The Intel Rocket Lake i5 CPUs represent some of the best value gaming options on the market right now, particularly the i5-11400. To get the most out of them you need a B560 motherboard, so we thought we should test them out so we can make some recommendations to you.

B560 Motherboards under test

There’s a lot more going on here than simple features and looks – there’s some great B560 motherboards here but there’s also a product you’re definitely going to want to avoid.

We’ll take you through the features of these motherboards, how easy they are to install and set up, the BIOS configuration of each, and give some insights into performance because unusually some of these motherboards can actually limit the performance of a CPU, even an i5-11400 – one of them because it’s just a bad B560 motherboard, others if you don’t set them up correctly. Because we’ve selected boards across the range and from different manufacturers, we can use this to recommend other boards not on this test but that share components or specification with them. We’ve used our testing to give recommendations for boards to pick for the entry-level, mid-range and at the high end, so let’s get stuck in!

1. Features Overview

All of these boards share some basic features common to the B560 platform. All are PCIe 4.0 compatible in the primary M.2 slot and PCIe slot. All have 2 M.2 slots total. They all allow RAM overclocking.

The ASRock B560M-HDV is unquestionably the bottom of the stack. It has just 2 RAM slots, and it’s cut down from the normal mATX size using just 6 mounting points instead of the usual 8. It doesn’t have any POST code troubleshooting lights or a Bios flash button. The rear IO lacks Displayport and instead has HDMI, DVI and even a D-Sub port, along with 3 audio jacks and just 6 USB ports. There’s Gigabit LAN but no WiFi. It has just one full-length PCI-E x16 slot and two x1 slots. It lacks a USB 3.2 gen 1 header so many more modern cases aren’t compatible without an adaptor, and will lose that connectors potential speed. It has just 4 SATA ports for additional drives. There’s no heatsinking on the m.2 drive or the Voltage delivery circuitry – but more on that later.

The MSI B560M Bazooka has heatsinking on the VRMS and primary M.2 slot, and a military-themed aesthetic. There are 4 RAM slots but still just one full-length PCIe slot and two additional single length slots for WiFi cards or similar expansion. The rear IO is pretty sparse, with just 6 USB ports, 3 Audio jacks, and a 2.5Gigabit Ethernet port. There are HDMI and Displayport outputs if you want to use the iGPU. It does have some basic troubleshooting boot LEDs and 6 SATA ports. There’s an AIO pump header and adequate fan headers for most builds. It does lack the USB 3.2 Gen2 header so check your case compatibility. There are RGB headers but no RGB on the board.

The Asus TUF Gaming B560M-Plus WiFi plus is firmly mid-range and has a good suite of features. Importantly it has inbuilt Wifi 6, so there’s no need for an additional card to get WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, it’s right there on the rear IO. It’s got 8 USB ports on the rear plus a USB C, five audio jack connectors plus optical out, and 2.5 Gigabit Lan, as well as Displayport and HDMI.  The IO shield is inbuilt too, making install a cinch. There are 2 full-length PCIe slots so a capture card or similar ‘X4’ secondary card will fit in the lower slot. There are 4 RAM slots, 6 SATA ports, and a USB 3.2 Gen 1 header to give you those high-speed ports on the front of the case. It has the ‘TUF’ militarised aesthetic and some neat RGB highlights on the board. 

The Gigabyte Aorus Pro AX represents the higher end, with a sleek silver aesthetic, heavy aluminium heatsinking and an integrated IO plate. They’ve crammed in 9 USB ports on the rear, and a USB C socket as well, alongside the WiFi 6 antenna connectors. Internally there’s 2 full length PCIe slots, and one awkwardly placed single length slot, along with 6 SATA ports and a USB 3.2 gen 1 header socket. There’s also a good number of USB 3.0 and audio connectors as well as RGB control headers. It has a Q-Flash button on the bottom edge of the board, useful for recovering BIOS or updating without RAM and CPU installed. It’s worth mentioning the VRMs here, this board has a 12 phase 50 Amp VRM set up which is clearly the best specified in test.

