The $221 Intel Core i5-13400 comes armed with ten cores and 16 threads, however you can even purchase the chip as a graphics-less Core i5-13400F mannequin that delivers an identical efficiency for $196, giving AMD’s Ryzen 7000 lineup stiff competitors — notably within the mid-range tier the place AMD’s chips endure essentially the most from excessive platform pricing.
The Core i5-13400/F is a strong enchancment over the previous-gen 12400 mannequin that has lengthy dominated our greatest CPUs for gaming checklist as a consequence of its distinctive efficiency and enticing pricing. This new Thirteenth-Gen Raptor Lake chip delivers much more gaming efficiency than its predecessor, and Intel’s addition of e-cores to its 65W Core i5 processors, a primary, brings further threaded horsepower for productiveness and recreation streaming, too.
Intel’s Raptor Lake processors have taken the lead in gaming, productiveness, and worth over AMD’s Zen 4 Ryzen 7000 processors, popping out on high in our CPU benchmark hierarchy. The rivalry stays heated, although: AMD lately launched three new ‘non-X’ processors, together with the $229 Ryzen 5 7600 that is the 13400’s closest competitor. Nevertheless, though the non-X chips are a greater worth than AMD’s X-series processors, they nonetheless produce other pricing issues.
| Header Cell – Column 0 | Road/MSRP | Cores / Threads (P+E) | P-Core Base / Enhance Clock (GHz) | E-Core Base / Enhance Clock (GHz) | Cache (L2/L3) | TDP / PBP / MTP | Reminiscence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core i5-13400 / 13400F | $221 – $196 (F) | 10 / 16 (6+4) | 2.5 / 4.6 | 1.8 / 3.3 | 29.5MB (9.5+20) | 65W /148W | DDR4-3200 / DDR5-4800 |
| Core i5-12400 / F | $185 – $167 (F) | 6 / 12 (6+0) | 4.4 / 2.5 | – | 25.5MB (7.5+18) | 65W / 117W | DDR4-3200 / DDR5-4800 |
Regardless of Ryzen’s spectacular efficiency, the chips have been suffering from excessive B-series motherboard pricing and Ryzen’s strict requirement for DDR5 reminiscence, each of which result in greater platform prices. In distinction, Intel’s motherboard ecosystem stays cheaper, and the Raptor Lake chips assist both value-centric DDR4 or the pricier DDR5. As our assessments present, you need to solely purchase the latter if you happen to intend to splurge on a heavily-overclocked equipment — at inventory settings, an affordable DDR4 reminiscence equipment offers you roughly the identical gaming efficiency as a dear DDR5 equipment.
Like AMD, Intel additionally throws in a bundled cooler with its lower-end 65W chips to sweeten the deal, and despite the fact that we typically suggest shopping for a greater cooler than the bundled fashions, the Core i5-13400 cooler is at the very least serviceable for many customers.
AMD does have three new Ryzen 7000X3D processors coming this month with its disruptive 3D V-Cache tech that delivers explosive good points in gaming efficiency, however these chips begin at $449, so they don’t seem to be for the mid-range market. As such, the faceoff between the Core i5-13400 and the Ryzen 5 7600 will outline the ~$200 AMD vs Intel section for the 12 months to return. Let’s examine who wins the battle.
