-core. Your mileage with quad core or hexacore isn't going to shine for long like it did in the past with Intel milking their stagnating products and AMD being irrelevant.

 

[HardReset]

That's what I told myself when I got 3570k. I am still stuck with it because I was naïve in thinking that it would have similar upgradability like I had on the LGA775 platform (went from Pentium 4 single core 2.93 GHz > Pentium D dual core 2.93 GHz > E2180 1.8 GHz (still faster), overclocking to 4.2 GHz > Q6600 quad core at 2.66 GHz, overclocking to 4.4 GHz).

Perhaps you did that with LGA775 platform but certainly not on same motherboard (unless that motherboard was Core 2 era that also means very few reasons to get Pentium 4 single core). Because there was at least 4 different versions of LGA775 socket (either socket compatibility or FSB limitations), LGA775 upgradability was in reality very poor despite socket had same name.

Even if you just looked what happened to LGA1366 and LGA1156 and expected LGA1155 to have good upgrade paths, you were very naïve.

 

[Reehahs]

Perhaps you did that with LGA775 platform but certainly not on same motherboard (unless that motherboard was Core 2 era that also means very few reasons to get Pentium 4 single core). Because there was at least 4 different versions of LGA775 socket (either socket compatibility or FSB limitations), LGA775 upgradability was in reality very poor despite socket had same name.

Even if you just looked what happened to LGA1366 and LGA1156 and expected LGA1155 to have good upgrade paths, you were very naïve.

Indeed, but that's lack of experience for you.

Single core Pentium was from family PC. I only earned enough from paper rounds to upgrade thing one at a time. The OEM motherboard was hot garbage that died from Pentium D.

I struggled to convey the idea here that being able to upgrade one thing at a time makes the platform consumer friendly and affordable.

 

[hel0sn8]

Indeed, but that's lack of experience for you.

Single core Pentium was from family PC. I only earned enough from paper rounds to upgrade thing one at a time. The OEM motherboard was hot garbage that died from Pentium D.

I struggled to convey the idea here that being able to upgrade one thing at a time makes the platform consumer friendly and affordable.

Now theres the pot calling the kettle...
"Indeed, but that's lack of experience for you. "
Coming from you who said "That's what I told myself when I got 3570k. I am still stuck with it because I was naïve in thinking that it would have similar upgradability"

You're stuck on a 3570K and express how others show a lack of experience! Noooooo

 

[hel0sn8]

An i5-10400/F on a reasonable Z490 is a pretty good idea right now. I moved over from a real budget 1600AF/B450 combo. As the Intel B5xx boards will support XMP, this means a good opportunity for spinoff builds after a Rocket Lake-S upgrade. Now only if I could get a RX 6800.

P.S. MSI already has 11th Gen Bios updates for Z490 boards out.

Good man - ignore the AMD behind lickers. They're only fuelling the AMD Tax.

Just ordered me a 10400F and Z490 MPG MSI Gaming Edge WiFi from Amazon. Total = £290. For me, requirement built in WiFi. To price up and get a suitiable alternative - or at least what I determine to be equal in AMD world, would be a 3600 and X570 Tomahawk, total = £390

So £100 saved for same gaming performance. The rest performance wise to me dont make a big diff. Waiting 10secs to a minute more for a render, movie edit etc on Intel is not an issue and to me not noticeable. However I would notice if my games had a big FPS difference.

Coming from a Z370 with 8400, minor upgrade, but one I wanted to do. Now can sell off old stuff whilst it still has value to offset cost of new stuff.

(Shout out to Reehahs; This is experience. Upgrading with minimum outlay. Been doing it for the past 20 years. Buy and sell at the right times.)

 

[Reehahs]

Your comment made me laugh.

Now theres the pot calling the kettle...
"Indeed, but that's lack of experience for you. "
Coming from you who said "That's what I told myself when I got 3570k. I am still stuck with it because I was naïve in thinking that it would have similar upgradability"

You're stuck on a 3570K and express how others show a lack of experience! Noooooo

The 'lack of experience' comment is me referring to my 10 year younger self. For someone in UK, I would expect them to recognise the self-deprecation. Have a read again.

Good man - ignore the AMD behind lickers. They're only fuelling the AMD Tax.

AMD tax is like the tip of the iceberg when compared to Intel tax. Does this make you an Intel behind licker?

Not a bad deal but you could also get B chipset board at lower price. You have just brought the cost forward, only a little of that will be mitigated by selling your 2nd hand goods.

Just ordered me a 10400F and Z490 MPG MSI Gaming Edge WiFi from Amazon. Total = £290. For me, requirement built in WiFi. To price up and get a suitiable alternative - or at least what I determine to be equal in AMD world, would be a 3600 and X570 Tomahawk, total = £390

Fair point and that money can go towards a faster GPU.

So £100 saved for same gaming performance. The rest performance wise to me dont make a big diff. Waiting 10secs to a minute more for a render, movie edit etc on Intel is not an issue and to me not noticeable. However I would notice if my games had a big FPS difference.

Keeping the 3570K in mind, the performance difference between the next somewhat affordable didn't matter until the 8400. Each Intel generation brought barely noticeable 5-10% improvement without AMD to challenge them. That is hardly a compelling reason to upgrade. In fact 5 years and 4 generations later only gave partly 15% total improvement:

https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i5-7600K-vs-Intel-Core-i5-3570K/3885vs1316

Coming from a Z370 with 8400, minor upgrade, but one I wanted to do. Now can sell off old stuff whilst it still has value to offset cost of new stuff.

Shout out to alchemist83; Good job, I have applied the same experience to the GPU side where FPS gains are definitely bigger. It has only taken like 10 years where quad core CPU are starting to becoming detrimental previously GPU bound gaming.

(Shout out to Reehahs; This is experience. Upgrading with minimum outlay. Been doing it for the past 20 years. Buy and sell at the right times.)