Finally, we come to the only mini ITX board on test, the ASUS B560-I ROG Strix. This is a premium board but contends with the constraints imposed by its tiny size. The rear IO is integrated and includes 6 USB sockets, a USB Type C, WiFi 6 antenna connectors, and five audio jacks and unusually it also has an audio type C connector. There’s 2.5Gigabit ethernet, a Displayport and HDMI output. Internally there are two M.2 slots, one front at PCIe 4.0 speeds with dual-sided heatsinking and a rear PCIe 3.0 slot as well. You’ll have to contend with the mini ITX limitations of a single PCIe slot, 2 RAM slots, 4 SATA ports, one each of USB 3.0 and 3.2 gen 1 header, and one each of CPU, Chassis and AIO pump fan headers. ASUS include a handy USB C extension cable – and a key ring…

2. Ease of set up and install

Full marks go to Asus here for their M.2 clip which makes drive installation a cinch. The manuals are clear and accurate, and they have integrated backplates to ease installation.

The Gigabyte also has an integrated IO plate, but it loses marks for an awkward M.2 installation solution with a split standoff. The heatsink looks like it’s hinged but it’s actually just a tab. The awkward process is exacerbated by a manual that doesn’t have clear diagrams or even reference the m.2 installation process. It’s outdated and could do with a refresh to help first time builders along.

The MSI Bazooka has a separate I/O backplate, but the m.2 installation is easy enough and the manuals are clear. POST lights help diagnose any installation or settings errors. 

In a clear last place is the ASROCK HDV. The IO shield is incredibly basic pressed tin, there’s no diagnostic lights or BIOS flash button to help troubleshoot. At least with no M.2 heatsink, and only 2 RAM slots, it’s hard to get it wrong when you put it together. There’s a major problem when it comes to the configuration of this board though, which we’ll come to in the performance section. 

3. BIOS

You don’t often see a critique of BIOS in reviews. It’s a one time deal for most people who just want to build and set up their PC and won’t re-enter BIOS unless something goes wrong.

B560 is the first non-enthusiast chipset to permit RAM overclocking, so that opens up the need to enter BIOS to set up RAM correctly, and delve through menus and settings that otherwise you may never see. There’s another issue here, and that’s that some of these boards have default power settings that actually limit performance even of i5 CPUs. That means you might need to dig into power settings to get full performance and if the BIOS isn’t intuitive that can be a tricky task.

BIOS is somewhat subjective because your comfort with a particular lay out hinges on what you’re used to. However, in our opinion, the MSI BIOS is the best laid out and most intuitive to use. On initial set up it’s the only BIOS that clearly explains the need to set your power limits according to the cooler you’re using and shows exactly what the limits will be set to. Once you’re in BIOS, there’s a basic simple mode that lets you select XMP and boot order, likely the only 2 tasks you’ll need to do. Advanced mode opens up a wealth of options including fan tweaking, Memory overclocking, setting power limits for the CPU, and saving and applying profiles. 

Asus and Gigabyte suffer from the same slightly confusing advanced layout, with numerous options jumbled together and not always in a logical order. Asus buries sub-menus making them hard to navigate. It does however default to using ‘Multi-core enhancement’ which allows a CPU to utilise higher power limits, but it’s not entirely clear to the first time user exactly what this means and it’s very much sold as an option you should select. 

Gigabyte makes no mention of power Iimits: It appears the option may depend on what CPU is fitted. It suffers from the same problems as ASUS with a slightly confusing BIOS layout but does make some attempt to explain some settings like Load Line Calibration which is nice to see.

The ASROCK BIOS is acceptable in layout and function, but again the power settings are both obscured, and actually do not allow a free choice of power limits, likely because of constraints of the motherboard’s design. As a result, you cannot set a power limit higher than 100W and this has a negative effect on performance. Other than that, the Asus, Gigabyte and ASRock BIOSes are similar in layout and function and serve their purpose well enough. 

4. Performance

Firstly, one of the main reasons the B560 chipset is recommended is because it allows memory overclocking for the first time officially on non-K CPUs. This can bring decent performance benefits and is worth exploring if you are opting for this platform.

All of these boards allow memory overclocking, all have very similar settings available to enable that, and all allow running memory in ‘GEAR 1’ mode at 3600MHz – meaning the memory controller clock matches that of the RAM itself. All the boards accepted the XMP profile on the 3600MHz CL16 G.Skill kit we used for testing. 

Where we start to see some important differences is in how the boards behave due to their implementation of Intel’s power limit specifications, especially at default. 

To demonstrate, here’s a graph showing the Cinebench R23 score of each of these boards running an i5-11500 CPU using default power settings:

Whilst the two Asus boards and the Gigabyte Aorus all turn in similar results at about 10,200, we can see the MSI Bazooka and ASRock fall significantly behind. What’s going on?

