Fancy expensive processors are fun, but for most people who just want to build a decent mid-range PC for gaming (and everything else), the best advice is usually to get a Core i5 or Ryzen 5 somewhere cheaper. Range from $200 to $250 and pair it with the fastest graphics card you can afford.
The Intel Core i5-13400 (and non-graphics 13400F) caught our attention when Intel announced them because it was adding a cluster of four E-cores to the Core i5-12400, which was one of Intel’s best mid-range desktop processors. years. Electronic cores don’t really matter much for gaming, but they can help when you’re trying to run background tasks behind your game, and they can also provide a decent boost for multi-threaded CPU workloads like video encoding or CPU-based rendering.
This is nominally a review of the Core i5-13400, which is a good processor and (if you factor in the cost of the motherboard and RAM) one of the best deals you’ll find if you’re building a PC right now. The problem is that Intel sells a lot of very similar 12th and 13th generation Core i5 chips, and prices are constantly hovering in the $160-$250 range. The one you should usually get depends on what you’re doing and which one happens to be the cheapest at the point of purchase.
Pricing and value
| Current prices | cores/threads | Hours (base/boost) | Shared cache (L2+L3) | Estimated power | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core i5-13400 (F) | $240 ($209) | 6P/4E/16t | 2.5/4.6 GHz (P-cores) | 29.5 MB (9.5+20) | 65W PL1/154W PL2 |
| Core i5-12600K (KF) | $240 ($224) | 6P/4E/16t | 3.7/4.9 GHz (P-cores) | 29.5 MB (9.5+20) | 125W PL1/150W PL2 |
| Core i5-13500 | $250 | 6P/8E/20t | 2.5/4.8 GHz (P-cores) | 35.5 MB (11.5+24) | 65W PL1/154W PL2 |
| Ryzen 7 7600 | $229 | 6s/12t | 3.8/5.1 GHz | 38 MB (6+32) | 65W (88W in PPT format) |
| Ryzen 7 7600X | $249 (no fan) | 6s/12t | 4.7/5.3 GHz | 38 MB (32+36) | 105W (142W in PPT format) |
| Core i5-12400 (F) | $183 ($159) | 6P/12t | 2.5/4.4 GHz | 25.5 MB (7.5+18) | 65W PL1/117W PL2 |
The prices in the table above will fluctuate and may already be out of date by the time you read this, but the point is that the 13400 may not always be the best processor to buy at any given moment. The Core i5-12600K is architecturally identical and slightly faster (not by much, but enough to make a difference). And the i5-13500 has a higher clock speed and four additional E-cores. i5-13400F and i5-12600KF without GPU are also in this range. If the Core i5-13400 is the cheapest to buy, this is a good choice. If it costs about the same as an i5-12600K or i5-13500, buy them.
And there is always the latest generation i5-12400, which lacks E-cores, but has almost the same P-cores as the i5-13400. Without a GPU, it can cost as little as $160, which is about $50 less than the i5-13400F.
The latest Ryzen 5 processors look competitive here as well, but it’s still more expensive to build a PC with an AM5 socket. A decent AM5 motherboard with built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, the MSI Pro B650M-A Wi-Fi, is currently $153, compared to $100 for the Gigabyte B660M DS3H AX. A 16GB DDR5-5200 kit is $59 (AMD says DDR5-6000 is the ideal speed and we’re using it for testing; you’ll pay $33 more for the extra kick) compared to about $34 for a DDR4-3200 kit. .
At current prices, that’s about $100, which gives you a slight performance boost in gaming in some situations, but mostly break even even in non-gaming tasks. In a budget build, that money would be better spent on a bigger SSD, a better power supply, or a faster GPU.
However, the Intel LGA1700 socket is likely coming to an end and AM5 will be supported until at least 2025. If you’re the type to upgrade processors every couple of years, you might want to spend a little more now and maybe save some money later when it’s time to upgrade to a (totally theoretical) Ryzen 5 9600. I’d still go for an Intel build at this price point. range, but in any case there is a good argument.
Processor architecture
When we reviewed the i5-13600K and i9-13900K, we detailed several architectural changes that Intel has made compared to the 12th Gen processors. These improvements mostly came down to boosting clock speeds and increasing power limits (more on that in a moment), but Intel also added a bit more L3 cache.
This additional cache does not apply to non-K-series 13th Gen Core i5 and i3 processors. For all intents and purposes, the i5-13400 is architecturally identical to the i5-12600K, with slightly different default clock speeds and power settings. Consider this when choosing between chips – in this case, the 13th generation is no newer than the 12th.