[SOLVED] Motherboard for i5 10400F

[Aakash294]

Hi,
So I'm currently running a i5 6402p on a B150 and I was planning to get a decent upgrade with the main purpose being gaming. I have two options, either going for an i5 10400F with a H410 or a Gigabyte B460M or going for a Ryzen 5 3600 with the cheapest B450M I can find. The thing is, with the current pricing, the Intel build will cost me around 270$ here in India whereas the AMD build will cost me around 340$. The thing is, with the release of RTX 3060 and 3060ti, I'm already saving up for one of those cards and I will be buying one of them in 3-4 months. So, I want a motherboard that is compatible with one of those and is also cheap since I'm a bit tight on my budget over there. I know it's a long stretch but I really want the best bang for my money. I've heard about the RAM speed issues on 10400F but clearly I have no clue as what any of that means.

Current Specs:
i5 6402p
B150M-d3H
16GB 3200mhz Corsair Vengeance RAM
Cooler Master B500 v2

 

[Prad_Bitt]

Buy 3600. 17.2k on most online retailers. (vs the 10400F for 13300), but unless you buy a z490 board you can't use any ram above 2666 for the 10400F. Plus you can't oc the i5 even with the z490. And z490 is way more expensive than b450

If you don't want wifi, and want to spend as less as possible on motherboard I'd suggest MSI B450M Pro VDH Max (7000-7500). If you need wifi, MSI B450M Bazooka Max Wifi (9700). If you want OC potential, and full ATX board then the Tomahawk Max at 11k is good.

Ryzen can use 3200mhz ram which you can find 8gbx2 usually around 6k. With i5, only upto 2666 is possible with any ram stick unless the board is Z490, so it's still way slower. Here's a video for explanation

View: https://youtu.be/csFwlKgZCzM



In essence, i5 +3200mhz would be worth it, but then you need Z490 which when you add to the total cost, defeats the purpose of the i5 ie value. Buy the Ryzen instead, boards are cheaper, ram is about the same price, stock cooler isn't as trash as the i5

The ryzen build, cheapest possible will cost you 31k ie $420 (idk how you got the 340 figure ig you excluded RAM). With Intel, it's around $340 including RAM.

That extra $80 is worth it for the better single core AND multi core performance (which will be even higher because 3200mhz vs 2666mhz), as well as longevity since you can put a 5000 series cpu in the max boards if you wanna upgrade later. AND the stock cooler isn't as bad as Intel's

 

[Prad_Bitt]

BTW if you still want to buy B460, just look for something that has what you need, 2-4 RAM slots, M.2 slots. It doesn't really matter much because RAM clock is locked anyway, you can't OC, so just look for what you want. Any brand and model is fine.

 

[Aakash294]

Buy 3600. 17.2k on most online retailers. (vs the 10400F for 13300), but unless you buy a z490 board you can't use any ram above 2666 for the 10400F. Plus you can't oc the i5 even with the z490. And z490 is way more expensive than b450

If you don't want wifi, and want to spend as less as possible on motherboard I'd suggest MSI B450M Pro VDH Max (7000-7500). If you need wifi, MSI B450M Bazooka Max Wifi (9700). If you want OC potential, and full ATX board then the Tomahawk Max at 11k is good.

Ryzen can use 3200mhz ram which you can find 8gbx2 usually around 6k. With i5, only upto 2666 is possible with any ram stick unless the board is Z490, so it's still way slower. Here's a video for explanation

View: https://youtu.be/csFwlKgZCzM



In essence, i5 +3200mhz would be worth it, but then you need Z490 which when you add to the total cost, defeats the purpose of the i5 ie value. Buy the Ryzen instead, boards are cheaper, ram is about the same price, stock cooler isn't as trash as the i5

The ryzen build, cheapest possible will cost you 31k ie $420 (idk how you got the 340 figure ig you excluded RAM). With Intel, it's around $340 including RAM.

That extra $80 is worth it for the better single core AND multi core performance (which will be even higher because 3200mhz vs 2666mhz), as well as longevity since you can put a 5000 series cpu in the max boards if you wanna upgrade later. AND the stock cooler isn't as bad as Intel's

I have 2x8GB Corsair Vengeance 3200mhz already, which is why I landed on the $340 figure. The thing is, I'm not really looking for future upgradability through this build. I just want the PC to last 4-5 years as I'll build an entirely newer and more expensive build by then. I'm considering to go Ryzen after seeing the video by GamersNexus, but say If I were to still opt for the i5 10400F, would the MSI H410M PRO-VH be a good motherboard? (keeping in mind I plan to keep 16GB RAM and run at 2666mhz clock speed).

Thank you for your help, it is very much appreciated.

 

[Prad_Bitt]

I have 2x8GB Corsair Vengeance 3200mhz already, which is why I landed on the $340 figure. The thing is, I'm not really looking for future upgradability through this build. I just want the PC to last 4-5 years as I'll build an entirely newer and more expensive build by then. I'm considering to go Ryzen after seeing the video by GamersNexus, but say If I were to still opt for the i5 10400F, would the MSI H410M PRO-VH be a good motherboard? (keeping in mind I plan to keep 16GB RAM and run at 2666mhz clock speed).

Thank you for your help, it is very much appreciated.

Yeah it's decent. No worries unless you're running a lot of fans.

Although for those extra years - I'd really go for ryzen. Also, if you're going for Intel, spend 1200 extra for a Gammaxx 400 V2. The Intel cooler is not good and noisy as all hell