Logging metrics, we can compare the CPU behaviour through this test on the different B560 motherboards.

This graph shows the impact of power limiting behaviour by the motherboard. The MSI deploys it’s high power limit which allows the CPU to draw 110W for the first section of the test, and permits running the CPU at it’s rated 4.2GHz all core speed. It then drops to a 65W long term power limit which limits clock frequencies to 3.3 GHz and causes a low score.

The ASRock HDV initially appears to be doing better: But look closely: It is never able to deliver more than 100W, and it then drops to 65W and the clocks to 3.5GHZ.

Meanwhile, the Asus TUF maintains 110W for the full duration of this test, running the CPU at 4.2GHZ throughout, and that’s down to ‘multi-core enhancement’ being active by default.

The MSI Bazooka’s behaviour can be fixed: Selecting ‘Tower’ or ‘All in one water cooler’ on initial set up in the BIOS imposes a higher power limit and allows the CPU to perform to its full potential. 

The ASROCK HDV however, cannot be saved. Imposing a 100W limit in BIOS improves the CPU performance as can be seen in this re-test with power limits removed, but its performance still falls short of the other B560 motherboards. If you’re thinking ‘hey, that’s not too bad, it’s only 200 points behind’… all I can say is please watch our linked video exploring this issue on B560 boards. We’ve got much more testing including testing with an i9-11900K, and they show why this is such a bad result for the ASROCK HDV, and why you shouldn’t consider this motherboard for even an i5 build. 

In terms of performance, the ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI boards perform equivalently and are able to extract the full potential from this CPU whilst the ASRock HDV gets a serious black mark against it for failing to meet Intel specification and failing to extract the full potential from an i5 CPU. 

Conclusions: Power delivery matters on B560 Motherboards

Our testing has highlighted important differences in the B560 chipset motherboards available. You need to factor in not only features and price, but also potential performance issues with some of these B560 motherboards.

The performance issue really is one of Intel’s own making: Their dogged adherence to squeezing every last drop out of aged architecture and process leaves them with mid-range CPUs that draw a lot of power when performing at their full potential. These components aren’t cheap, and this leaves motherboard manufacturers in the unpleasant position of trying to deliver compatible boards at an attractive price point. It appears that boards like the ASROCK HDV or some of the Gigabyte UD offerings are intended for use with i3 CPUs in office style low-demand builds because they’re not suitable for more demanding CPUs or usage. 

B560 Motherboard Recommendations

Best Entry Level B560 Motherboards

In our testing, the MSI MAG B560M Bazooka proves itself to be an excellent entry-level B560 motherboard. Or, if your budget is tighter, the MSI Pro VDH which is identical in specification and has VRM heatsinks, but loses the gamer aesthetic, but is also available with inbuilt WiFI.

ASUS has used a robust 8 phase VRM design across their affordable Prime Range, and also have heatsinking. The B560M-A or B560-PLUS are also good options at the entry-level price point.

Best Mid Range B560 Motherboards

The MSI MAG B560M Mortar and Asus TUF Gaming B560M-Plus WiFi both hit the sweet spot of solid VRM design and features and both have integrated WiFI 6 options available.

If you are looking for an ATX board the MSI MAG B560 Torpedo is a strong option with similar specification to the Mortar.

Best High End B560 Motherboard

Gigabyte has done a good job of VRM design since the ‘Coffee Lake’ era, and the VRM on the B560M Aorus Pro AX is no exception. The closely matched Aorus Elite and Aorus Pro are near identical in specification, with the Pro version having slightly stronger components in the VRM but retaining the same basic design. Either B560 motherboard will make a great choice for an i5 CPU. The Aorus Pro is our pick for the strongest VRM on test, it had no problems supplying power to the i9-11900K and its all-round specification matches the other motherboards on test.

Beyond $200 – Look to Z590 or AMD Zen 3

If you’re pushing towards $200 you perhaps look to a Z590 motherboard instead. Whilst the Asus Strix and MSI B560 Tomahawk are good offerings, you should look to gain the flexibility of a Z590 motherboard as you approach that price point. 

You could also consider the platform cost of a switch to a Ryzen Zen 3 CPU and a more cost-effective AMD B550 motherboard, where there’s a range of good options for around $100-$150 that offset the slightly higher CPU cost. There isn’t really a lot of sense in trying to get the value out of a CPU like the i5-11400 or i7-11700, but then overspending on motherboards to support them.

