Building around an RX 9070 XT for 1440p Gaming. Is i5-14400F enough or should I stretch for the 14600KF? (Intel preference)

Posted by Top-War7954@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 16 comments

Hi everyone,

I’ve just bought an RX 9070 XT and I'm planning to build the rest of the system for 1440p gaming. My budget is a bit tight after the GPU purchase, but I’m a fan of Intel (Team Blue) and would prefer to stay with them for this build.

I'm currently torn between two CPU options and would love your advice:

Option A (The budget choice):

CPU: Intel Core i5-14400F

MB: B760M Plus WiFi D4

RAM: 32GB DDR4

Option B (The "stretch" choice):

CPU: Intel Core i5-14600KF

A few specific questions:

For 1440p gaming, will the i5-14400F bottleneck the RX 9070 XT significantly?
Is the jump to an i5-14600KF worth the extra cost for long-term performance? (Note: If I go with the 14600KF, I’ll likely stick with the B760M D4 to save money).
Does sticking with DDR4 make sense for this level of GPU, or am I leaving too much performance on the table by not going DDR5?
What PSU wattage would you recommend for this setup (especially if I go with the 14600KF)?

Any suggestions for alternatives or optimizations within the Intel ecosystem would be great. Thanks!

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Gods_Purgatory@reddit

Don't listen to these nerds bro i have a 14400f with a 5070ti and it plays all games fine at 1440p. Upgrade in the in future and enjoy what you got

Merrick222@reddit

Why would you go with those intel products?

Top-War7954@reddit (OP)

I don't know man.. just prefer it to be intel since I have been using it in the early day

Just know those specific CPUs from Intel have horrendous reputations.

dertechie@reddit

14400 wasn’t generally affected since it’s actually Alder Lake under the hood most of the time. 14600K(F) was affected but not nearly as bad as the i7 or i9 SKUs since it wasn’t pushing as much power/voltage. Wouldn’t touch one used but the 14600K is one of the best DDR4 options available if you don’t mind the power/heat.

GordonGJones@reddit

I’ve been intel since the late 90s. Just built a new machine and went with AMD and I don’t think I will go back for a long time. Price to performance is just insane. AMD used to be iffy but I can’t help feeling they may have pulled ahead especially in the category you’re looking at. I’d at least check out some benchmarks.

If not got 14600.

Efficient-Oil-8193@reddit

Brand loyalty wouldn't give you the best performance.

beirch@reddit

This sort of reasoning does my fucking head in

Go for the 14600KF. 14600KF is consistently Raptor Lake, 14400 is mixed Alder Lake and Raptor Lake chips. For whatever reason, Raptor Lake loses a bit less performance on DDR4 compared to Alder Lake.

Just make damn sure your board is on the latest BIOS and on Intel’s standard power plan. The i5s aren’t as infamous for degradation but they will slowly degrade on older BIOS.

BaronB@reddit

A 14600KF is not worth the $100 more. It's a 10\~15% performance bump. For just a little more you can get a Core 250kf w/ DDR5. That CPU costs about the same as a 14400F, but performs about 15% faster than the 14600KF when the 14th gen is on DDR4, and slightly faster than the 14600KF when both are using DDR5. That'd be a more than 30% performance bump over the 14400KF.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/sPLMvR

However, if you're looking to save as much as possible right now, and want to stay with Intel, then the 14400F is not a bad option. It performs reasonably similar to the AMD AM4 options at that price point in gaming, and better outside of games. With DDR4 3600 it's very slightly faster than the \~$200 AM4 CPUs in games.

For DDR5, weirdly the 14400 and 14100 seems to be slower with DDR5 than they are with DDR4. Apart from the 12th, 13th, and 14th gen k class Intel CPUs, all of which see between 10% and 20% performance benefits from DDR5, it's really not worth focusing on DDR4 vs DDR5. Look at the CPU performance itself. The DDR4 5800X3D can match or outperform a DDR5 12700K, 7600X, or Core Ultra 265K.

As for if the 14400 will bottleneck a RX 9070 XT, it depends on the game, the refresh rate you're looking to achieve, and the quality settings you like to run. Some AAA games will struggle to hit 60fps consistently with a 14400F... but that's because some barely stay over 60fps with a top of the line CPU. As long as you're not looking to get 240fps in everything, the 14400F is still a very competent CPU for gaming running most things between 80\~200 fps. Again, depending on the game. Some eSports titles you can get more like 300\~400 fps.

SuitablePlastic8191@reddit

Are u from the USA? Is ddr4 a must? If u are from the USA, Microcenter bundles are ur best option. There's no bottleneck, everything will be fine. I think 850w is better for future upgrades.

cremvursti@reddit

Get the 14600kf so you can stick with the current mb and ddr4.

HappyAffirmative@reddit

Why would you chose Intel? And why would you chose their last gen platform? Like, LGA 1700 is a dead end platform with no upgrade path. Even LGA1851 is a dead platform, but at least it's more modern with decent CPU's in the 270K+.

But seriously, if you're on a budget, buy into AM5 on something like a 7500f or 7600x, and you'll have plenty of upgrade paths in the future.

AlunSagara@reddit

AMD GPUs tend to have less driver overhead than Nvidia so it would perform better in CPU limited scenarios and gives better 1% lows. So the 14400F should be fine at 1440p in AAA games

AdditionalMap5576@reddit

First off, for ultra budget (especially with an AMD gpu), amd cpus are usually a better option, I urge you to at least consider their price to performance.

However, given that you prefer intel:
-14400 is likely enough for 1440p, especially if you prefer high settings as compared to high fps
-Personally, I would go ddr5 for longevity and general system snappines, but the cost makes it painful to reccomend.
-For a psu, I would probably do 750W. It would leave you some breathing room and also allow you to carry it forward with the next upgrades you do eventually

If you live near a microcenter, their 270k + mobo + ddr5 ram bundle would be a similar price to your cpu motherboard and ram choices, while being way way faster, as well as a much more recent platform. I would definitely reccomend coughing up a little more to be able to get that bundle.
Also, the microcenter AMD 7500x3d bundle is perfect for you if you want to lean into the budget aspect of your build. Its 300 dollars and includes a fairly capable gaming cpu, nice mobo, and ddr5 ram (16gb)

jbshell@reddit

If can stretch it, would recommend the 14600k/kf since going for performance gaming. Also, a decent CPU cooler as well.