Core i5-8400 vs Ryzen 7 2700

Gaming speed, cores and clocks

The Core i5-8400 and the Ryzen 7 2700 are within a few percent of each other for gaming. In a game, you will not see the difference.

The Core i5-8400 has 6 cores and 6 threads, and the Ryzen 7 2700 has 8 cores and 16 threads. The extra cores of the Ryzen 7 2700 help with video editing, streaming while you play and heavy multitasking more than with the game itself. Boost clocks are 4 GHz and 4.1 GHz.

Platform, power and price

The Core i5-8400 uses the LGA1151 socket and the Ryzen 7 2700 uses AM4, so they need different motherboards, and often different memory. When you compare prices, count the board as well as the chip.

Rated power is 65 W for the first and 65 W for the second. That is close enough that cooling needs will be similar.

At launch the Core i5-8400 cost $182 and the Ryzen 7 2700 $299, which gives 19.8 and 12.0 points of gaming performance per $100. Today's prices will differ.

Which graphics cards each one can feed, and which to buy

At 1080p the Core i5-8400 can feed a card up to the Arc B580 before it holds the card back by more than 10 percent. The Ryzen 7 2700 reaches the Arc B580. Both chips are in the same range for graphics card pairing.

Choose the Core i5-8400 if you want the faster gaming chip. Choose the Ryzen 7 2700 if you would rather spend the difference on a graphics card, which does more for frame rates in most games.