Best Mini ITX B560 Motherboard

If you’re looking for a mini ITX board, then the ASUS ROG Strix B560-I doesn’t disappoint. It allows both the i5-11500 and i9-11900K to perform to potential and has the same features as any other B560 ITX board on the market. You might want to consider the heat loading of an Intel Rocket Lake CPU in a small form factor build, especially when compared to a more efficient AMD Zen 3 CPU. That said, it’s a great looking and well-specified board and gets our recommendation from the handful of mITX B560 offerings.

That concludes our roundup. We hope you have this interesting, and perhaps it’s saved you from buying a part that would lead to the disappointing performance of your build. The B560 motherboards we’ve recommended will provide an excellent basis for your next PC, with a great blend of features, performance, ease of use and good value too. 

We also have produced a video companion to our B560 motherboard article, which we have linked below.

The post Best B560 Motherboards for Intel Rocket Lake Builds appeared first on PremiumBuilds.

If you’re a gamer or any productivity user, deciding on which CPU to buy is always a tough choice. Moreover, if you plan on building on a budget but still want the best performance for your money; you’d be asking yourself “Intel or AMD?”  

As it stands now, its Team Blue who offers cheaper options in their latest line-up. The surprisingly competent Core i5 11400F is a tiny beast of a CPU. Nonetheless, it’s only fair that we compare it to Team Red’s cheapest offering among their latest Zen 3 processors; the Ryzen 5 5600X. Read on to find out whether you really need to cough up more dough for AMD, or if you’ll be just fine sticking to Intel’s newly crowned budget champ.

Specifications

Model	Core i5 11400	Ryzen 5 5600x
Design
Cores/Threads	6/12	6/12
Base Clock	2.6GHz	3.7GHz
Boost Clock	4.4GHz	4.6GHz
TDP	65W	65W
Included Cooler	Intel Stock Cooler	Wraith Stealth
MSRP	$157	$299
Availability	Amazon.com	Amazon.com

At first glance, the specifications show that the Ryzen 5 5600X will vastly outperform the Core i5 11400F. However, it’s also clear why since Team Red’s cheapest Zen 3 offering costs nearly twice as much as the 11400F at its MSRP. The base clock speed of the Ryzen 5 is much higher than that of the Core i5 11400F, while its boost clock is another 200MHz higher than that of Team Blue.

Both have the same advertised thermal design power; however, this means little since in real use cases the power draw of both chips will be higher.

In order to see just how much these two processors differ in terms of performance, let’s turn to the benchmarks.

1080p Gaming- Mixed

*Benchmarks courtesy of Benchmark– YouTube

The 1080p gaming benchmarks show the Ryzen 5 5600X being mostly ahead of the Core i5 11400F. The only exceptions being Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Red Dead Redemption 2; two very GPU intensive games that both have equal average framerates on both processors. Cyberpunk 2077 sees a slightly higher framerate on the Core i5 11400F. But this difference is a tossup between either, so your mileage may vary. The largest variation in FPS is shown in Metro Exodus, with the Ryzen 5 gaining 12 frames per second over the Core i5.

All-in-all, the eight game averages for Team Blue and Team Red are 134 and 137.25 respectively. It goes without saying that for games, paying nearly double for an average 2% increase in framerate does not seem all that worth it.

Productivity Benchmarks- Ryzen 5 5600X

Moving onto CPU intensive productivity workloads, we can see how the $157 MSRP Core i5 11400F fares against the much more expensive Ryzen 5 5600X.

 Starting off with the Cinebench R20 Multi Core benchmark, the Core i5 11400F cores 3954, while the Ryzen 5 5600X scored 4462; an expected gain. Moving onto the Single Core workloads in Cinebench R20, Team Blue manages to obtain a score of 541 with Team Red blasting past with a score of 600.

The 7-Zip File Manager Compression test shows the Core i5 11400F achieve a score of 59002. The Ryzen 5 5600X again trumps Intel with a score of 72344. In the Decompression test, the 11400F scored 64461 while the 5600X was ahead by a good margin with 86940.

In the SiSoft Sandra Cryptography Multi Threaded performance test, the Core i5 11400F achieved a speed of 18.2 GB/s, and as usual the Ryzen 5 5600X was faster at 19.2 GB/s. Meanwhile the 11400F managed to complete the Chromium Code Compile test in 7995 seconds, while the faster Zen 3 5600X completed it in 7047 seconds. The DaVinci Resolve 4K benchmarks scores show that Team Blue and Team Red are quite close, with the former having a score of 969, though the latter outdoes it with a score of 1017.

