Intel Core i5-8400 Review: 8th-Gen Best Value Chip

Looks nice. It'll be a very interesting CPU when cheaper mobos come out - though, unlike i3, it seems good even with Z370. Looking for comparison factoring slower RAM on Z360 and OCed alternatives.
 
Nice review as always! I think this is a great CPU albeit id never buy a non-overclockable CPU anyway. I think in this budget people will rarely pair a 1080ti with this CPU and would make a comfortable assumption that they will almost 100% of the time be GPU-bottlenecked therefore would still recommend the R5 1600.

Im eagerly awaiting your i5-8600k review, looking to do a mini-itx build and as much as I want to do go ryzen, the mini-itx board options atm are pretty limiting.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sankiyan Manji, Steve and Capaill
I personally am waiting for the i7-8700 review. Never have bothered with overclocking since the Phenom II days. Really not worth the headache for what I do on a computer. On that matter, really don't need an i7, but oh well. 4.6 ghz turbo is pretty good without dealing with OC and having a 65w TDP is a blessing.
 
Nice Steve! This is a quality article worthy to be in techspot and not those articles about politics where they try to prove that russians has something to do why their pet did not win the last election.

This is a true value if the budget motherboards comes in. I got my asus mini-itx H97 before for $50.
Once B or H series motherboard drop in, I'll pick the non-k i7-8700. That should last me 4years like my i7 haswell. Ryzen is still competitive especially in core/thread wars but I still prefer Intel for my purpose.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Steve
Microcenter discounts it's CPUs more then any other vendor (picked up my i5-7600k for $160)

I checked prices this week at two local Microcenters and each had one 8400 for $249. A lot of tech prices are outrageous at the moment (RAM, GPU, even PSU above 550w). Personally I would hold off on any new build until 2018 if I could but the 8400 & B350 mobo look like a real winner for gaming in 2018.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FreeBetaTester, Fimbulvetr and RealityOverHype
There is one small big problem.
The prices are really high right now (250$? wow) and some places don't even have it (wtf amazon?). Couple that with the much more expensive motherboards and you are looking at a huge difference in total system cost. You can get a B350 + 1600 for under 250$ which is amazing value.

Alternatively, you can wait for Q1 2018 for prices to come down and the cheaper motherboards to launch. But at that point in time I would also wait to see if AMD can do something with Zen+ to counter Intel's good move (albeit sloppy since it's just a paper launch).

Edit: I would have loved to see some OC results for both the 1600 and 8400.
 
I admit I dont have a degree in intel sku's, but I imagine these are 16 lane intel cpuS, meaning nvme drives & all else, must share share the lousy 4 lanes of the chipset. I wouldnt touch them for that alone.

A recent game I read of? needs 48GB of drive space. Clearly fast storage is an asset for modern gaming.
 
A good strong chip. But as any Ryzen 5 1600 can be easily OC'd to 3.8 GHz across all 12 threads, it has to be stronger and more future-proof. I feel that the Ryzen chip is still the King of budget gaming CPUs available right now and I still plan to put it in a build within the next 6-8 weeks. Its only negative is that it really thrives on high-speed low-latency RAM which is pricey (16GB is more expensive than the CPU).
 
  • Like
Reactions: JimHart
Okay, this is the second recent review of a budget processor paired with a high-end graphics card.

Want to be really helpful? Include testing with parts that are comparable to what a most people who would buy this chip would use. In this case, maybe a GTX 1050ti, a GTX 1060, a Radeon 560 and a Radeon 580.

Show the average user what performance to expect in a real world situation as well as what they could have if they spent as much on the GPU as the rest of the system put together..
 
@ManicWeasel, I couldn't agree more. This is very misleading as testing this CPU with the best GPU available on the market is not showing mid-range/budget users what they truly can expect from this chip. If you're going to test a budget CPU, test it with a budget GPU that a user would normally pair it with, not a $1000+ GPU.
 
ManicWeasel said:
Okay, this is the second recent review of a budget processor paired with a high-end graphics card.

Want to be really helpful? Include testing with parts that are comparable to what a most people who would buy this chip would use. In this case, maybe a GTX 1050ti, a GTX 1060, a Radeon 560 and a Radeon 580.

Show the average user what performance to expect in a real world situation as well as what they could have if they spent as much on the GPU as the rest of the system put together..
Click to expand...

While I agree mainstream users will likely buy these over K SKUs you need to realize this gpu cycle (for Nvidia,) is nearing its end. The GTX 2060 (or whatever it's called,) will likely be as fast as today's GTX 1080 and the GTX 2070 will likely match the 1080ti (if current trends continue.) Those are the mainstream GPUs most people are interested in, and the only way to test for CPU headroom today is with OP modern GPUs.

It's been shown even a g4560 can handle a GTX 1060 6gb or RX 580 in modern games. Now DX12/Vulkan will likely help reduce CPU overhead, but that's still a few years out from being a standard.
 
ZorracK said:
Still thinking about to change my I7 4790k@4.5 to this 8400.
What do u guys think?
Click to expand...

For gaming at 1080p 60hz, not worth it as it would almost be a lateral move. Games still primarily use four cores (and will for a while since console CPUs are a re-hash from the previous generations AMD jaguar) your IPC is still very high as Coffelake cores don't show an improvement from skylake cores.

You should be good for at least two - three more generations.
 
  • Like
Reactions: GreenNova343, ZorracK and RealityOverHype
ManicWeasel said:
Okay, this is the second recent review of a budget processor paired with a high-end graphics card.

Want to be really helpful? Include testing with parts that are comparable to what a most people who would buy this chip would use. In this case, maybe a GTX 1050ti, a GTX 1060, a Radeon 560 and a Radeon 580.

Show the average user what performance to expect in a real world situation as well as what they could have if they spent as much on the GPU as the rest of the system put together..
Click to expand...

anandtech shows some results with the new coffelake CPUs using the GTX1060. Most gamers (or at least the ones that read sites like this one and other tech review sites) upgrade their video cards regularly as opposed to the CPU. In 2017 You may be gaming with a GTX1060 / AMD 580 but in 2019 or 2020 you may be looking to upgrade your video card to one with the power of a GTX1070 /1080
 
  • Like
Reactions: RealityOverHype
amghwk said:
Inspite of Ryzen hype, Intel still seem to bring out good processors.
Click to expand...

Isn't it rather that because of Ryzen hype, Intel is again bringing out good processors? For years (with a few exceptions) it's been incremental updates for high prices. Of course, Intel was clearly doing better than AMD when it came to performance and efficiency. That doesn't change anything to the fact that they've been deliberately slow at progress, getting a decent amount of people to upgrade for minimal improvements.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RealityOverHype
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

TechSpot
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 vs. Intel Core i5-9600K: 2023 Revisit
Replies
15
Views
575
Navig8R32
N
TechSpot
LG 32GS95UE 32" Review: Dual Mode WOLED
Replies
22
Views
327
Disiw
D
TechSpot
MSI MPG 321URX Review: The Most Affordable 4K 240Hz QD-OLED So Far
Replies
21
Views
643
Starfals
Starfals

Latest posts

Back