BenchPair

Core i5-8400 bottleneck & gaming FPS

Ranked 191 of 201 desktop processors for gaming in our database (5th percentile). It can sustain roughly 70 fps in a typical AAA title regardless of resolution — that ceiling is what decides whether a graphics card is worth pairing with it.

SpecificationsCoffee Lake · 2017
ArchitectureCoffee Lake
Cores6
Threads6
Boost clock4,000 MHz
L3 cache9 MB
TDP65 W
Released2017
Core i5-8400 FPS in popular games1080p, high

The frame rate this chip could sustain with an infinitely fast graphics card. It is almost the same at every resolution, because rendering more pixels gives the processor no extra work.

GameCPU ceilingWith GeForce RTX 2080 Ti
Cyberpunk 2077 66 fps 47 fps
Fortnite 89 fps 88 fps
Counter-Strike 2 112 fps 111 fps
Baldur's Gate 3 61 fps 60 fps
Red Dead Redemption 2 79 fps 53 fps
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 40 fps 39 fps
Best GPU for the Core i5-84001080p, high

Ranked by how little performance the pairing wastes. Anything much faster than the top entry will sit partly idle at this resolution — though it may still be worth it if you plan to move to 1440p or 4K.

Graphics cardEst. FPSUnused
GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 69 0.1%
Radeon RX 6750 GRE 12GB 69 1%
Radeon RX 6700 XT 69 1%
Radeon RX 6750 XT 69 1.7%
Radeon RX 7600 XT 67 3%
Radeon RX 7650 GRE 65 5.1%
Against its closest neighbours1080p, high
PartEst. FPSDifference
Core i3-10100F 69 fps 0%
Ryzen 3 3100 69 fps 0%
Core i5-8400 69 fps this part
Core i3-9350K 68 fps -1%
Core i3-9350KF 68 fps -1%

Every row measured against the same graphics card, so the difference shown comes from the parts themselves rather than from unrelated systems.

Is the Core i5-8400 good for gaming?

Not for demanding modern titles. It ranks 191 of 201 for gaming and will be the limiting component in most pairings, capping frame rate before the graphics card runs out of capacity.

What GPU should I pair with a Core i5-8400?

The closest match at 1080p is the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, wasting only 0.1% of the combined potential at around 69 fps. Anything materially faster will sit partly idle at this resolution, though it can still be the right buy if you plan to move to 1440p or 4K.

Living with a Core i5-8400

This processor sits in the lower part of the range and will be the limiting component in most modern pairings. Frame rates will be capped by the chip well before the graphics card runs out of capacity, and no graphics upgrade will change that.

If frame rates are the problem, this is where the money goes. Raising the resolution will not help here in the way it does for a graphics-limited system.

A small cache holds this chip back

9 MB of L3 is modest by current standards, and it costs this chip more in games than its clock speed suggests. Game engines walk large, scattered data structures, so a small cache means more trips to main memory and more stalls on the render thread. Memory speed and timings matter unusually much on a part like this.

A note on age

Released in 2017, this chip is 9 years old. Beyond raw speed it is on an older platform, which usually means slower memory, fewer PCIe lanes and no path to a newer processor without replacing the motherboard. Factor that into any upgrade maths — the chip may not be the only thing you end up replacing.

Where it sits

Ranked 191 of 201 desktop processors for gaming. Nearest faster: Core i3-10100F , Ryzen 3 3100 . Just below: Core i3-9350K , Core i3-9350KF . Full method on the methodology page.