Intel Core i5-13400 and 13400F Specs and Pricing
| Header Cell – Column 0 | Road/MSRP | Cores / Threads (P+E) | P-Core Base / Enhance Clock (GHz) | E-Core Base / Enhance Clock (GHz) | Cache (L2/L3) | TDP / PBP / MTP | Reminiscence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryzen 7 5800X3D | $358 ($449) | 8 /16 | 3.4 / 4.5 | 104MB (8+96) | 105W | DDR4-3200 | |
| Ryzen 7 7700 | $329 | 8 / 16 | 3.8 / 5.3 | 40MB (8+32) | 65W / 88W | DDR5-5200 | |
| Core i5-13600K / KF | $329 (Ok) – $304 (KF) | 14 / 20 (6+8) | 3.5 / 5.1 | 2.6 / 3.9 | 44MB (20+24) | 125W / 181W | DDR4-3200 / DDR5-5600 |
| Core i5-12600K / KF | $250 (Ok) – $225 (KF) | 6 / 16 (6+4) | 3.7 / 4.9 | 2.8 / 3.6 | 29.5MB (9.5+20) | 125W / 150W | DDR4-3200 / DDR5-4800 |
| Ryzen 5 7600 | $229 | 6 / 12 | 3.8 / 5.1 | 38MB (6+32) | 65W / 88W | DDR5-5200 | |
| Core i5-13500 | $242 | 14 / 20 (6+8) | 2.5 / 4.8 | 1.8 / 3.5 | 29.5MB (9.5+20) | 65W /148W | DDR4-3200 / DDR5-4800 |
| Core i5-13400 / 13400F | $221 – $196 (F) | 10 / 16 (6+4) | 2.5 / 4.6 | 1.8 / 3.3 | 29.5MB (9.5+20) | 65W /148W | DDR4-3200 / DDR5-4800 |
| Core i5-12400 / F | $185 – $167 (F) | 6 / 12 (6+0) | 4.4 / 2.5 | – | 25.5MB (7.5+18) | 65W / 117W | DDR4-3200 / DDR5-4800 |
| Ryzen 5 5600X | $169 | 6 / 12 | 3.7 / 4.6 | – | 35MB (3+32) | 65W | DDR4-3200 |
| Ryzen 5 5600 | $149 | 6 / 12 | 3.5 / 4.4 | – | 35MB (3+32) | 65W | DDR4-3200 |
| Core i3-13100 (F) | $134 – $139 (F) | 4 / 8 (4+0) | 3.4 / 4.5 | – | 17MB (5+12) | 60W / 89W | DDR4-3200 / DDR5-4800 |
The $221 Core i5-13400 comes with six efficiency cores (p-cores) and 4 effectivity cores (e-cores) etched onto the ‘Intel 7’ course of node, for a complete of 10 cores and 16 threads. The 13400 has a $22 markup over the previous-gen Core i5-12400’s $199 debut value, however now you get 4 e-cores as an alternative of zero. In impact, this makes the 13400 very corresponding to the $289 previous-gen Core i5-12600K, which additionally got here with six p-cores and 4 e-cores.
Maybe most significantly, you may drop right down to the $196 Core i5-13400F and obtain the identical efficiency — you simply lose the 32-EU built-in UHD Graphics 770 engine, so you may want a discrete GPU.
The Core i5-13400’s p-cores have a 2.5 GHz base clock and increase as much as 4.6 GHz on two cores in latency-sensitive work. That is 200 MHz sooner than the previous-gen 12400 however 300 MHz slower than the 12600K. The e-cores kick in for background and multi-threaded duties with a 1.8 GHz base and three.3 GHz increase, a 300 MHz decrease increase than the 12600K. The 13400 has a 65W Processor Base Energy (PBP) and 148W Most Turbo Energy (MTP) ranking. As you may see in our energy testing, we did not see the chip exceed 110W in any of our testing, so the MTP ranking is greater than wanted.
Most different options, just like the supported DDR4-3200 and DDR5-5600 switch charges, 9.5 MB of L2, and 20 MB of L3 cache, are the identical because the previous-gen 12600K, and with good purpose — Intel makes use of repurposed Alder Lake silicon for a number of the Core i5-13400 chips, simply because it did with the Core i5-12400 processors. The 2 kinds of dies include completely different core architectures, however are designed to supply the identical stage of efficiency.
As such, the Core i5-13400/F does not have the identical quantity of cache per core because the Raptor Lake Core i7 and i9 chips. As a substitute, every p-core has 1.25 MB of L2 cache, and the quad-core e-core cluster has solely 2MB of cache — the identical as Alder Lake. That stands in distinction to the higher-end Raptor fashions that include 2MB of L2 per p-core and 4MB of L2 for every e-core cluster.
The C0 die is identical silicon that Intel makes use of for the Alder Lake Core i5 processors, making the Core i5-13400 largely an identical to the Core i5-12600K (our check topic is C0). In distinction, the B0 stepping die comes with the Raptor Cove chip structure, however has a cut-down cache configuration to match the Alder Lake silicon.
The Raptor Lake processors have a vastly improved voltage/frequency curve in comparison with Alder Lake, making them extra environment friendly, and a particular microcontroller unit (MCU) firmware that imparts caching and prefetching benefits (deep dive right here). Intel says it has tuned the 2 die to supply the identical stage of efficiency, however it’s but to be seen if a few of Raptor Lake’s finer-grained MCU tuning is current within the B0 stepping chips. We’re working to accumulate one to place it to the check.
