Is the Ryzen 5 7500F or Ryzen 7 7700 the better value for 1440p gaming?

The Ryzen 5 7500F is the better value at €85. It has the full 32 MB of L3 cache and performs similarly to a slightly lower-clocked Ryzen 5 7600, so it should handle 1440p gaming very well. The €65 you save could go toward a stronger graphics card.

The Ryzen 7 7700 is also a strong deal for €150. Its extra cores give it more headroom for multitasking and future games, while gaming performance is generally similar to the 7500F at 1440p because the graphics card is often the limiting factor. If the rest of your budget is comfortable, the 7700 is worth considering for longer-term use.

For gaming specifically, I would choose the 7500F unless you need the additional cores for rendering, streaming, or other demanding workloads. The 7700 makes more sense if you plan to keep the system for many years and do more than just play games.