I'm considering upgrading my CPU from an i3 10100 to an i5 10400F. My current setup includes an Asus H410M s2h v3 motherboard, which only supports 10th generation Intel CPUs. I have a budget of €130 and my build features an RX 6600, 16GB of RAM, and two SSDs (one SATA and one NVMe). I mainly use my PC for gaming, and from what I've seen in benchmarks on YouTube, the performance difference doesn't seem substantial. I've faced issues with CPU bottlenecking for a while, so I'm hoping that switching to an i5 will help. What do you think?
4 Answers
You might want to consider looking for a used i5 10600 or 10700. They can sometimes fit into your budget if you shop around. They offer better performance than the i5 10400F and could provide more value for your upgrade.
When it comes to single-threaded applications, the performance difference between the i3 10100 and i5 10400F is only about 2-5%. However, in multi-threaded applications, you might see a 40-50% improvement. For gaming, the upgrade could help, especially in titles that utilize more threads. But it might not be a game changer in many cases since it depends on how well the games utilize extra cores.
Adding two additional cores with the i5 will definitely provide a noticeable boost in performance. Just make sure to check local listings for any potential deals on Alder Lake CPUs like the 12100F or 12400F, as those could be even better upgrades than sticking to the 10th generation.
The i5 will help if you play multi-threaded games, which have been the norm since around 2015. So if you're targeting modern titles, consider if they're optimized for more than four cores. If you're primarily playing older or less demanding games, the upgrade might be less impactful.
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