As earlier than, the LGA 1700 chip is appropriate with 600-series motherboards, and since the chip has a locked multiplier (no overclocking), the B- and H-series motherboards take advantage of sense for this class of chip. In contrast to the previous-gen 65W Alder Lake processors, there isn’t any workaround for overclocking Raptor Lake’s execution cores, as Intel adjusted to forestall a workaround from the motherboard makers.
You’re free to overclock the reminiscence on B-series motherboards, however remember that the System Agent (SA) voltage is locked, which limits DDR4 reminiscence overclocks within the Gear 1 setting (DDR5 nonetheless overclocks nicely).
Gaming Benchmarks on Intel Core i5-13400 and 13400F — The TLDR
- Intel Core i5-13400 DDR5 or DDR4: Corsair H115i 280mm water cooler, energy limits eliminated, Inventory DDR5-4800 in Gear 2 / DDR4-3600 in Gear 1
- Intel Core i5-13400 DDR4-3600 / DDR5-6800: Corsair H115i 280mm water cooler, energy limits eliminated, DDR4-3600 CL16, DDR5-6800 XMP 3.0
- AMD PBO Configs: Precision Enhance Overdrive (Motherboard), Scalar 10X, DDR5-6000 EXPO
You will discover the particulars of our overclock and check setup additional under. Right here we now have the geometric imply of our gaming assessments at 1080p and 1440p, with every decision break up into its personal chart. We’re testing with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 to cut back GPU-imposed bottlenecks as a lot as attainable, and variations between check topics will shrink with lesser playing cards or greater resolutions and constancy. You may discover additional game-by-game breakdowns under.
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We’ve testing within the thermal and overclocking part that reveals there may be little to no efficiency loss in gaming if you happen to use the 13400’s included inventory cooler, even with the ability limits enforced — we noticed no distinction with the field cooler in 1080p gaming, and the inventory cooler was 1.2% slower at 1440p (shut sufficient to name a tie). To keep up a stage taking part in area, we eliminated the ability limits and used our H115i cooler for these assessments.
The 13400’s assist for DDR4 reminiscence is essential on this value vary, because it nonetheless prices almost half as a lot as DDR4. General we see a distinction of 1 fps between DRR4 and DDR5, with DDR4 popping out on high by a mere 0.6% — that means the 2 Core i5-13400 configs provide principally the identical efficiency.
We did get ~3% extra efficiency from DDR5-6800 than we did with DDR4-3600, however the DDR5 equipment prices almost thrice as a lot because the DDR4 equipment ($144 extra). You would step again to a DDR5-6200 equipment that ‘solely’ prices twice as a lot, however neither of these DDR5 choices makes a lot sense on this value vary.
The Core i5-13400 is 7% sooner than the previous-gen Core i5-12400, however regardless of the similarities between the 13400 and the 12600K, the latter continues to be ~3% sooner on the energy of its greater clock charges. That is a fairly slim delta, although, contemplating the decrease pricing and the 13400’s large enhancements in productiveness purposes.
The inventory $229 Ryzen 5 7600 is 7% sooner than the inventory $221 Core i5-13400 with DDR5/DDR4 within the 1080p assessments. Overclocking the 7600 will increase the delta over the overclocked 13400 DDR5 system to 9%, and 12% over the overclocked DDR4 config. Nevertheless, the 7600 carries a ~$30 premium over the 13400F. Including within the greater motherboard prices related to the AM5 platform additionally takes a toll, as you may see in our price evaluation within the conclusion.
The deltas in these charts might be slim, and huge deltas in particular person recreation titles, like with the 5800X3D, impression cumulative measurements. The competitors between AMD and Intel chips can fluctuate primarily based on the title (notably with DDR4 vs DDR5) and the GPU you utilize. It is best to make an knowledgeable determination primarily based on the kinds of titles you continuously play, so make sure to take a look at the person assessments under.
| Tom’s {Hardware} | 1080p Sport Benchmarks |
| $699 — Core i9-13900KS | 100% |
| $358 — Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 95.4% |
| $319 – Core i5-13600K | 90.9% |
| $349 — Ryzen 7 7700X | 88% |
| $249 – Ryzen 5 7600X / OC | 84.5% / 90.7% |
| $229 – Ryzen 5 7600 / OC | 80.5% / 87.9% |
| $250 – Core i5-12600K | 77.2% |
| $221 – Core i5-13400 DDR5 / DDR5-6800 | 74.9% / 80.6% |
| $221 – Core i5-13400 DDR4 / DDR4-3600 | 75.0% / 77.9% |
| $185 – Core i5-12400 | 69.6% |
Cyberpunk 2077 on Intel Core i5-13400 and Core i5-13400F
The Ryzen 5 7600 takes a powerful lead in Cyberpunk 2077, whereas the Core i5-13400 trails throughout the board, even after overclocking the reminiscence.
