Intel: i3-8350 or i5-8400?

Quartz · 21 Mar 2018 at 20:21

It's looking like I will need to replace this system. At the low end, should I go for the i3-8350 or the i5-8400? The former is faster per core; the latter has more cores.

I mainly run Google Chrome and games.

DragonQ · 21 Mar 2018 at 21:20

The Core i3 is only really faster if you overclock it, otherwise you only get 100-200 MHz more than the Core i5 when using 2-4 cores.

mattyfez · 21 Mar 2018 at 23:14

Depends on your usage I guess, but the i5 seems better gereraly speaking if they are similar price.

www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews

imginy · 22 Mar 2018 at 05:08

Definitely get the i5 8400.

In games it's the same as the old 7700k which is tier above the i3.

Also 8400 doesn't need cooler as it comes with one and doesn't get hot so will work out cheaper.

Also its on offer for £150 retail right now.

shamus21 · 22 Mar 2018 at 08:23

If the i3 8350k were at a more realistic price say around the 120.00 mark that would be a better choice for the next few years has they overclock to 4.8/5.0Ghz and Ghz is still king of the hill when it is a choice between cores and speed. If you can put of the upgrade until next year the CPU and motherboard landscape will be a lot clearer and give you a better choice with AMD being the better option at this price range unless Intel can get their act together.

jigger · 22 Mar 2018 at 13:28

The Ryzen 5 2600 will be with us very soon.

Quartz · 22 Mar 2018 at 13:29

jigger said:
The Ryzen 5 2600 will be with us very soon.

Ryzen is not an option as my CPU cooler won't fit.

RSR · 22 Mar 2018 at 14:40

Quartz said:
Ryzen is not an option as my CPU cooler won't fit.

They come with a cooler

NinjaCool · 22 Mar 2018 at 15:53

Between those two, I would get the i5-8400 since it has 6 cores so you gain much better longevity.

Although with the Ryzen 2 coming out in a few weeks, I would instead go for the Ryzen 2 2600 ($199), with 6 cores and 12 threads.

You can use the included CPU cooler and get one of the new AMD motherboards that releases alongside the CPU.
They will offer several improvements like faster ddr4 ram compatibility.

Ryzen 2 reviews will be up around release so I suggest you wait before making a decision.

jigger · 22 Mar 2018 at 17:44

RSR said:
They come with a cooler

Pretty decent ones too.

gavinh87 · 22 Mar 2018 at 19:51

8400 over any ryzen if gaming

RSR · 22 Mar 2018 at 19:58

gavinh87 said:
8400 over any ryzen if gaming

Assume you have tested Ryzen 2000 series CPU's to come to that conclusion then?

I would think its most prudent to wait for the Ryzen 2000 Series to before making your choice, as its weeks not months away.

gavinh87 · 22 Mar 2018 at 23:24

RSR said:
Assume you have tested Ryzen 2000 series CPU's to come to that conclusion then?

I would think its most prudent to wait for the Ryzen 2000 Series to before making your choice, as its weeks not months away.

Nope, but given the leaked benchmarks we have seen the i5 will still be faster.
And unless AMD have made huge strides with some of the smaller dev teams that use older engines ie pubg then this will still be the case. AMD come close in some and lose massively in others but hardly, if ever top the charts. The OP is going to be gaming so why settle for hit and miss performance?

DragonQ · 23 Mar 2018 at 08:43

Although the R5 2600 will certainly clock higher than the i5-8400, it depends on the price as to whether it's worth it for a gaming rig. The i5-8400 is available for £150 right now, whereas the launch price for R5 2600 is £170, and lower-end Intel 3xx motherboards are imminent according to Hardware Unboxed (they hinted they'd signed an NDA). For a less specialised rig, the R5 2600 will probably be the better buy though.

james_2k · 23 Mar 2018 at 08:45

gavinh87 said:
Nope, but given the leaked benchmarks we have seen the i5 will still be faster.
And unless AMD have made huge strides with some of the smaller dev teams that use older engines ie pubg then this will still be the case. AMD come close in some and lose massively in others but hardly, if ever top the charts. The OP is going to be gaming so why settle for hit and miss performance?

because amd, duh

gavinh87 · 23 Mar 2018 at 09:31

David Bisset · 23 Mar 2018 at 09:39

shamus21 said:
If the i3 8350k were at a more realistic price say around the 120.00 mark that would be a better choice for the next few years has they overclock to 4.8/5.0Ghz and Ghz is still king of the hill when it is a choice between cores and speed. If you can put of the upgrade until next year the CPU and motherboard landscape will be a lot clearer and give you a better choice with AMD being the better option at this price range unless Intel can get their act together.

Once you've got quite a few cores/threads I think it's fair to suggest faster cores may be better than more cores - but 4 threads is very low for quite a lot of games now. So I'd take the i5 for sure.

Quartz · 24 Mar 2018 at 11:01

NinjaCool said:
Although with the Ryzen 2 coming out in a few weeks, I would instead go for the Ryzen 2 2600 ($199), with 6 cores and 12 threads.

My CPU cooler - the Nofan CR-95 - will not fit Ryzen motherboards. I am not willing to give up silence.

NinjaCool · 24 Mar 2018 at 12:33

It's definitely an interesting cooler you have Quartz and I too like a silent PC!
My old Noctua NH-U12P has been running since 2009 and it's surprisingly good and silent, so I am still using it

I know the NoFan site writes the CR-95 cooler is only compatible up to the AMD AM3+ socket, but there are people using it on Ryzen motherboards that have AM3 mounting holes.

Paul's Hardware did test the CR-95 model on a Ryzen 7 CPU using the ASUS Crosshair VI Hero motherboard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArJjI0F32rU

I do see there is a lot of things to research when trying to fit such a big cooler on a motherboard, and low profile ddr4 ram is a must too.
Ultimately it's up to you if you think its worth looking into this but the i5-8400 is still a nice 6 core CPU.