Intel Core i5 13400F
The best budget gaming CPU right now
Ten cores for less than $200? Yes please.
FOR MOST OF 2022, we recommended the Core i5 12600K for the best gaming CPU, and the Core i5 12400 as the best gaming CPU on a budget. Last year, the Core i5 13600K took over the top spot. Today, the Core i5 13400F pushes Alder Lake out of the runnings with an even more impressive specification for the money.
The Intel Core i5 13400F is a processor I’ve been waiting patiently to test since I first heard wind of it last year. You’ll understand why once you read these specs: A 10-core processor made up of six Performance-cores (P-cores) and four Efficient-cores (E-cores), the Core i5 13400F has a total of 16 threads. Its fastest cores will run up to 4.6GHz out of the box—a clock speed that wouldn’t have seemed out of place on the box of a Core i7 only a few years back.