The Ryzen 7 5800X3D continues to not present a lot efficiency uplift over the usual Zen 3 fashions, which is essential to recollect — not all video games profit from the 3D cache-stacking tech.
Far Cry 6 on Intel Core i5-13400 and Core i5-13400F
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Far Cry 6 could be very reminiscence latency-sensitive, and right here we are able to see that the DDR4 Core i5-13400 config in Gear 1 exceeds the DDR5 reminiscence, which runs within the higher-latency Gear 2 mode, regardless of DDR5’s throughput benefit. The DDR4 config even leads after stepping as much as the comparatively tame DDR4-3600 reminiscence overclock, beating the DDR5-6800 config.
In the meantime, the Ryzen 5 7600 edges previous the Core i5-13400 in inventory trim and takes an excellent greater lead after overclocking.
F1 2021 on Intel Core i5-13400 and Core i5-13400F
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F1 2021 finds the Ryzen chips once more taking substantial leads over the Core i5-13400, however that is not totally shocking given their greater pricing.
Hitman 3 on Intel Core i5-13400 and Core i5-13400F
Right here we are able to see the elevated throughput of DDR5 reminiscence having extra of an impression in Hitman 3. This title additionally makes good use of the e-cores, thus delivering a extra substantial lead over the previous-gen Core i5-12400.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2021 on Intel Core i5-13400 and Core i5-13400F
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Microsoft Flight Simulator 2021 clearly advantages tremendously from L3 cache — the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is just unbelievable on this title. This massive benefit is superb however does not characterize the 5800X3D’s efficiency in most titles. It additionally illustrates how outliers could make the 5800X3D appear extra spectacular in cumulative measurements.
Again within the extra lifelike land for mid-range avid gamers, the Core i5-13400 does a lot better with DDR4 reminiscence than with DDR5, indicating that this title prefers decrease latency accesses over sheer bandwidth. The truth is, the Core i5-13400 with DDR4 is quicker than the Core i5-12600K, which is examined with DDR5 reminiscence.
Pink Useless Redemption 2 on Intel Core i5-13400 and Core i5-13400F
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Warhammer 3 on Intel Core i5-13400 and Core i5-13400F
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Flipping over to the 1440p charts reveals us that greater resolutions are sometimes the good equalizer that ranges the taking part in area for chips with comparable lodging.
Watch Canine Legion on Intel Core i5-13400 and Core i5-13400F
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Productiveness Benchmarks on Intel Core i5-13400 and 13400F — The TLDR:
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We are able to boil down productiveness software efficiency into two broad classes: single- and multi-threaded. These slides present the geometric imply of efficiency in a number of of our most essential assessments in every class, however make sure to have a look at the expanded outcomes under.
The Core i5-13400 with both DDR4 or DDR5 provides the identical efficiency in our cumulative metrics for single- and multi-threaded work, although there might be sure purposes that may take higher benefit of DDR5’s elevated throughput. Conversely, some purposes will choose the decrease latency of DDR4.
All configurations of the Core i5-13400 match the Ryzen 5 7600 in single-threaded work, however overclocking the 7600 offers it a 4.5% lead. In the meantime, the Ryzen 5 7600X stretches its legs and leads by 8%, however that comes with a better price ticket.
Turning to multi-threaded productiveness purposes, the 13400 with DDR4 and DDR5 is 5.5% sooner than the Ryzen 5 7600 at inventory settings and retains the same 5% lead after overclocking the 13400’s reminiscence and the Ryzen 5 7600. In the meantime, the Ryzen 5 7600X is 2.5% sooner than the Core i5-13400 in each inventory and overclocked configs.
The Core i5-13400’s e-cores ship a strong 16% increase in threaded work and a 4% increase in single-threaded duties over its predecessor, the Core i5-12400. Nevertheless, the 13400’s comparatively tame clock pace enhancements be certain that it does not beat the 12600K, which leads by 7% in each single- and multi-threaded purposes.
We noticed no decline in gaming efficiency or single-threaded apps with the 13400’s bundled cooler once we restricted the chip to the inventory 65W/148W energy limits, however we did see a distinction in multi-threaded purposes — the chip was 5% slower with the ability limits and inventory cooler than it was with the H115i 280mm water cooler.