The Adobe Premiere Pro 2020 benchmark results award the 11400F and 5600X with scores of 677 and 746 respectively. The two processors are again quite close in the Adobe Photoshop 2020 test, with the Core i5 having a score of 1017 and the Ryzen 5 having a score of 1076.

Finally, the Blender Open Data render times for both CPUs show that the Ryzen 5 5600X reached completion in 1122 seconds while the 11400F took longer at 1233 seconds.

Unlike the gaming benchmark, the productivity results for the two CPUs give a very binary result. The Zen 3 based Ryzen 5 5600X is clearly much faster than Intel’s Rocket Lake budget counterpart. Users primarily aiming for a workstation build would appreciate the added performance and faster render times provided by Team Red; even if it means it costs much more. However, it is impressive to see the results of the Core i5 11400F often surpassing last year’s Core i5 10600K; which was a much pricier processor at launch.

*Benchmarks courtesy of Hardware Unboxed– YouTube

Power Consumption- Ryzen 5 5600X

When it comes to total system power draw, there are no surprises here. Intel’s notoriously high power consumption is again evident here, as the Core i5 11400F equipped system had a total power draw of 181W during the Blender render. Meanwhile, the Ryzen 5 5600X consumed less power at 157W while outperforming the Team Blue variant during the same test. So, if you wish to build a cool Small Form Factor PC, it might be worth spending extra to get the less power-hungry CPU.

Compatibility- Both

In terms of motherboard inter-generational compatibility, both Intel and AMD are on their last legs. The long-supported socket AM4 ends its compatibility with the Ryzen 5000 series of processors. Similarly; as Intel only supports two generations of CPU per socket, the support for LGA 1200 ends with the Rocket Lake line-up of CPUs. So, if you ever wish to upgrade from either processor, you will need to spend extra on a newer motherboard as well.

Verdict

If you’re planning on solely gaming on your PC, there really is only one way to go: Intel. But this is not because they’ve got the most powerful gaming processors. In fact, it’s only because of the enormous demand and supply constraints that have affected the Ryzen 5000 series that you will be better off with the 11^th Gen Core i5 11400F. Currently, the Ryzen 5 5600X sells for $450 US Dollars on Amazon. In contrast, the street price of the Core i5 11400F is only $174. Since it’s simply dull-witted to spend $276 dollars more for a 10 FPS gain, gamers are better off with the newly crowned budget champ; the 11400F.

If you’re a workstation or productivity user on a budget however, you might need to consider ponying up the premium for a Ryzen 5 5600X. It outperforms the Intel counterpart in productivity workloads by quite a margin, and since time is money; you will probably be glad you chose AMD in the long run.

Check out some of our guides below to help you with your next Intel or AMD build:

Core i5 11400F Builds:

• Best Intel Core i5-11400(F) Build for 2021 (Gaming / All-Round Use)
• 6 Best Z590 Motherboards for Intel ‘Rocket Lake’ Builds

Ryzen 5 5600X builds:

• 4 Best CPU Coolers for the Ryzen 5 5600X
• 4 Best Power Supplies for Ryzen 5 5600X Builds
• 5 Best Motherboards for the Ryzen 5 5600X
• $1400 Ryzen 5 5600X Gaming Build – The Best Value PC Build for
• 4 Best Graphics Cards for Ryzen 5 5600X Builds
• $1800 Ryzen 5 5600X ITX Gaming Build for 2021

The post Intel Core i5 11400F vs AMD Ryzen 5 5600X: Which Is Best For You? appeared first on PremiumBuilds.

When Intel launched the Core i5 10400F alongside their Comet Lake line-up of processors, it failed to impress us. In a market where Intel had to compete with a similarly priced Ryzen 5 3600, Team Blue’s midrange competitor quite frankly had no legs to stand on. It was outperformed by Team Red in productive tasks, and only offered a minimal gain in gaming as well. Intel has not been the budget option for any consumer demographic due to the existence of a Ryzen processor in every price tier that mattered. However, the current CPU landscape seems to be changing in a very interesting manner.

