Intel Core i5-11400F Processor: Review (Special)/ Overclocking/ Benchmark/ Specification (Specs) – The beginning of summer is not the best time to upgrade your PC. Especially when it comes to changing the entire platform (processor along with the motherboard), and not just increasing the amount of RAM or installing a more powerful video card. This year is exceptional in this regard. 10 nm devices from Intel (Alder Lake CPU with support for Socket LGA 1700 and DDR5 memory) will be presented already in the fall, so it’s hardly worth running to the store for new components right now. It is better to be patient and make a wise choice in favor of innovative products, besides the existing models of motherboards and stones will definitely fall in price after the release of fresh gland.
In tasks that require the maximum number of computational threads, the Intel Core i5-11400F is extremely good.
Intel Core i5-11400F Review, Forget Ryzen for Budget Gaming
But there are certainly people in the world who cannot wait. This is both a capricious child who wants to play his favorite action game, and a professional who collects a powerful car to solve urgent business problems. Perhaps it was for them that the material about the Core i5-11400F CPU was written.
An advanced user is well aware that the transition to the 11th generation of Intel Core processors is pointless if the current PC was upgraded 2-4 years ago. The sense from such an upgrade is minimal, but the costs are not.
We are well aware that the Rocket Lake family of CPUs provides access to the PCI-E 4.0 interface, and the power of a single thread for these stones even compared to Comet Lake devices, not to mention older modifications, has increased significantly. This was verified by the example of the CPU Core i5-11600K.
The features are certainly noteworthy, but, again, these innovations are not enough to convince owners of more or less current systems (say, based on the eighth, ninth or tenth generation of Intel Core) to switch to the Rocket Lake family, and at the same time to the platform with Socket LGA 1200.
We repeat once again that the only scenario in which the sense of purchasing an 11th generation Intel Core processor along with a fresh motherboard based on the 500th chipset will be justified is if the potential user has an ancient PC (which is already 8-10 years old) or lack thereof at all.
In this article, we will talk about perhaps the most balanced and optimal CPU of the Rocket Lake family called the Core i5-11400F. This CPU is designed for gaming, multimedia tasks, and even for professional operations, because it has stone six physical cores and 12 computing threads.
- Technical and functional features
The Core i5-11400F has a rather modest nominal clock speed (2600 MHz), although one core in auto-boost mode operates at 4400 MHz.
The BIOS of the motherboard based on the Intel B560 chipset allows you to run all six cores at 4.4 GHz, but this is of no use (we’ll talk more about this in the corresponding chapter). This CPU “out of the box” offers the owner an affordable maximum with regards to performance.
Automation independently increases the CPU frequency depending on the load.
Intel Core i5-11400F friendly with DDR4-3200+ RAM, and we strongly recommend that you purchase for a profile system that will live overlooked stone, a kit with just such a clock frequency (3200 MHz). And here it is important to talk about some technical nuances.
If you decide to stay on a motherboard with an Intel Z590 chipset, feel free to purchase the highest-frequency set that you have enough money for (higher RAM frequency – higher PC performance). And if the choice falls on the platform, the center of which will be the Intel B560 chipset (by the way, we advise you to do just that), get up above the DDR4-3200 standard is not worth it.
The reason is that not all motherboards based on Intel B560 function stably together with high-frequency memory. From our own experience, we were convinced that one copy is perfect friendly with dual channel DDR4-4133 kit, and the other starts to fiddle even on the XMP profile DDR4-3600 (with DDR4-3200, all the devices that visited us worked well).
Intel Core i5-11400F Processor: Specification ( Specs)
| Intel Core i5-11400F | |
|---|---|
| Socket | LGA 1200 |
| Technical process | 14 nm |
| Kernels / threads | 6/12 |
| Clock frequency | 2600/4400 MHz |
| Cache | 12 MB |
| TDP | 65 W |
| Memory support | DDR4-3200, 2 channels 128 GB maximum |
| PCI-E version | 4.0 |
| Intel DL Boost | Yes |
| Support for Intel Optane | Yes |
| Intel Turbo Boost Technology | 2.0 |
| Intel Hyper-Threading | Yes |
| Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x) | Yes |
| Instructions | Intel SSE4.1, Intel SSE4.2 Intel AVX2, Intel AVX-512 |
| Launch date | Q1 2021 |
| Price | 157$ |
The estimated power of the Core i5-11400F (that is, TDP), according to the manufacturer, does not exceed 65 watts. But this is only partly true. Firstly, this is possible only if all the established limits and under short-term load (Power Limit). Secondly, we want to get maximum CPU performance for our money, don’t we?
