{"id":32205,"date":"2019-10-31T21:45:39","date_gmt":"2019-10-31T18:45:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prohoster.info\/blog\/novaya-statya-obzor-protsessora-intel-core-i5-9400f-nenastoyashhij-coffee-lake-refresh\/"},"modified":"2019-10-31T21:45:39","modified_gmt":"2019-10-31T18:45:39","slug":"novaya-statya-obzor-protsessora-intel-core-i5-9400f-nenastoyashhij-coffee-lake-refresh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prohoster.info\/en\/blog\/news\/novaya-statya-obzor-protsessora-intel-core-i5-9400f-nenastoyashhij-coffee-lake-refresh","title":{"rendered":"New Article: Review of the Intel Core i5-9400F Processor: A Non-Existent Coffee Lake Refresh","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite obvious difficulties in producing sufficient quantities of 14nm chips, Intel continues to steadily expand its ninth generation Core processors lineup, known by the codename Coffee Lake Refresh. However, this is met with varying degrees of success. Formally, new products are indeed being added to the lineup, but they appear in retail very reluctantly, and some models introduced right after the New Year still haven't made it to store shelves.<\/p>\n

However, according to official data, there are now at least nine desktop models of Core processors belonging to the 9000 series for the LGA1151v2 platform, which include processors with four, six, and eight computing cores. This family not only includes quite obvious representatives with predictable characteristics but also unexpected CPUs that ideologically differ from all predecessors. This refers to the F-series processors \u2013 mass desktop chips for which no integrated graphics core is specified in their specifications.<\/p>\n

What is surprising about their emergence is that such offerings have expanded Intel's consumer processor lineup for the first time in the past eight years, during which the company exclusively offered solutions with integrated graphics for the mass segment. However, something has changed, and the microprocessor giant has been forced to rethink its principles. We even know what: miscalculations in planning and difficulties in implementing 10nm processes have led to a significant shortage of Intel processors in the market, a situation the company is trying to alleviate by all means. The release of processors without integrated graphics is one of the quite obvious measures aimed at achieving this goal. Thanks to this, the manufacturer has been able to use previously discarded semiconductor wafers with a damaged graphics core in the series processors, which even in the eight-core Coffee Lake Refresh \"takes away\" up to 30% of the area of the 174mm crystal. In other words, this measure can increase the yield of usable products and significantly reduce waste.<\/p>\n

However, while the rationale for Intel releasing its F-series processors is quite clear, whether consumers benefit from such offerings is a highly debatable question. The manufacturer\u2019s chosen strategy is to sell these essentially stripped-down processors at the same price as their 'full-featured' counterparts, without any discount. To delve deeper into this situation, we decided to test one of the representatives of the ninth generation Core lineup that lacks integrated graphics and see if it has any hidden advantages.<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

For our research object, we selected the Core i5-9400F \u2013 the entry-level six-core processor from the Coffee Lake Refresh generation. This chip is of particular interest: its predecessor, <\/a>Core i5-8400<\/a><\/noindex>, was very popular at the time due to its exceptionally attractive price-to-performance ratio. The officially announced Core i5-9400 (without the F in its name), unveiled four months ago, offers slightly higher clock speeds at the same price, but it is practically impossible to find for sale. In contrast, the Core i5-9400F is widely available in stores, and moreover, as there's no shortage of this model, its actual retail price is as close as possible to the recommended one. However, this does not automatically make the Core i5-9400F a good choice for 'basic' configurations, since AMD now offers six-core Ryzen 5 processors in the same price range, which, unlike the Core i5 series, support simultaneous multithreading (SMT). That\u2019s why today\u2019s test promises to be particularly informative: it should answer several questions and clearly show whether the Core i5-9400F has a chance to replicate the success of the legendary Core i5-8400.<\/p>\n

Coffee Lake Refresh Series<\/p>\n

By now, there have already been two waves of announcements for processors that are conditionally referred to as the Coffee Lake Refresh generation. Although these CPUs are largely similar to their predecessors from the Coffee Lake family, Intel classifies them as the ninth generation of Core processors and numbers them with indices starting with the digit 9. While this classification may be somewhat justified for the Core i7 and Core i9, as they have gained eight computing cores for the first time, the new Core i5 and Core i3 processors have mainly received model number increases for the sake of it. Essentially, they only offer increased clock frequencies.<\/p>\n