Flash-forward to 2021, Intel has now released their brand-new Rocket Lake family of CPUs. Among them is the successor to last year’s consolation prize winner of the midrange battle: The Core i5 11400F. Intel has been having a tough go of it for the past few years. While simultaneously trying to take back the crown of best consumer-grade processors from AMD and figuring out how to move on from the 14nm process they’ve been stuck in.

So, is the all-new Intel Core i5 11400F an improvement over its 10^th Gen counterpart? Read on to find out.

Specifications

Model	Core i5 11400F	Core i5 10400F
Design
Cores/Threads	6/12	6/12
Base Clock	2.6GHz	2.9GHz
Boost Clock	4.4GHz	4.3GHz
TDP	65W	65W
Inclued Cooler	Intel Stock Cooler	Intel Stock Cooler
MSRP	$157	$155
Availability	Amazon.com	Amazon.com

On paper, the specs of both processors are very similar. But that does not always translate into equal performance. The newer Core i5 11400F is actually priced slightly lower than the outgoing 10400F. This is mostly due to the fact that the 10400F was likely subject to post-launch price hikes that every other PC component had.

With a lower price than its predecessor, if the performance of the Core i5 11400F is meaningfully better than the 10400F, we may have a winner on hands.

Productivity Performance- Core i5 11400F

First up, we will look at the results of the Cinebench R20 Multi Core workload. With a score of 3954, the 11400F blasts past the previous gen 10400F’s 3188. The Cinebench R20 Single Core test was another win for Rocket Lake. The 11400F was 25% faster than the 10400F with scores of 541 and 433 respectively. The 7-Zip File Manager Compression test showed the Core i5 11400F achieve a score of 59002. It’s a vast improvement over the 10400F’s score of 51434. Similarly, the Decompression test showed the 11400F gain a score of 64461 while the Core i5 10400F achieved 55256.

The SiSoft Sandra Cryptography test’s Multi-Threaded performance results showed the i5 11400F achieve 18.2 GB/s while the 10400F was at a modest 12.5 GB/s. turning over to the Chromium Code Compilation performance test, it’s no surprise that Rocket Lake wins again. The core i5 11400F finished the compile in 7995 seconds while the 10400F took longer with 9182 seconds. With a score of 969, the DaVinci Resolve 4K benchmark bore more good news for the 11400F as it performed nearly equally as the pricier Core i5 11600K. Of course, the 10400F scored lower at 887.

The Adobe Premiere Pro 2020 benchmark results follows the same narrative as earlier. The Core i5 11400F scored 677, and the 10400F was lagging behind at 585. The Photoshop 2020 benchmark gave the 11400F a score of 1017, and the 10400F was far behind with 883. Finally, the Blender Open Data Render is another solid win for the Core i5 11400F. It managed to finish the Render in 1233 seconds while the last gen Core i5 10400F needed 1443 seconds. It’s impressive as to how much Intel has improved on midrange performance with the 11400F. Essentially wiping the floor with its predecessor and often outperforming last year’s 10600K and the Ryzen 5 3600. As a midrange processor that is able to dote out strong performance numbers, this bodes very well for intel.

1080p Gaming Performance- 11400F

The Core i5 11400F carries its winning streak onto 1080p gaming as well. The all-new Rocket Lake processor consistently beats the Intel Core i5 10400F in every gaming title tested at 1080p. the more graphically demanding games do show near-equal performance due to them being mostly GPU bound. Cyberpunk 2077 only showed a 2% difference in performance between the two SKUs. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Red Dead Redemption 2 performed equally on both CPUs. Clearly, the Core i5 11400F is a strong gaming processor. As to the degree of improvement over last Gen; your mileage may vary depending on what game you play.

Power Consumption- 10400F

In order to measure just how much power the two Intel midrangers use up, power draw during the Blender Open Data Render was measured. As we’ve previously observed, the Core i5 10400F sips power while undergoing CPU intensive tasks. The case was no different here, as the Comet Lake processor drew a maximum system load of 153W during its run.

Judging by the superior performance of the Core i5 11400F, it’s to be expected that the newer Rocket Lake processor would be more power-hungry. During the render, the 11400F recorded a load of 181W. The power draw of the 11400F is in no way outrageous, so rest assured that it will not become a blazing inferno inside your Small Form Factor PC (unlike the higher end 11^th Gen variants).

Compatibility

Both the Core i5 11400F and the 10400F uses the LGA 1200 socket. The 11^th Gen line-up of processors will be the last SKUs that support this socket type, as Intel only allows two generations of CPU per socket.  