The Intel Core i5-11400F does not have an integrated graphics core.
Therefore, it is advisable to remove all existing restrictions immediately after installing the Core i5-11400F in Socket LGA 1200 (we will talk about this below), but in this case, the monitored CPU will no longer be cold and extremely energy efficient.
The Box version of the Intel Core i5-11400F fell into our hands. In the box besides stone there was a low-profile cooler with terrible plastic fasteners, well known from the Comet Lake family. Is he doing his job well?
Judge for yourself: after removing all limits in the BIOS, the Core i5-11400F CPU on an open stand heated up to 100 degrees under load. At the same time, the fan rotated at 2500 rpm (this is an unbearable howl, which is unacceptable for continuous use).
The Intel Core i5-11400F does not have an integrated graphics core, which, in our opinion, is very good. The fact had a positive effect on the selling price of the device ($ 157), and the use of low-power embeddings still a little (again, we refer to the material about the Core i5-11600K, which tested the capabilities of the Intel UHD Graphics 750).
Test stand:
Motherboard – MSI MAG B560 Tomahawk WIFI
RAM – XPG Spectrix D50 DDR4-3600 (2×8 GB)
Video Card – ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3070
Storage – HP EX900 Pro 1TB
Power Supply – Fractal Design Ion+ Platinum 860W
Removal of “power limits” and overclocking Core i5-11400F
Overclocking the Core i5-11400F using the multiplier will not work, because it is blocked. You can certainly fix the x44 value on all six cores (even a budget motherboard based on the Intel B560 chipset will allow you to do this), but don’t expect any profit from this action (I personally verified it).
We have already noted that automation independently increases the CPU frequency depending on the load. She copes with this matter perfectly (which is only in the hands of the user).
The only thing that the owner of the Core i5-11400F can do with this processor to get an effective maximum is to remove power limits в BIOS.
In the case of the MSI MAG B560 Tomahawk WIFI board, the profile settings are located in the Advanced CPU Configuration tab. We are interested in the items Long Duration Power Limit, Long Duration Maintained, Short Duration Power Limit and CPU Current Limit (read more about what each option means in the article about Core i9-10900).
We recommend setting the limit values in these paragraphs (as in the screenshot) and taking care of the effective cooling of the Core i5-11400F. In this case, you will definitely not be offended by the final performance.
Intel Core i5-11400F Processor: Performance and test results
The Intel Core i5-11400F fights on equal terms with the Ryzen 5 3600X (which, by the way, costs less than our guest) and the 8-core Core i7-9700KF (in some professional tasks, the Rocket Lake CPU turns out to be faster, in others – the mentioned rivals).
In tasks that require the maximum number of computational threads, the Intel Core i5-11400F is extremely good. But it performs even better in single-threaded operations. Cypress Cove Architecture yields results, as a result, we see the promised improvements associated with the indicator IPC (if we compare the results with the tenth generation of Intel Core).
Is the Core i5-11400F good for gaming? More than. Monitored CPU rocking GeForce RTX 3070 graphics card is no worse than the 8-core Core i7-10700K (even the low clock speed is not a problem four hundredth). By the way, twelve computing threads for modern toys is too much.
Conclusion
So let’s recap. Paying attention to the 6-core Core i5-11400F is only for those users who have not upgraded their PC for a very long time (more than 6-8 years). Potential owners of this CPU, in our opinion, are gamers and professionals who do not need more than 16 computing threads and too high a clock frequency to work.
Which motherboard and RAM to choose for Core i5-11400F? The optimal platform seems to be an option based on the Intel B560 chipset with a dual-channel set of DDR4-3200 RAM (or with a slightly higher clock speed if you are sure that your motherboard with it cope).
We remind everyone else about the existence of the excellent Core i5-10400F processor (it costs 4500 rubles cheaper than the Core i5-11400F), which has exactly the same number of cores / threads / cache, while the nominal clock frequency is higher (but there is no support for PCIe 4.0 interface, plus lower single stream power). And that in autumn we are waiting for the appearance of the first 10 nm desktop processors from Intel. Keywords: intel
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