Question Help me choose CPU!

[SheWolf1]

Hi everyone! Good afternoon!

I have some questions about theese cpus, cause im want to upgrade my built, the only thing im keeping is the graphic card (RX 580 8GB) and the case.

Im from Argentina and the economy here is so bad, so i need to buy the components faster, before the prices go higher. Also because there is no so many option cause we are having problems with importation.

I need to decide between:
i5 11400f = $221
i5 12400f = $261
Ryzen 5 5600x = $342 (this is a little overprized compared to the others).

The entire budget with the gpus are more or less the following (mother, ssd, memory, cpu)
i5 11400f = $408
i5 12400f = $523
Ryzen 5 5600x = $563

I was thinking first going for the 11400f, cause ryzen was too expensive, but in the case i could go a little higher, and considering the last two option, is better the 12400f or the 5600x? does the ddr5 from 12400 worth it?

I will be using only for gaming, im only play WoW , COD4 , warzone and others. But im looking to the future to play some other heavy games, and trying no to change the build for many years.

Thanks and i hope yo can give me some advice!

 

[punkncat]

Even without knowing what you are upgrading from, the RX 580 is going to be a severely limiting factor in this build with any of those parts.

In this particular case and of consideration whether you even could upgrade later:

The 11400f basically has NO upgrade path worth considering but is the least expensive. It will be far beyond the capabilities of the graphics card.

The 12400f has an upgrade path into 13th gen if available and affordable down the near future.

The 5600X is also a "dead end" in a similar way as the 11th gen Intel. Be aware that you could run into BIOS issues so choose a motherboard playing close attention to that aspect.

If you aren't going to update that graphics card any time in the near future, I would go with the least expensive build in the 11th gen. If you think you may be able to upgrade the card AND have money for a CPU in the next year or so, go with the 12th gen.

 

[SheWolf1]

Thanks for the answer! I have a very outdated cpu right now (phenom II x4 970 b.e).

I know that with any of the options above, the card will be outdated too, but the idea is to upgrade it in a near future too. My broder updated his card so i took the 580 from him only for now.

The mothers will be this (i repeat there is no so many options in my country right now):
For the 11400f = ASUS PRIME B560M-A S1200
For the Ryzen = ASUS PRIME B550M-K AM4
And for the 12400f i havent ask yet, but feel free to recomend me one.

 

[geofelt]

Any of your picks will be a big upgrade for you.
For the types of games you play, the single thread performance is the factor you should value most.
Run the cpu-Z bench on your current processor and look at the single thread performance number.
It should be around 189:

CPU-Z Benchmark for AMD Phenom II X4 970 (1T) - CPU-Z VALIDATOR

Best CPU performance - 64-bit - April 2023

valid.x86.fr

12400 will score 650 or so.

Please consider the non f version of the processor.
Your graphics card is getting a bit old and having integrated graphics is a good insurance policy
Performance with DDR4 is comparable to DDR5 and DDR4 ram and motherboards will be cheaper.
The ASUS PRIME B560M-A S1200 looks ok to me.

 

[SheWolf1]

Thanks for the answer too!

Yes, that is what i was told. That try to loof for a cpu with better single threat performance .. so you say intel excels in that way, more than ryzen?

Another question that i was curious about (and for learning too) that comparing the 12400f with the 5600x, the base frequency of the i5 is 2.5 ghz, and the ryzen is 3.7ghz ... what it that really means? Its something to to have in mind or am importan factor?

 

[geofelt]

Thanks for the answer too!

Yes, that is what i was told. That try to loof for a cpu with better single threat performance .. so you say intel excels in that way, more than ryzen?

Another question that i was curious about (and for learning too) that comparing the 12400f with the 5600x, the base frequency of the i5 is 2.5 ghz, and the ryzen is 3.7ghz ... what it that really means? Its something to to have in mind or am importan factor?

Both amd and Intel have a continuous stream of processors that are largely comparable and with similar price/performance.
You mostly get what you pay for.

It is wrong to buy based on specs such as base frequency, number of cores, and cache sizes.
Today, motherboards will manage the processors and will increase the clock rate for a few cores when needed. This is called the turbo frequency.
Top Intel chips reach 6ghz.

The chips get better design over time so that they can do more work at a given frequency.

Recently, we see amd designs for X3D gaming processors that have very large caches and excel at games. but at the cost of ordinary work performance.

Then, the app you run and the instructions it uses makes a difference.

Just as a general guideline look at the cpu-z (1T) single thread listing I linked.

If you will look at the sigs of those suggesting processors, you will find that amd users tout amd processors and Intel users(including me) tout intel processors. Take such advice with skepticism.

You may be looking at a 12400f and liking it because it is cheaper.
You may not realize that the 12400 integrated graphics also has quick sync.

Intel® Video Processing Library: Video Codecs

Unlock media features on CPUs, GPUs, VPUs, and other accelerators with a successor to Intel® Media SDK—a video-processing API for encode and decode.

www.intel.com

That may or may not be of value to you.
To me the $25 delta in price for a non f processor has been invaluable for diagnostics when a gpu problem hits.

In following these forums, my sense is that the ryzen users have more than their fair share of ram issues. Ryzen needs fast ram for performance,
and compatibility is important.