I'm looking to upgrade from my old i5 9400F because it's bottlenecking my 6650XT. I've done some price checks and noticed the i5 14400F and Ryzen 5 7500F are good options, but I can't go with the Ryzen since it requires DDR5 RAM and I currently have DDR4 RAM. Should I avoid the Ryzen 5 7500F, or would it be better to stick with the i5 14400F and a compatible motherboard? I currently have 16GB (2x8GB) of DDR4 RAM in my system.
2 Answers
I think going for the i5-14400F is a solid choice! Pair it with an Intel LGA1700 DDR4 motherboard, and you’ll be good to go. This way, you can keep your current RAM and upgrade your GPU in the future if needed.
Intel seems like the way to go here since it lets you reuse your memory. You could consider the i5-12600K with an MSI PRO B760-P DDR4 motherboard if you're comfortable with a bit of a budget stretch. It’s around $375, but that board has great VRM cooling and can handle future CPU upgrades well.
The 12600K is definitely a tempting option! The pricing on that motherboard is pretty steep—about the same as the processor here. You might want to explore some other budget-friendly motherboards!