Best Budget Intel · Processors (CPUs)

Intel Core i5-14400F

With ten cores and support for both DDR4 and DDR5 motherboards, the i5-14400F lets you build a capable gaming PC very cheaply, especially if you reuse DDR4 memory from an older system.

Brand: Intel
Best for: Budget builds reusing DDR4 memory
Price range: Budget
Our score: 8.0/10

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Our take

The Core i5-14400F is one of the cheapest ways to build a capable gaming PC, especially if you already have DDR4 memory. It has ten cores, includes a cooler and works in inexpensive LGA 1700 motherboards that take either DDR4 or DDR5.

Performance

The 14400F has six performance cores with Hyper-Threading and four efficient cores, for 16 threads in total, with a 4.7GHz boost clock. In published testing it's a good match for budget and mid-range graphics cards such as the RTX 5060 Ti or RX 9060 XT, and its extra efficient cores give it an edge over six-core chips in multi-threaded work like video encoding.

It's slower than AMD's Ryzen 5 7600 and 9600X in most games, but the gap is small with budget graphics cards.

DDR4 or DDR5

The 14400F's biggest advantage is flexibility. LGA 1700 motherboards are available for DDR4 or DDR5 memory (not both on the same board). If you're upgrading an older PC and already have 16GB or 32GB of DDR4, a DDR4 B760 board lets you keep it, which saves a lot of money while memory prices are high.

What to know

The F means it has no built-in graphics, so you must use a graphics card. It's locked, so it can't be overclocked, but budget B760 boards still allow faster memory. Intel includes its Laminar RM1 cooler, which is adequate at this chip's power levels.

This chip isn't affected by the instability problem that hit some 13th- and 14th-generation Core i7 and i9 processors. Still, install the latest BIOS for your motherboard.

The downside is the lack of a future. LGA 1700 is a finished platform, so your next processor upgrade means a new motherboard too.

Who should buy it

Buy the Core i5-14400F for the cheapest capable gaming PC, especially if you're reusing DDR4 memory. If you want an upgrade path, the Ryzen 5 7600 on AM5 is the better long-term choice.

Key specifications

Architecture	Raptor Lake Refresh
Cores / threads	10 (6P + 4E) / 16
Boost clock	4.7GHz
L2 cache	9.5MB
L3 cache	20MB
Base power	65W
Maximum turbo power	148W
Socket	LGA 1700
Memory	DDR4-3200 or DDR5-4800 (depends on motherboard)
PCIe	PCIe 5.0 and 4.0
Graphics	None (F model, needs a graphics card)
Cooler	Intel Laminar cooler included

Strengths and weaknesses

Pros

Works with cheap DDR4 or DDR5 boards
Cooler included
Good multi-threaded performance for the price
Not affected by the Core i7 and i9 instability issue

Cons

LGA 1700 has no further upgrades
No built-in graphics
Locked, so no overclocking

Verdict

With ten cores and support for both DDR4 and DDR5 motherboards, the i5-14400F lets you build a capable gaming PC very cheaply, especially if you reuse DDR4 memory from an older system. It earns our Best Budget Intel award in our guide to the best processors.

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