Nevertheless, eradicating the ability limits whereas nonetheless utilizing the boxed fan introduced the efficiency in threaded apps again as much as par with the watercooler. Naturally, there might be some lengthy, prolonged rigorous workloads which may present extra of a efficiency delta, however these will doubtless not have a significant impression on most customers. Test our detailed benchmarks within the thermal part for more information.
| Tom’s {Hardware} | Multi-Thread | Single-Thread |
| $699 — Core i9-13900KS | 100% | 100% |
| $319 – Core i5-13600K | 61.2% | 86.7% |
| $349 — Ryzen 7 7700X | 56.4% | 85.8% |
| $250 – Core i5-12600K | 45.9% | 83.1% |
| $249 – Ryzen 5 7600X / PBO | 44.1% / 44.6% | 84.1% / 84.1% |
| $221 – Core i5-13400 DDR4 / DDR4-3600 | 43.0% / 43.8% | 77.9% / 77.8% |
| $221 – Core i5-13400 DDR5 / DDR5-6800 | 42.9% / 43.0% | 77.5% / 77.5% |
| $365 — Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 41.7% | 65.9% |
| $229 – Ryzen 5 7600 / PBO | 40.8% / 41.6% | 78.5% / 81.4% |
| $185 – Core i5-12400 | 33.8% | 74.2% |
Rendering Benchmarks on Intel Core i5-13400 and Core i5-13400F
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The Raptor Lake Core i5-13400 rivals or beats AMD’s like-priced Ryzen 5 7600 in almost all single- and multi-threaded rendering purposes, with the single-threaded Cinebench R23 benchmark being the lone exception.
Encoding Benchmarks on Intel Core i5-13400 and Core i5-13400F
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Most encoders are usually both closely threaded or virtually solely single-threaded — it takes an agile chip to grasp each disciplines. Handbrake, SVT-HEVC, and SVT-AV1 function our threaded encoders, whereas LAME, FLAC, and WebP are indicative of how the chips deal with lightly-threaded engines.
The Core i5-13400 navigates the threaded workloads nicely, however trails in lots of the lightly-threaded encoders. Once more, we now have to take pricing under consideration, because the Ryzen opponents carry greater value tags.
Adobe, Net Searching, Workplace, and Productiveness on Intel Core i5-13400 and Core i5-13400F
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The Ryzen processors dominate within the Adobe and Workplace purposes throughout the board.
Compilation, Compression, AI Chess Engines, AVX-512 Efficiency on Intel Core i5-13400 and Core i5-13400F
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This number of assessments runs the gamut from the exceedingly branchy code within the LLVM compilation workload to the massively parallel molecular dynamics simulation code in NAMD to encryption and compression/decompression efficiency. Y-cruncher computes Pi with the AVX instruction set, making for an exceedingly demanding benchmark.
Intel Core i5-13400 and 13400F Thermals, Energy Consumption, and Enhance Clocks
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Our assessments present that utilizing the field cooler does not meaningfully impression gaming efficiency, even if you happen to additionally lock the chip to the really helpful 65W/148W energy restrict. The entry labeled “Core i5-13400” within the above charts represents the chip topped with a Corsair H115i 280mm liquid cooler and all energy limits eliminated, whereas the “StockPL Field” setup measures efficiency with the bundled inventory “field” cooler and fully-enforced 65W/148W energy limits. We noticed no distinction with the field cooler in 1080p gaming, and the inventory cooler was 1.2% slower at 1440p (shut sufficient to name a tie).
We additionally measured the distinction in productiveness purposes. Unsurprisingly, there is no distinction in single-threaded work, no matter configuration. Nevertheless, imposing the ability limits with the boxed cooler produces roughly 5% much less efficiency in multi-threaded work.
To find out the supply of the disparity, we re-ran the identical assessments with the field cooler and no energy limits (listed as “Core i5-13400 NoPL Field”). Eradicating the ability limits whereas nonetheless utilizing the field fan introduced the efficiency in threaded apps again as much as par with the watercooler, displaying that the cooler has sufficient thermal headroom to run heavy threaded apps with out energy limits imposed. That is an fascinating end result, so we examined it additional.
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To take away thermals as a limitation, we at all times use the identical 280mm Corsair H115i AIO cooler for all our check programs. This time we used the identical three check configurations — the 280mm watercooler with out energy limits, the field fan with out energy limits (and its unique pre-applied TIM), and the field fan with energy limits — to measure efficiency in heavier work.