At the same time, there can be no talk of any improvements at the microarchitecture level. Honestly, this doesn\u2019t surprise us at all. Intel's development concept is such that deep changes in processors are tied to advancements in manufacturing technologies. Therefore, delays in implementing the 10-nm process lead to us once again dealing with the Skylake microarchitecture, which was unveiled back in 2015. However, what is surprising is this: for some reason, Intel is not eager to change characteristics that do not require significant transformations. For instance, the Coffee Lake Refresh officially continues to target dual-channel DDR4-2666 memory, while AMD repeatedly adds support for faster modes to its processors, having reached DDR4-3200 in the latest versions of mobile Raven Ridge. The only response from Intel has been to increase the supported memory volume in systems based on Coffee Lake Refresh to 128 GB.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, despite the lack of changes in the microarchitecture, Intel is still managing to release quite interesting models using extensive methods\u2014by increasing the number of computational cores and clock frequencies. The first wave of Coffee Lake Refresh announcements, which took place in October last year, brought three flagship overclocking processors that broke new performance records: the eight-core Core i9-9900K and Core i7-9700K, as well as the six-core Core i5-9600K. With the second, New Year wave, the list of the newest processors was supplemented by six simpler CPU models. As a result, the complete lineup of Coffee Lake Refresh now looks as follows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/th>\nCores\/Threads<\/th>\nBase frequency, GHz<\/th>\nTurbo Frequency, GHz<\/th>\nL3 Cache, MB<\/th>\niGPU<\/th>\niGPU Frequency, GHz<\/th>\nMemory<\/th>\nTDP, W<\/th>\nPrice<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Core i9\u20119900K<\/strong><\/td>\n8\/16<\/td>\n3,6<\/td>\n5,0<\/td>\n16<\/td>\nUHD 630<\/td>\n1,2<\/td>\nDDR4-2666<\/td>\n95<\/td>\n$488<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Core i9\u20119900KF<\/strong><\/td>\n8\/16<\/td>\n3,6<\/td>\n5,0<\/td>\n16<\/td>\nNo<\/td>\n\u2014<\/td>\nDDR4-2666<\/td>\n95<\/td>\n$488<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Core i7\u20119700K<\/strong><\/td>\n8\/8<\/td>\n3,6<\/td>\n4,9<\/td>\n12<\/td>\nUHD 630<\/td>\n1,2<\/td>\nDDR4-2666<\/td>\n95<\/td>\n$374<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Core i7\u20119700KF<\/strong><\/td>\n8\/8<\/td>\n3,6<\/td>\n4,9<\/td>\n12<\/td>\nNo<\/td>\n\u2014<\/td>\nDDR4-2666<\/td>\n95<\/td>\n$374<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Core i5\u20119600K<\/strong><\/td>\n6\/6<\/td>\n3,7<\/td>\n4,6<\/td>\n9<\/td>\nUHD 630<\/td>\n1,15<\/td>\nDDR4-2666<\/td>\n95<\/td>\n$262<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Core i5\u20119600KF<\/strong><\/td>\n6\/6<\/td>\n3,7<\/td>\n4,6<\/td>\n9<\/td>\nNo<\/td>\n\u2014<\/td>\nDDR4-2666<\/td>\n95<\/td>\n$262<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Core i5\u20119400<\/strong><\/td>\n6\/6<\/td>\n2,9<\/td>\n4,1<\/td>\n9<\/td>\nUHD 630<\/td>\n1,05<\/td>\nDDR4-2666<\/td>\n65<\/td>\n$182<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Core i5\u20119400F<\/strong><\/td>\n6\/6<\/td>\n2,9<\/td>\n4,1<\/td>\n9<\/td>\nNo<\/td>\n\u2014<\/td>\nDDR4-2666<\/td>\n65<\/td>\n$182<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Core i3\u20119350KF<\/strong><\/td>\n4\/4<\/td>\n4,0<\/td>\n4,6<\/td>\n8<\/td>\nNo<\/td>\n\u2014<\/td>\nDDR4-2400<\/td>\n91<\/td>\n$173<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The core of the newly released processors, which later added to the initially launched overclockable K models, consists of chips devoid of an integrated graphics core. Technically, the Core i9-9900KF, Core i7-9700KF, and Core i5-9600KF are based on the exact same semiconductor foundation and have absolutely identical specifications as the Core i9-9900K, Core i7-9700K, and Core i5-9600K, differing only in that they do not offer an integrated GPU, which is hardware blocked during production.<\/p>\n

However, among the new models of the second wave, there are indeed new additions. First and foremost is the Core i3-9350KF\u2014the only four-core processor among Coffee Lake Refresh with an unlocked multiplier. If we overlook its lack of an integrated GPU, it can be considered an updated version of the Core i3-8350K, which has been turbocharged thanks to the addition of Turbo Boost 2.0 technology, gaining the ability to automatically overclock up to 4.6 GHz.<\/p>\n

Another relatively legitimate newcomer in the second wave can be considered the Core i5-9400 and its counterpart, the Core i9-9400F, which lacks integrated graphics. The value of these models lies in the fact that Intel has significantly reduced the cost of the lower-end six-core Coffee Lake Refresh, allowing the latest generation of CPUs to be used in entry-level configurations. However, there aren't many formal differences between the Core i5-9400 and last year's hit, the Core i5-8400. Clock speeds have only increased by 100 MHz, likely due to the microprocessor giant's desire to keep its lower-end six-cores within a 65-watt thermal package. As a result, the gap in maximum turbo frequencies between the higher and lower six-core processors in the Coffee Lake Refresh family has increased to 500 MHz, whereas in the Coffee Lake generation, it was only 300 MHz.<\/p>\n

Based on the specifications, it seems that there's not much to brag about the new Core i5-9400 and Core i5-9400F in comparison to the old Core i5-8400. However, the specifications in this case do not provide a complete picture. During the announcement of the first Coffee Lake Refresh, Intel mentioned the advantages of an indirect nature. For instance, a change in the internal thermal interface was promised for the new generation of chips: instead of polymer thermal paste, high-performance flux-free solder was to be used. But does this apply to the lower-end six-core Core ninth-generation processors? It turns out, not always.<\/p>\n

Details about the Core i5-9400F<\/p>\n

It just so happened that when releasing the Coffee Lake Refresh processors, Intel lumped together several different variants of semiconductor chips based on the 14++ nm process, and not all of them are actually new. The Core ninth-generation processors may be based on semiconductor chips specifically designed for them, as well as relatively older silicon variants that were actively used in the eighth-generation processors categorized under the Coffee Lake family.<\/p>\n

In particular, it is currently known that at least four steppings of chips exist, which are installed in various mass-produced Core processors with numbers from the nine-thousand series:<\/p>\n