With that said, the launch of the 11^th Gen Intel CPUs brought on an assortment of new features that were previously locked to higher end motherboards. With the launch of the newer B560 chipset motherboards, users with the new 11^th Gen CPUs can freely overclock their memory speeds. This allows more headroom for your processor to run faster than its out-of-the-box speeds. Meaning that with a midrange B560 motherboard and the Core i5 11400F, you will be able to get more out of your CPU than what was possible with last Gen.  

Verdict

In a surprising turn of events, Intel has now officially become the budget option for gamers and productivity users alike. It’s refreshing to see fierce competition among brands leave consumers with more choices that cost less. Six core- twelve thread gaming has finally become the budget sweet-spot for many gamers. All thanks to competition in the industry.

 The Core i5-11400F now occupies a price tier that AMD has abandoned with the launch of their Ryzen 5000 series. So, unless a new challenger from AMD appears. The Intel Core i5 11400F is without a doubt the new budget champ.

If you wish to build out a system using either of these processors, check out some of our guides below:

Intel Core i5 10400F Build Guides

• 5 Best Motherboards for Intel Core i5-10400/F Builds
• Best CPU Coolers for the Intel Core i5-10400 & i5-10400F
• Best Intel Core i5-11400(F) Build for 2021 (Gaming / All-Round Use)
• 6 Best Z590 Motherboards for Intel ‘Rocket Lake’ Builds

The post Intel Core i5 11400F vs 10400F: What Are The Differences? appeared first on PremiumBuilds.

Intel’s latest Rocket Lake CPUs may not have set the world on fire at the high end, but the mid i5 parts offer good value and strong performance. They make a great basis for a mid-range gaming machine and importantly the non F versions include integrated graphics, so you can build a functional PC now and get a GPU when you are able to. The F version will require a discrete GPU for any display output. 

This PC balances cost and performance to get the most value from the i5-11400 or 11400F without overspending. By choosing an appropriate GPU it will perform excellently at all resolutions, allowing high framerate gaming and good performance in demanding AAA titles. It’s also perfectly capable of basic productivity work and general use.

In this guide, we’ll take you through our choices for each component in turn for this Intel Core i5-11400(F) build.

Best Intel i5-11400(F) Build – The Parts List

CPU: Intel Core i5-11400

Intels 11^th generation CPUs, named “Rocket Lake” bring a number of new features to the table. They have native PCIe 4.0 support allowing the use of fast SSDs and the most up to date GPU connection protocol. They also have Intel’s most up to date integrated graphics architecture, the Iris Xe powered UHD 730. The i5-11500 and i5-11600 get the next tier up, the UHD 750 which offers slightly more performance, but sadly they’re still not able to play anything but the most basic of desktop games. Nonetheless, this iGPU allows desktop output, basic games, and accelerates some processes like video transcoding and calculations in Adobe suite products making it a versatile addition to the spec of this PC.
The i5-11400 boosts the per-core performance relative to the older generation Intel CPUs and has 6 cores and 12 threads. This means it’s well suited to gaming and all-round use. The peak clock speed of 4.4GHz enables high frame rate play and ensures good gaming performance.

Alternatively, if you have a GPU and will not use applications assisted by the iGPU, you can opt for the ‘F’ suffix CPUs which are slightly cheaper but forgo inbuilt graphics. This saves a little money. You could also opt for the i5-11500 or i5-11600 which have a slightly higher boost speed and the slightly higher performance intel UHD 750 iGPU. However, the performance difference is not marked and it’s not worth paying substantially more for these CPUs. If you’re considering the i5-11600K, then we’d recommend pairing it with a Z590 motherboard in order to unlock its full potential by overclocking.

The i5-11400 mixes high performance, versatility and great value to be a fantastic choice for your gaming PC.

CPU Cooler: ID-COOLING SE-224-XT

The i5-11400 is supplied with a revised ‘all black’ CPU cooler, and if you’re seeking to minimize costs you can happily use that. However, we recommend using an upgraded tower cooler to minimize noise and keep temperatures down. Lower temperatures ensure your CPU will reach and maintain the highest boost clock speeds it can. The ID-COOLING SE-224-XT is a great option at $35. It performs well with 4 heat pipes and an efficient fan, and the cost is lower than some competitors, and it comes with a tube of thermal paste so you can attach and refit it without buying more. It’s a great buy. 

