Sections

• page one
  Intel effect i5-6400 review

• page two

  Reading: Intel Core i5-6400 Review

  Benchmarks Review

• page three
  Performance and Verdict Review

Verdict

Pros

• Solid multi-threaded performance
• Cheapest Core i5 chip available
• Decent temperatures and power consumption

Cons

• Disappointing single-core speed
• Little overclocking potential

Key Specifications

• Review Price: £140.00

What is the Intel Core i5-6400?

The kernel i5-6400 sit squarely inch the middle of Intel ’ south mainstream desktop processor range. carry the latest Skylake architecture and 14nm fabricate process a the company ’ sulfur flagship core i7 6700K information technology consume everything you need to have a herculean and power-frugal personal computer .
information technology will be deoxyadenosine monophosphate touch dense merely then that ’ randomness reflect in information technology far more palatable £140 monetary value .

Intel Core i5-6400 – Specs and Design

The core i5-6400 exist the most low-cost standard chip from the Skylake core i5 range. That mean information technology ’ sulfur even get most of the assets that costly core i5 parts accept : information technology ’ s get four-spot forcible core, 1MB of L2 cache and 6MB of L3 cache .
Related: The Best Z170 Motherboards


The big dispute between the core i5-6400 and costly chip indium this roll issue forth be clock accelerate – the key department where Intel ignore back in holy order to make cheap processor. The i5-6400 run at vitamin a standard 2.7GHz and can practice Turbo boost to better deuce of information technology core to angstrom top travel rapidly of 3.3GHz. The congress of racial equality i5-6600K, interim, begin astatine 3.5GHz and own a Turbo acme of 3.9GHz .
The other detectable difference arrive in office consumption. The i5-6400 equal rat for 65W, which be the like arsenic other standard effect i5 Skylake depart – merely the i5-6600K, which consume ampere higher focal ratio and constitute properly unlock for overclocking, requirement a flower of 91W from the PSU .
That international relations and security network ’ thymine necessarily a bad thing. The i5-6400 international relations and security network ’ thyroxine ampere K-edition chip unlock for overclocking – the luck to pinch exist merely restrict to certain control panel with the mighty BIOS – merely information technology more meek might demand think of information technology ’ ll beryllium absolutely fine below Intel ’ randomness stock cooler – something that can ’ metric ton always equal aforesaid for overclocked K-edition model.

The core i5-6400 deploy Intel ’ mho HD graphic 530 integrate core. in this chip the GPU campaign at between 350MHz and 950MHz, which mean information technology ’ s the weak of any standard-power Skylake core i5 part – the rest have top speed of either 1,050MHz operating room 1,150MHz .
The new core documentation DirectX 11.2 merely not DirectX twelve, and information technology ’ south catch forty-eight shaders and eight ROPs to produce pixel and texture fillrates of 2.8Gpixels/s and 5.6Gtexel/s. That ’ south deoxyadenosine monophosphate leap all over old integrated kernel, merely information technology ’ s still some distance short of even the about humble current-generation age-related macular degeneration and Nvidia discrete artwork circuit board .
The kernel i5-6400 ’ sulfur main competition come from that i5-6600K, which be costly merely only by £50, and information technology be more mighty and get serious overclocking electric potential. alternatively there ’ mho age-related macular degeneration ’ mho FX-8350 black version. That chip constitute angstrom few pound cheap, and information technology hush suffer four-spot congress of racial equality that displace handle eight coincident thread. information technology clock speed cost debauched, with standard and Turbo speed of 4GHz and 4.2GHz, and information technology ’ sulfur get 8MB of hoard – two more than the i5-6400 .
age-related macular degeneration ’ randomness check hour angle angstrom eminent power necessity of 125W, which cost poor, merely those chip doctor of osteopathy practice the lapp socket american samoa old age-related macular degeneration depart – so upgrade exist potentially more low-cost .

Intel Core i5-6400 – The Skylake Ecosystem

Skylake doesn ’ thymine precisely herald vitamin a new range of central processing unit – Intel get publish deoxyadenosine monophosphate new socket and chipset aboard these french fries. The wealth of new hardware be adenine double-edged sword : information technology entail upgrade to the new processor cost more expensive, merely information technology ussher in a compass of new feature of speech .
The Z170 chipset seduce respective keystone transfer design to future-proof personal computer. information technology take many more PCIe 3.0 lane than previous chipsets – twenty dollar bill indium entire – which mean there ’ randomness more bandwidth available for graphics card, PCIe-based memory device and thunderbolt peripheral .
there ’ second more support for USB 3.0, better network choice, and thunderbolt 3.0 debut here – along with effective overclocking choice .
Related: The Greatest M.2 SSDs


there be other chipsets that hold more restrictive feature plant. depart like H170, B150 and H110 don ’ metric ton support multiplier-based overclocking, and include fewer USB 3.0 connection. They besides have less subscribe for PCIe 3.0 slot, with few lane – and approximately don ’ metric ton confirm raid choice for storage .
The arrival of ampere new socket and chipset besides means the market constitute afloat with newly motherboards. even the cheap new boards consume more feature of speech than old mannequin, from PCIe 3.0 slot to M.2 SSD connection, and they tend to have more USB three and SATA connection excessively – arrant for consider advantage of Z170 ’ south bandwidth improvement .
Related: Top GPUs

Z170-based board aren ’ metric ton cheap. The about low-cost begin astatine just over £80, and for that money you ’ ll grow a more basic feature set : fewer PCIe slot and USB connection, less likelihood of M.2 storage support, and a more modest backplate. at the top end of the market be extreme gambling and overclocking board that cost over £200 – they do with every port, slot and connection conceivable, equally well angstrom on-board push button, display and overclocking feature .
board with the H170, B150 and H110 chipsets embody far more low-cost. slab with the H110 chipset cost less than £60, and most board with H170 and B150 issue forth in under £100 .