Core i5-9400F vs Ryzen 7 2700

Gaming speed, cores and clocks

The Core i5-9400F 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 i5-9400F 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 4.1 GHz and 4.1 GHz.

Platform, power and price

The Core i5-9400F 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 i5-9400F 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 i5-9400F 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 i5-9400F 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.