Ryzen 5 7500F vs Intel Core i5 14400F: Which Is the Best Budget CPU?

The Ryzen 5 7500F and Intel Core i5 14400F are two of the best budget CPUs, but which is better and which one should you buy? Find out here.

Picture of Ryzen 5 7500F vs Intel Core i5 14400F
Ryzen 5 7500F vs Intel Core i5 14400F (Image via AMD | Intel)

The Ryzen 5 7500F is one of the most affordable AMD CPUs in the AM5 platform. Therefore, if you later wish to upgrade from the Ryzen 5 7500F, you can choose from any processor from the Zen 4, Zen 5, or upcoming Zen 6 CPU generations without changing your motherboard. This is why Ryzen CPUs are so popular among enthusiasts.

On the other hand, Intel also has a great CPU in the budget section. The Intel Core i5 14400F is equipped with 10 cores, which is a lot more than the Ryzen 5 7500F. However, their clock speeds are quite similar. The question is which is the better CPU and which one should you buy? Let’s find out in this detailed comparison.

Note: Parts of this article are subjective and reflect the writer’s opinions.

Ryzen 5 7500F vs Intel Core i5 14400F: Detailed Comparison

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F is based on the Zen 4 architecture and has six cores. On the other hand, the Intel Core i5 14400F is designed on the Raptor Lake Refresh architecture and is equipped with 10 cores. However, that’s not the only difference between them. Therefore, we should delve into their specs before we begin comparing them.

Specs Comparison

Picture of the Ryzen 5 7500F
The Ryzen 5 7500F (Image via AMD)

Here are the specs of the Ryzen 5 7500F and Intel Core i5 14400F:

SpecificationsAMD Ryzen 5 7500FIntel Core i5 14400F
ArchitectureZen 4Raptor Lake Refresh
P-Core/Thread count6/126/12
E-Core/Thread count4/4
Total Core/Thread count6/1210/16
Max clock speed5.0 GHz4.7 GHz
L3 cache32 MB20 MB
RAM supportDDR5-5200DDR5-4800
PCIe Gen supportGen 5Gen 5
Platform SocketAM5LGA 1700
Thermal design power (TDP)65W Typical | 88W Max65W Typical | 148W Max
Manufacturing nodes5nm, 6nm10nm

According to the specs, the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F features a traditional core configuration, which includes six cores. It can reach a clock speed of 5 GHz and has 32MB of cache. On the other hand, the Intel Core i5 14400F comprises of a hybrid core configuration. Therefore, you will find two different core configurations. There are six P-cores, which are designed for high-performance tasks.

Moreover, there are four E-cores, which handle background activities and small tasks. The Intel Core i5 14400F can reach up to 4.7GHz and has 20MB of L3 cache. The Intel CPU has more cores, while the AMD one has higher clock speeds and more cache.

Synthetic Performance Comparison

Here’s how the Ryzen 5 7500F and Intel Core i5 14400F perform in popular synthetic benchmarks:

BenchmarksAMD Ryzen 5 7500FIntel Core i5 14400F
Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)18191816
Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)1380916252
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)27662402
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)1330612600
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)38343715
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)2676925759

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F achieved 6.1% higher score on average than the Intel Core i5 14400F in single-core benchmarks. However, in multi-core benchmarks, the latter delivered around 1.3% more performance than the former, which doesn’t amount to much. The Intel CPU performed really well in Cinebench R23 multi-core benchmarks, but not in the other two. This shows that not every app and game can utilize the E-cores properly. Therefore, the benefit of having a higher core CPU may not always be found, especially for CPUs with E-cores.

Game Performance Comparison

It’s time we leave productivity benchmarks aside and look at some gaming benchmarks. Here’s how the Ryzen 5 7500F and Intel Core i5 14400F handle some of the popular games on the market:

GamesAMD Ryzen 5 7500FIntel Core i5 14400F
Starfield91 FPS99 FPS
Forza Horizon 5236 FPS234 FPS
God of War Ragnarok223 FPS232 FPS
Cyberpunk 207793 FPS96 FPS
Ghost of Tsushima154 FPS149 FPS
Red Dead Redemption 2142 FPS137 FPS
Horizon Forbidden West149 FPS150 FPS
Hogwarts Legacy63 FPS61 FPS
The Witcher 3 Next-Gen77 FPS82 FPS

Note: The two CPUs were tested at 1080p resolution with the RTX 4090 GPU to eliminate any GPU bottleneck. All FPS numbers were sourced from the Testing Games channel on YouTube.

On average, the Intel Core i5 14400F delivered only 0.9% more FPS than the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F, which can be called the margin of error. Therefore, it is essentially a tie. In gaming performance, both CPUs perform extremely similarly. Therefore, even though there will be variations in individual titles, their overall performance is essentially the same.

Price Comparison

Picture of Intel Core i5 14400F
Intel Core i5 14400F (Image via Intel)

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F is available for purchase for as low as $145.99 on Newegg. This is the OEM version, which doesn’t include the stock fan. If you want the full package with a fan, the Ryzen 5 7500F will cost $158.99 on Newegg, which is just $13 more. On the other hand, the Intel Core i5 14400F is currently selling for $149.99 on Newegg, and it also includes the fan.

If you compare the prices of two CPUs (for the fan models), the Ryzen 5 7500F is slightly more expensive than the Intel Core i5 14400F. However, the AM5 boards generally tend to be a bit more affordable than the Intel ones, considering they have the same configuration. Therefore, even if you pay a higher price for the AMD CPU, you will save the same on the AM5 motherboard.

Final Verdict on Ryzen 5 7500F vs Intel Core i5 14400F

Both the Ryzen 5 7500F and Intel Core i5 14400F performed quite similarly in productivity and gaming. However, the Intel CPU may have a slight edge in some particular productivity applications. Nevertheless, the difference depends on the app and its usage. Also, the Intel CPU is slightly cheaper if you want the stock fan. If you don’t want to use the stock fan, then the OEM version of the Ryzen processor without the fan is cheaper. This makes it difficult to say which is the better CPU.

However, since the AM5 motherboard platform will support future Zen 6 or maybe even Zen 7 CPUs, it is better to buy the Ryzen 5 7500F. This way, you can easily upgrade your CPU a few years down the road.


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