[SOLVED] Is the i5 9400f a good upgrade from an i3 8100?

[askingcarpet22]

As the title says, about a year ago i bought a new motherboard, ram, cpu and psu to replace some quite old components, but all i could afford was an i3 8100 and 8gb of ddr4.

Now, because of holidays and birthdays and whatnot, alongisde selling some old consoles i didn't need, i saved up enough to buy a new gpu (1660 super) to replace my 750ti and a new 1080p@144hz monitor to replace my 1440x900 VGA monitor.

Now i see that i have about $200 left, and thought it might be a good idea to get another 8gb kit to upgrade to 16gb of RAM and an i5 9400f, as i can re-sell my i3 8100 for about $100 thanks to my country's current situation (heavy import fees and taxes), and i feel like my i3 will kinda bottleneck the 1660 super, especially at more cpu demanding games. Also, i am getting these components from the US thanks to a family friend who is visiting from there, so after this, i may not be able to get any new components for a couple of years.

Should i just go for it and upgrade the CPU and ram as well or is an i3 8100 enough for the time being? The lack of an iGPU is not an issue to me since the GPU will be brand new, and i still have the 750ti if things ever go south.

Thanks in advance

 

[tennis2]

An i7 would be a more noticeable upgrade. That would get your rig to "final CPU" status to last you the remaining 5-7 years of its lifetime.

 

[askingcarpet22]

An i7 would be a more noticeable upgrade. That would get your rig to "final CPU" status to last you the remaining 5-7 years of its lifetime.

Yeah, obviously an i7 would be ideal but i 100% don't have the money for an i7. As i said the only cpu i can really buy is the i5 9400f, or rather keep the i3 8100 for about 2 years. My question is more if the i3 would bottleneck a 1660 super at any point

 

[Phaaze88]

Ehh, about 6-13% uplift depending on the game and settings...
Waste of money.

 

[askingcarpet22]

Ehh, about 6-13% uplift depending on the game and settings...
Waste of money.

I'm more concerned for the future since i'll be stuck with either of those CPUs for 2 years at the very least, may be more. Do you think the i3 will hold up against demanding games for that time? Since i'm getting a powerful gpu for 1080p, i'm expecting to max or almost max out settings on every game. Maybe i'm underestimating the 8100?

 

[Phaaze88]

'Demanding games' is pretty broad... There are:
-cpu heavy(especially the multiplayer ones)
-gpu heavy
-ram heavy
-combinations of the three
That said, your current config will run into issues with 1, 3, and 4, if it isn't already.

Check this out:
Intel Core i3-9100F vs. AMD Ryzen 5 1600 AF, Battle of the sub $100 CPUs
9100F is an 8100 with a small bump in clock speed.

The days of quad cores is over. To upgrade to another quad core isn't an ideal move.

 

[askingcarpet22]

'Demanding games' is pretty broad... There are:
-cpu heavy(especially the multiplayer ones)
-gpu heavy
-ram heavy
-combinations of the three
That said, your current config will run into issues with 1, 3, and 4, if it isn't already.

Check this out:
Intel Core i3-9100F vs. AMD Ryzen 5 1600 AF, Battle of the sub $100 CPUs
9100F is an 8100 with a small bump in clock speed.

The days of quad cores is over. To upgrade to another quad core isn't an ideal move.

I think you misread lol
I'm talking about getting the i5 9400f and another 8gb of ram.
I do play cpu demanding multiplayer titles like battlefield, battlefront 2, forza horizon, simracing, call of duty, etc.

 

[Phaaze88]

I did - you caught me there!

Unfortunately, it doesn't change much. Pure 6 cores were already on their way out the window before they even launched; being outperformed by hyperthreaded quad cores and SMT quad cores in cpu bound games.
Sure, the 9400F will last you a little longer than the 8100, but it's still yet another short term investment.

 

[askingcarpet22]

I did - you caught me there!

Unfortunately, it doesn't change much. Pure 6 cores were already on their way out the window before they even launched; being outperformed by hyperthreaded quad cores and SMT quad cores in cpu bound games.
Sure, the 9400F will last you a little longer than the 8100, but it's still yet another short term investment.

My problem is that either way i won't be able to upgrade anytime soon after this. Minimum of 2 years, possibly more.
There is a certain law in my country that applies a 60% tax on any item worth over $200 at customs, and you have a maximum of 3 items per year. The people at customs have also been alleged to take things from packages in these cases, and impose outrageous fees just so you can take what you bought. Because of this, buying a cpu from the US is not possible without someone traveling here from there, and this doesn't happen often.
To buy a cpu from a local store would mean paying literally at least 2x the MSRP
Basically it's either the i3 8100 or the i5 9400f for 2+ years.
It really sucks because i would prefer getting an i7 to truly have a future-proof pc for at least 5-7 years but my situation doesn't allow it.

 

[Phaaze88]

OUCH...

Ok... just gonna have to make the best of your situation then.
The 9400F makes sense now.