We ran Prime95 first, however remember that this stress check serves as an influence virus greater than an precise illustration of most threaded work; real-world apps merely don’t eat as a lot energy or generate as a lot warmth. The chart is a little bit of an eye fixed sore, however the takeaway is that despite the fact that the field fan with out energy limits (Field NoPL) ran on the 100C restrict in the course of the check with the chip throttling, it solely misplaced 100 MHz of frequency (2.5%) on the p-cores in comparison with the watercooled configuration. In the meantime, imposing the 65W/148W energy limits dropped clocks to three.4 GHz, a whopping 21% decline from the outcomes with the liquid cooler.
Prime95 is a stress check and never very indicative of regular use, so we then ran a looped sequence of POV-Ray benchmarks to see efficiency over time with a extra lifelike workload. Right here we are able to see that the chip did not exceed 90C with the ability limits eliminated, and that clock charges between the watercooled and field cooler had been the identical. We then turned to much more normal productiveness purposes.
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To reiterate the purpose with a broader number of real-world benchmarks, we ran our normal sequence of closely multi-threaded apps like y-cruncher, HandBrake, Cinebench, Blender, and POV-Ray.
The primary slide reveals that the field cooler with no energy limits by no means exceeded 90C throughout these assessments, displaying that it’s satisfactory to deal with prolonged real-world workloads. This check reveals the chip delivering the identical 4.1 GHz all-core frequency because the 280mm AIO configuration. In the meantime, imposing energy limits is commonly 500 MHz slower.
The inventory cooler is not silent, so you may have to simply accept the additional noise. Nevertheless, the takeaway is that the field cooler is sweet sufficient to deal with the chip on the decrease 65W/148W energy limits and satisfactory for multi-threaded real-world workloads with the ability limits eliminated. Not that eradicating the ability limits is just too taxing — the Core i5-13400 peaked at 110W in our assessments, which is way beneath the 148W official Most Turbo Energy.
Nevertheless, you would run into barely extra throttling if you happen to run a heavy extended-duration heavy workload for an hour or extra or have greater ambient temps (our assessments had been at ~74F ambient). Nevertheless, the loss could be slight, and you’ll nonetheless come out forward over working the chip on the really helpful 65W energy limits.
We’d suggest investing in a $20 tower air cooler to cut back the noise stage and guarantee 100% operation, nevertheless it is not a steadfast requirement if you happen to’re prepared to simply accept the drawbacks.
Energy Consumption on Intel Core i5-13400
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The Core i5-13400’s energy consumption is surprisingly good, particularly provided that our check chip makes use of the Alder Lake C0 die. The Ryzen 5 7600 is extra energy environment friendly in our renders-per-day metric and consumes much less energy in each workload, however the deltas aren’t giant sufficient to be of concern for many customers. The Core i5-13400 could be very energy environment friendly in these workloads, largely because of the addition of 4 e-cores. That confers a generational enchancment in opposition to the Core i5-12400 in each efficiency and energy consumed.
Intel Core i5-13400 Overclocking and Take a look at Setup
- Intel Core i5-13400 DDR5 or DDR4: Corsair H115i 280mm water cooler, energy limits eliminated, Inventory DDR5-4800 in Gear 2 / DDR4-3600 in Gear 1
- Intel Core i5-13400 DDR4-3600 / DDR5-6800: Corsair H115i 280mm water cooler, energy limits eliminated, DDR4-3600 CL16, DDR5-6800 XMP 3.0
- AMD PBO Configs: Precision Enhance Overdrive (Motherboard), Scalar 10X, DDR5-6000 EXPO
There is not an excessive amount of to say about overclocking — Intel does not enable overclocking the 13400’s CPU cores, and a workaround created by the motherboard distributors for the previous-gen chips doesn’t work with the brand new Raptor Lake fashions. That leaves us with lifting the ability limits, which we did as described within the thermal part, and overclocking reminiscence, which Intel permits on B-series motherboards.
We overclocked the DDR5 reminiscence to DDR5-6800 utilizing a single-click XMP 3.0 profile. With DDR4, we could not overclock past DDR4-3600 CL16 in Gear 1 (Gear 2 is gradual) as a consequence of Intel’s locked System Agent (SA) voltage. It is a small achieve over the inventory DDR4-3200 switch charge.
