Leak suggests Intel’s follow-up to a well-liked Core i5 CPU may be disappointing

Intel’s Core i5-14400 processor has been the subject of a benchmark leak which casts the CPU in a disappointing light.

This is the follow-up to the popular Core i5-13400, and it’s rumored that the chip will be revealed by Intel at CES 2024 (along with other non-K versions – locked CPUs that can’t be overclocked – of the new Raptor Lake Refresh desktop range).

Leaker @wxnod posted screenshots from CPU-Z on X (formerly Twitter) showing the spec and single-core plus multi-core benchmark tests. (Do note this is the Core i5-14400F, but it’s exactly the same as the vanilla 14400, it just lacks integrated graphics – but that won’t make any difference to CPU benchmarking, of course).

The Core i5-14400F achieved a score of 765 for single-core and 6,730 for multi-core in CPU-Z, which is a pretty pitiful uplift of 2% for the latter compared to its predecessor the 13400 (as per a comparison flagged up in the thread of that tweet).

This isn’t too surprising in some ways, though, because as the specs show, the 14400 keeps the same core configuration as the 13400, and only bumps clock speeds by a minor 100MHz. (Elsewhere in Raptor Lake Refresh we see slightly more substantial 200MHz boosts compared to previous-gen chips).

Analysis: A pivotal weakness?

To say this looks to be a very minor bump of a performance increase is understating it. Indeed, a 2% uptick is practically unnoticeable in real-world usage – but we must wheel out the caveats here: this is a leak, and should be seasoned as such, and it’s just a single synthetic benchmark. (CPU-Z is hardly the top pick for benchmarking, either).

Nonetheless, it’s a clear enough suggestion that the Core i5-14400 processor is not going to offer much upward movement, backing up what the specs themselves indicate.

Why is this a problem for would-be Intel processor buyers? Well, the Core i5-13400 is widely regarded as a pivotal mid-range chip for Raptor Lake, giving you speedy gaming performance at a compelling price, and generally offering an excellent value proposition in the mid-range CPU space. (It was the recommended processor in our guide to building a budget gaming PC – though you may be able to pick up some great Black Friday deals on CPUs and gaming PCs right now, too).

In other words, the 14400 is an important update, and one that will seemingly fall a bit flat. That’s a disappointing insight, of course – caveats still applying – though we’ll have to see the processor’s price tag, as well, to get the full picture into focus.

Mind you, another way of looking at this is that the 13400 is still a great CPU today, and a version of it that’s a touch faster will still be a great CPU. But it’ll feel like an opportunity missed for Intel to make a more meaningful advance here in the mid-range market.

Via VideoCardz

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