IntelCore™ i5-9400F Desktop Processor 6 Cores 4.1 GHz Turbo Without Graphics

This is probably the cheapest processor on the market that won't bottleneck your graphics card. I did some early testing with an RX 5700 to see if there was any sign of bottlenecks caused by the CPU. What I found is that I was getting the exact same performance as tech sites were with the RX 5700 where they were using the i9-9900k processors. Its possible that perhaps a RTX 2080 might be too much for it, but even that I doubt and if it were, the bottleneck would probably be minimal. I'm seeing 100% GPU bound in games like Gears 5/Gears 4 (where that rating is available). I now have my RX 5700 overclocked with custom power tables to 2024mhz. I still see 100% GPU bound ratings so the CPU is definitely strong enough for the RX 5700 XT as well. I did put a larger CPU cooler and 120mm fan. From what I can tell the CPU runs nearly 100% of the time (in game) at the boost speed, which is 3.9ghz for all cores. The temperature with the cooler I have on it does not exceed 52C, I know the boost clocks will slowdown if the CPU gets too hot, so that was my reason for installing the better cooler, although I'm not sure it was entirely necessary. For less than $150, I'm not sure there is anything that currently beats this CPU provided you are using a discrete graphics card. I nearly bought an i3-9100f with the plan to upgrade the CPU later, but after doing the research determine the i5-9400f would be a better value and last me much longer before the need to upgrade, especially since this was a gaming build. At present, I don't believe there was any reason for a more expensive processor for gaming. Obviously if you are building at the top end, you would probably be going with a higher end processor anyway. I was trying to get bang for my buck and I think the i5-9400f and RX 5700 build (esp since I got the RX 5700 for $280) accomplished that.

Loving this processor so far. At first I was debating between this and the i5-9600k (same thing but has integrated graphics) and went with this. Very happy that I did, it's $100 less and if you have a good graphics card (which if you're building a PC, odds are you do) you don't need the integrated graphics anyways. This by far outperforms all of my other machines including my brand new 15" MacBook Pro with the i7 and my iMac 5k (2017) that has a 4.2GHz i7 as well. I encoded Fantastic Beasts in handbrake at highest quality settings (H.265 HEVC, 7.1 surround AAC, etc.) and it took about an hour and 45 minutes WITHOUT GPU hardware acceleration. Amazing! For reference, the same job on my iMac or MBP would have taken at least an hour longer.I didn't mess with the stock CPU cooler / thermal paste. Picked up a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo and some Arctic MX thermal paste and it runs very cool. Under full load for extended periods of time, my temps do not go above 52C. No need to liquid cool IMO even though everyone seems to think you do.Here's my build:Thermaltake Core V21 mATX case (w/ included 200mm case fan as intake)ASRock B365M Phantom Gaming 4 moboIntel i5-9400f (this product review) w/ the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler2 x 8gb Corsair Vengeance 2666MHz RAM2 x 256gb Crucial SSDs1 x 4tb Seagate Barracuda HDGIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1660ti (triple fan version)2 x Corsair ML140 Case Fans (exhaust)Overall I am super happy with this build and I'd recommend any of the above components especially this 9400f. I extensively research anything before I buy it and I can definitely say that as of right now (May 2019) this is probably the best performance CPU for the price.

Have had this processor installed about a week now and am very pleased with performance and cool running.For approx. $150.00 this is the best deal out there right now. I upgraded my motherboard , memory, and processor to an ASRock Z390, 3200 ddr4, and this proc replaces a i7 4790k (which was a great processor). To give an idea of differences, my I7 4790k was averaging 10,240 on Passmark. The I5 9400f averages 13,160. The I7 4790 when purchased a few years back was $320, this faster, more efficient processor was less than half that price. I also added a WD BLACK SN750 500GB NVMe to my Motherboard.Coupled with my MSI RTX 2070 Armor OC I am averaging 15-20% more frames in games at 4k. Everything is much snappier using this cpu and even productivity runs much faster.If you are on the fence and are upgrading from an older motherboard to new hardware you won't be disappointed.

This says 4.1ghz at turbo but it really means if you do ANYTHING it's going big or going home at, AT LEAST 3.9ghz in chrome. But that's ok because it still only draws like 30 watts powere tops ever and the Intel stock cooler even heavily gaming on stock fan speeds hasn't let the chip go over 72c EVER and that was the hottest core. Too good for the money really this is a super solid option for a budget build the hardest part for me was finding the right mb in the price range and could take a 9th gen Intel processor and not just 8. Anyways all six cores kick ass couldn't have asked for more out of what I payed really really really good processor period. for sub $200 it's gosh darned amazing. (After the ryzen 3 launch however which came like a month after I was done building the PC, I kinda regret not going with AMD like I had originally planned.)