Motherboard: ASRock B560 Steel Legend

Intel’s B560 chipset complements the i5 non-K CPUs perfectly in a gaming or general-purpose build. They have allowed memory overclocking even for non-K CPUs, which unleashes a good amount of additional potential through reduced memory latency with faster RAM. The primary PCIe slot is PCIe 4.0 compliant, and so is the main M.2 slot although PCIe 3.0 drives will work perfectly well in this slot, providing better value. Whilst boards are still trickling into retail availability, the ASRock B560 Steel Legend is a sound choice from the B560 motherboards available at this time. It has both display port and HDMI outputs if you need to use the integrated graphics as a stop-gap. There’s a reasonable VRM configuration, plenty to get the most from an i5 CPU. Three M.2 slots for SSDs and six SATA ports take care of storage, whilst there’s a dedicated m.2 E-Key slot if you want to add an m.2 WiFi adaptor. It has a USB 3.2 header to ensure the USB-C port on the case is functional. There’s a total of six fan headers to allow a variety of cooling setups, and plenty of RGB control headers too.

RAM: ADATA XPG GAMMIX D20 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16

RAM is the working space of the PC, and 16GB is plenty for gaming and general use. This 3200MHz kit from ADATA, the XPG Gammix D20, is relatively cheap, and fast enough to ensure you’re getting good performance from your CPU. Two 8GB Stick enables dual channel mode which is fundamental to aid performance. The CL16 timings are relatively tight, again helping the CPU perform to it’s best. Just be sure to enable the XMP profile in BIOS when you first set the PC up to take advantage of the speed. The simple black heat spreaders give a discrete aesthetic. This RAM is the price to performance sweet spot for a great value Intel system. 

Storage: Western Digital Blue SN550 1TB

This NVMe SSD from Western Digital, the SN550 1TB, is truly excellent value. It uses PCIe 3.0 so whilst it lacks in benchmark results compared to PCIe 4.0 drives, it’s indistinguishable in actual use and provides responsive versatile SSD space. 1TB is ample storage for the operating system, core storage, and several large games and the M.2 form factor makes it a cinch to fit to the motherboard, with no additional data or power cables required. If you have a lot of data to store such as videos or music that doesn’t rely on fast access, we’d advise pairing this with a 2TB or larger Hard Disc Drive, to obtain the advantages of an SSD in general use and the large space of a hard drive. 

Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow

We’ve chosen the popular and versatile Corsair 4000D Airflow for this build. It’s a modern well-engineered case with great airflow thanks to the ventilated front panel. It’s solidly constructed and easy to build in, with good instructions and accessories supplied. It has USB 3.2 via Type A and Type C sockets on the front, and tool-less panel removal. All the intakes have mesh dust filters which are easy to remove and clean. Whilst it comes with 2 120mm fans pre-installed, we’d recommend a pair of 140mm intake fans like the Arctic P14 PST. These larger fans can be run slower, for less noise but plenty of airflow to keep the system cool. This case accommodates the largest of GPUs and has plenty of space for expansion, as well as a basement to conceal the power supply, cables and hard discs. 

Power Supply: be quiet! Pure Power 11 CM 600W 80+ Gold

Power supplies haven’t been immune to supply disruption with prices steadily creeping up and popular units often out of stock. This 600W Semi-modular and gold-rated unit from be quiet! blends the feature set you need with good reliability and an affordable price point. It’s semi-modular so the build isn’t cluttered with cables you don’t need, and uses a quiet 120mm fan. Gold certification means it’s at least 92% efficient. It’s rounded out with a 5-year warranty for your peace of mind. 

The Elephant In the Room: Graphics Cards

We haven’t specified a GPU in this guide. Primarily this is because the market is so unfavourable at this time, any suggestion is going to be out of stock or heavily inflated in price. This PC is well suited to run any GPU from a GTX 1660 Super up to an RTX 3060 Ti, for excellent 1080p to 1440p gaming performance. If you wish to fit a more powerful GPU such as an RTX 3080 or RX 6800 XT for 1440p ultrawide or 4K gaming and can find one, then the only modification required to this build list is a more powerful Power supply, 750W or higher, to support the GPU. So long as you don’t opt for the i5-11400F you can build and test your PC whilst you wait to obtain a GPU and can use it for general tasks, browsing and media consumption as well as some basic games to keep yourself entertained. The addition of a GPU makes this a fantastic gaming PC. 

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