Can I get a i5-14400F for my H610 motherboard?
Posted by Chemical-Garden-4953@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 22 comments
Okay, so currently I have a i3-12100F with a H610 board. I'm looking to upgrade my CPU, both for productivity and gaming. (I code so it will help with compile times, and I think my i3 is bottlenecking my 4070.)
Now, I can't go with AM5 because I'm not rich enough to buy new DDR5 RAM, I would like to keep my 32GB of DDR4.
I can get the 5700X with a new AM4 board, but I can only find it as Tray and I don't really trust the sellers around me, as afaik tray CPUs only have retailer warranty.
I can also get the 12600K but it's also tray-only for me.
The only boxed CPU I could find (that's within my budget) and is not too powerful that would definitely require a new board is the 14400F.
Now, the question is, can I get the 14400F, update the bios and just use it safely? Will it have lower performance? Will the motherboard kind of bottleneck the CPU?
Mindless_Ad_9511@reddit
I have just swapped from a 12100f to a 14400, I only chose the non f version because I got a great deal. I'm on a gigabyte h610 motherboard, it's a really cheap board with 4+1 vrms and if it's just for gaming it works perfectly, even during cyberpunk it doesn't pull more than 62w. However if you want any sort of productivity work I wouldn't upgrade unless you are willing to buy a motherboard because as soon as the chip goes over 80w in a benchmark test the board quickly heats the vrms to 100 degrees and throttles back to 60w.
Chemical-Garden-4953@reddit (OP)
I did got the chip and I'm quite happy with it. Though, I don't see it heat too much. I benchmarked it with Cinebench and it basically never got past 75C. I might try to do a blender render to see how it will do.
Mindless_Ad_9511@reddit
Glad you are happy my, CPU stays very cool too just my vrms (motherboard power phases) heat up and throttle if I raise the base power limit (pl1) above the stock intel setting of 65w, I'm super happy with my CPU too and in gaming it's a non issue because it never uses enough power to become an issue.
Chemical-Garden-4953@reddit (OP)
Oh, I didn't touch any stock settings so it might be why it doesn't heat too much. Thanks, and I hope it serves you well too.
blackburn26@reddit
Take the i5-13400F. It is nearly the same as the 14400F but cooler and easier on your motherboard. Still, you need to update your motherboard BIOS before swapping out the old CPU.
Chemical-Garden-4953@reddit (OP)
Unfortunately it's not available as boxed here. I don't want to get a tray one.
blackburn26@reddit
Tray or boxed isn't different if the warranty policies are the same.
Chemical-Garden-4953@reddit (OP)
That's the thing, I hear that they aren't. Afaik boxed ones are guaranteed by the manufacturer (Intel/AMD) and tray ones are guaranteed by the seller.
Also, the tray ones can just as well be 2nd hand returned items. I know CPUs are the last PC component where you need to worry about it but I would highly prefer a new one.
blackburn26@reddit
Normally, they are the same. Tray is preferred because they don't come with the stock cooler and can be bought by batches. The i5-13400F is unique because it exists in two different physical versions. The box version based on older 12th Gen architecture while the tray version relies on 13th Gen architecture with better cache efficiency. The performance difference is negligible, but tray is better because it technically uses the more modern silicon.
gamblodar@reddit
Does your motherboard have an updated bios that supports 14th Gen chips? That's not a guarentee
Chemical-Garden-4953@reddit (OP)
On ASUS's website it says that the 2063 bios update supports the 14400F. Is that what it is?
deTombe@reddit
Yes the 14400F is an excellent choice about your top selection without getting into VRM throttling issues. Update in the BIOS with your current CPU before swapping. I always disable XMP before flashing as an abundance of caution.
Chemical-Garden-4953@reddit (OP)
Do you have a guide for updating the bios? Honestly this is my first CPU upgrade.
deTombe@reddit
Format a 8-16GB USB fat32, head to your motherboard manufacturers website under support and download the latest BIOS. Extract the contents and place the BIOS file onto the empty USB. Restart the computer and head into the BIOS. There should be a section for BIOS updating and it will prompt you to select the USB and file. Let it go through the process uninterrupted. Meaning under no circumstances cut the power to the system. Like if your power bar is by your feet no foot tapping lol.
Chemical-Garden-4953@reddit (OP)
Just did that, thanks a lot. Do I have to do any checks after updating to make sure everything went smoothly?
deTombe@reddit
Just boot straight into the BIOS look at the build date. You also need to re-enable XMP as the BIOS gets reset.
gamblodar@reddit
Some motherboard manufacturers have Windows programs you can update with; check their website for your specific model. If that's not available, you typically put the decompressed image file on a FAT32-formatted thumb drive and update in your BIOS.
Chemical-Garden-4953@reddit (OP)
I couldn't find an application so I guess I have to do it manually. I did find the BIOS file, tho.
gamblodar@reddit
Gotcha. Then you should be able to update your bios and put in the 14th Gen chip. You won't get the overclocking features the higher end boards have, but it'll work fine. You're not getting a 14900K or anything, so you won't tax the vrms too much.
Chemical-Garden-4953@reddit (OP)
Okay, that's good to know. I read somewhere on Reddit that the VRMs wouldn't allow it to get to full power and it got me worried.
aragorn18@reddit
The 14400F doesn't require that much power.
Chemical-Garden-4953@reddit (OP)
Yeah, I saw that the TDP is the same as the 12100F, though I didn't want to ignore what people were saying.