We did obtain first rate efficiency good points in gaming from this overclock, and an affordable DDR4-3600 CL equipment solely prices about $10 greater than a DDR4-3200 equipment. Our sources inform us the SA voltage might be unlocked within the Raptor Lake Refresh fashions, however you may be caught with comparatively low DDR4 overclocks for the 13400.
Microsoft lately suggested avid gamers to disable a number of safety features to spice up gaming efficiency. As such, we disabled safe boot, virtualization assist, and fTPM/PTT for optimum efficiency. You will discover additional {hardware} particulars within the desk on the finish of the article.
The Mid-Vary Gaming Champ
The $221 Core i5-13400 and the graphics-less $196 Core i5-13400F construct on the gaming efficiency of the previous-gen mannequin that has lengthy been the go-to mid-range gaming chip, however the addition of 4 e-cores drastically improves efficiency in threaded productiveness workloads. The 13400’s assist for DDR4 reminiscence offers it an unmatched worth proposition within the $200 value vary, making it the go-to chip for mid-range gaming PCs.
Beneath, we now have the geometric imply of our gaming check suite at 1080p and 1440p and a cumulative measure of efficiency in single- and multi-threaded purposes. We carried out our gaming assessments with an Nvidia RTX 4090, so efficiency deltas will shrink with lesser playing cards and better decision and constancy settings.
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The $221 Core i5-13400 is 7% sooner than the previous-gen Core i5-12400, a good generational enchancment. Nevertheless, its fundamental competitor comes within the type of the $229 Ryzen 5 7600, which is 7% sooner than the Core i5-13400 at inventory and overclocked settings in our 1080p assessments. However the pricing between these two chips is not as shut because it seems.
The optimum low-cost construct would additionally use the $196 graphics-less Core i5-13400F — it does not have an iGPU however provides the identical efficiency as the conventional mannequin — to avoid wasting one other $25. You even have the choice to stay with cheaper DDR4 reminiscence with the Core i5-13400/F and get the identical gaming efficiency as DDR5, albeit at the price of some overclocking headroom with DDR5.
Nevertheless, the previous couple of p.c of gaming efficiency from DDR5 overclocking is ridiculously costly. With the Core i5-13400, we gained ~3% extra gaming efficiency from the DDR5-6800 equipment over the DDR4-3600 config, however the DDR5 equipment prices almost three instances as a lot ($144 extra). Stepping again to a DDR5-6000 equipment that ‘solely’ prices twice as a lot because the DDR4 equipment does not make a lot sense on this value vary, both. The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 profited extra from overclocking with a 6% achieve (a few of this comes from PBO, although), and since there isn’t any possibility for DDR4, you may pay round 21% extra over the already-pricey DDR5-5200 equipment.
The Core i5-13400/F’s DDR4 possibility mixed with the commonly way more forgiving Intel motherboard pricing can save ~$135 in complete system prices in comparison with the Ryzen 5 7600.
| Header Cell – Column 0 | Core i5-13400 DDR4 | Core i5-13400 DDR5 | Ryzen 5 7600 DDR5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chip | $196 Core i5-13400F, $221 13400 | $196 Core i5-13400F, $221 13400 | $229 Ryzen 5 7600 |
| 32 GB Reminiscence – Inventory | $65 | $110 | $115 |
| Appropriate Motherboards (Median beginning value) | B660 $120, B760 $130 | B760 $160, B660 $180 | B660 – $170 |
| Minimal Complete Value / Value per body | $381 / $2.50 | $466 / $3.06 | $514 / $3.13 |
We usually do not embody cost-per-frame evaluation as a consequence of fickle part pricing, and together with a number of parts magnifies the pricing volatility. This may not be relevant after a month or so (make sure to examine present pricing), however the above desk offers us the wanted nuance for the Core i5-13400 vs Ryzen 5 7600 debate.
The DDR4-powered Core i5-13400F system is absolutely the lowest-cost answer at $381 in comparison with the 7600’s $514 — you may pay 35% extra for the Ryzen system and ~25% extra per body to get the ~7% enhance in 1080p gaming efficiency.
The $229 Ryzen 5 7600 is not price-competitive with the Core i5-13400 DDR4 system in any respect, however it’s extra enticing if you happen to already plan to shell out the additional money for DDR5. Nevertheless, there is a greater pricing bar for entry than with an Intel Core i5-13400 DDR5 system. The Ryzen system prices ~$50 (10%) greater than the DDR5-powered Core i5-13400F system, or ~4% extra per body once we think about efficiency. That is shut sufficient to make the Ryzen 5 7600 a strong alternative for a DDR5 gaming system, offered you have got the additional $50 within the construct funds.
Thus, DDR5 builders may flip to different elements, just like the 7600’s efficiency in purposes (it is 5% slower than the 13400 in threaded work), or the truth that the AM5 platform is supported till 2025+ whereas the Raptor Lake platforms solely have yet another refresh gen within the playing cards. Intel’s CPU cores additionally aren’t overclockable (reminiscence is), whereas Ryzen is totally unlocked. Naturally, private desire additionally weighs in.
Each chips are evenly matched in single-threaded productiveness purposes, however the Core i5-13400 with DDR4 and DDR5 is 5.5% sooner than the Ryzen 5 7600 in threaded workloads at each inventory and overclocked settings. Once more, DDR4 and DDR5 present comparable efficiency with the 13400 in productiveness apps, each at inventory and overclocked settings. DDR5 merely is not value it.
The 13400’s 4 e-cores present further horsepower that helps with streaming — applications like OBS are designed to take benefit — and the extra cores do not add an excessive amount of energy consumption. For those who’re searching for a extra productivity-focused chip, the Core i5-13500 appears very compelling with eight complete e-cores; keep tuned for that evaluate.
The Core i5-13400 does suck extra energy than the Ryzen 5 7600, however it’s cheap, which helps scale back warmth output. Each the 13400 and the 7600 include bundled ‘field’ coolers, and despite the fact that it’s shocking, the Intel cooler is serviceable.
As at all times, we suggest upgrading to a $20 tower-style air cooler for this class of chip, nevertheless it is not a requirement. The Intel cooler is greater than satisfactory with the really helpful energy limits and may even deal with strenuous work with the ability limits totally eliminated. You would run into throttling if you happen to run a heavy extended-duration heavy workload for an hour or extra, however you’ll nonetheless come out forward over working the chip on the really helpful 65/148W energy limits.
The Ryzen 5 7600 is a worthy different if you happen to plan on upgrading to DDR5, however you’ll have to abdomen the upper value of entry over Core i5-13400 programs that use each DDR4 and DDR5. That does not appear as cheap on this value vary.
With DDR5, the Core i5-13400 provides a cheaper price of entry and better efficiency in threaded workloads. Though it’s 7% slower in gaming, it nonetheless has a aggressive price-to-performance ratio with the competing AMD chips — however you do not want DDR5 to unlock the very best efficiency.
When paired with DDR4, the Core i5-13400 typically supplies the identical efficiency as a DDR5 system however delivers a superior price-to-performance ratio in each gaming and productiveness purposes. Add within the unmatched entry-level platform pricing, and the Core i5-13400 is the very best bang in your buck within the ~$200 value vary, making it the mid-range gaming CPU chief.
| Intel Socket 1700 DDR5 (Z790) | Core i5-13600K, i5-13400, i5-12600K, i5-12400 |
| Motherboard | MSI MPG Z790 Carbon WiFi |
| RAM | G.Talent Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-6800 – Inventory: DDR5-5600 | OC: XMP DDR5-6800 |
| Intel Socket 1700 DDR4 (Z790) | Core i5-13400 |
| Motherboard | MSI MAG Z790 Tomahawk WiFi |
| RAM | 2x 8GB Trident Z Royal DDR4-3600 – Inventory: DDR4-3200 | OC: DDR4-3600 |
| AMD Socket AM5 (X670E) | Ryzen 7 7700X, Ryzen 5 7600X |
| Motherboard | ASRock X670E Taichi |
| RAM | G.Talent Trident Z5 Neo DDR5-6000 – Inventory: DDR5-5200 | OC/PBO: DDR5-6000 |
| AMD Socket AM4 (X570) | Ryzen 5 5600X, 5800X3D |
| Motherboard | MSI MEG X570 Godlike |
| RAM | 2x 8GB Trident Z Royal DDR4-3600 – Inventory: DDR4-3200 | OC/PBO: DDR4-3800 |
| All Methods | 2TB Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus, Silverstone ST1100-TI, Open Benchtable, Arctic MX-4 TIM, Home windows 11 Professional |
| Gaming GPU | Asus RTX 4090 ROG Strix OC |
| Utility GPU | Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti FE |
| Cooling | Corsair H150i, Inventory Cooler |
| Overclocking be aware | All configurations with overclocked reminiscence even have tuned core frequencies and/or lifted energy limits. |