I am going to upgrade my i5 6400. Should I stick to 4 cores or go straight to 6 cores?

[Newblesse Obblige]

My PC specs for reference: 

 

i5 6400 CPU

An Asus H110M motherboard

Corsair CV450 PSU

Asus Phoenix GTX 1050 Ti GPU

G.Skill Ripjaws V 3200 MHz 2x 8GB

860 EVO 500GB SSD

WD Blue 500GB HDD

 

Like the title said, should stick to 4 cores like i3 10105F or go straight to 6 cores like i5 10400F? The most graphic intensive games I play are Far  Cry 3 and GTA 5 so is 6 cores overkill for me? 

The reason why I am upgrading is because of my motherboard's broken RAM slot and it is a sign that I need to upgrade than sticking to the same platform. 

[Helpful Tech Witch]

Get a 6 core. theyre goign to be much less limited in the future.

[SupaKomputa]

Go for 6 cores, 4 cores feels out of date now.

And they are not that expensive.

[Newblesse Obblige]

12 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

Go for 6 cores, 4 cores feels out of date now.

And they are not that expensive.

is it ok to use a H510 motherboard with the 10400f or just get a B460 or B560? 

[FRD]

Linus recently made a video about if 4 cores is still enough in 2021.

The answer is yes, it still is. But this usually applies for people who already have a 4 core and don't want to upgrade right now.

In your case going from 4 cores to a newer generation 4 core is not really or just a small upgrade. Go to 6 cores directly, it will be better long term.

[Mister Woof]

If you can wait a month or so, you could get the i5-12600k.

 

It will have 6 P-cores with Hyperthreading, plus 4 E-cores. That's 10 cores and 16 threads. Additionally, it will have 20MB of L3 cache. Hopefully Windows 11 optimization will allow the E-cores to manage some of the OS overhead and you will be pretty much set for the foreseeable future.

 

 

[IPD]

imho, 6 cores was meta with 8th gen.

[Rameares]

I would suggest if you can push your budget a little more to get a minimum 8 core CPU. I just feel that once 4 cores are not enough 8 core will be the minimum. plus if your primary purpose is gaming consoles are a good indication what the minimum requirements will be in a few years.

[SupaKomputa]

1 hour ago, Newblesse Obblige said:

is it ok to use a H510 motherboard with the 10400f or just get a B460 or B560? 

Yes it will support it, but i suggest if you have a little bit more money get a B560.

[Jurrunio]

Check for 6th and 7th gen i7s first, 10105F is the same as those with different clocks on a new platform. If you can get those i7s on the cheap there's no point in considering the 10105F.

[Mister Woof]

1 hour ago, Jurrunio said:

Check for 6th and 7th gen i7s first, 10105F is the same as those with different clocks on a new platform. If you can get those i7s on the cheap there's no point in considering the 10105F.

But what about the dead RAM slot?

 

I know it could be the CPU, but a gamble on if it isn't.

[Pc6777]

the 10th gen i3 is a good value its only like 100 dollars, but if your budget allows it i would go for 6 or 8 cores with hyperthreading for the future. but if you wanted an uber cheap upgrade, you can get a refurb board that works with 10th gen sold by newegg for 60 dollars, and a 10th gen i3 for 100.

 

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813145333?Item=N82E16813145333&Description=comet lake i5&cm_re=comet_lake i5-_-13-145-333-_-Product&quicklink=true

 

https://www.amazon.com/Intel-BX8070110100F-i3-10100F-3-6GHz-LGA1200/dp/B08LKJPR5X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=10th+gen+i3&qid=1634154709&refinements=p_89%3AIntel%2Cp_76%3A1249137011&rnid=1249135011&rps=1&s=electronics&sr=1-1

 

an i5 is like 70-115 dollars more depdning on the model, so 160 vs 230-250ish, but the i5 will last longer and you wont have to upgrade again in the immediate future

 

 

[Jurrunio]

59 minutes ago, Mister Woof said:

But what about the dead RAM slot?

 

I know it could be the CPU, but a gamble on if it isn't.

dead slot eh, missed that. But in this case the 10105F is alright, more than enough to satisfy a 1050ti which at this point of time will be hard to replace without spending a lot of money

[Mister Woof]

Personal experience with the i3-10100 - it games just fine for your typical 1080p/60 experience. I used one with a Vega 64 at one point and even in a heavy CPU game like AC: Odyssey, it performed way better than my Ryzen 5 1600 in the same game/GPU setup.

[Newblesse Obblige]

4 hours ago, Mister Woof said:

But what about the dead RAM slot?

 

I know it could be the CPU, but a gamble on if it isn't.

I already reseated the CPU and put the RAM stacks at the other PC to test it so I am pretty sure that the motherboard has the problem here. 

[Newblesse Obblige]

7 hours ago, Mister Woof said:

It will have 6 P-cores with Hyperthreading, plus 4 E-cores. 

 

 

What are E cores? Extra cores? 

[Jurrunio]

8 minutes ago, Newblesse Obblige said:

What are E cores? Extra cores? 

Part of Intel's new design, some faster but more power hungry cores combined with slower but less power intensive cores. It can switch between them according to the use case

 

7 hours ago, Mister Woof said:

If you can wait a month or so, you could get the i5-12600k.

 

It will have 6 P-cores with Hyperthreading, plus 4 E-cores. That's 10 cores and 16 threads. Additionally, it will have 20MB of L3 cache. Hopefully Windows 11 optimization will allow the E-cores to manage some of the OS overhead and you will be pretty much set for the foreseeable future.

 

 

E cores are not available on the i5-12400 from leaks I've read, which means CPU in OP's budget (i.e. even cheaper ones) wont have them.

[Newblesse Obblige]

27 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

Part of Intel's new design, some faster but more power hungry cores combined with slower but less power intensive cores. It can switch between them according to the use case

So it works like those SoCs on phones? That is neat. 

[SupaKomputa]

44 minutes ago, Newblesse Obblige said:

I already reseated the CPU and put the RAM stacks at the other PC to test it so I am pretty sure that the motherboard has the problem here. 

Try this:

- get a Contact Cleaner in your local hardware store.

- Turn off, unplug the pc for at least 3 minutes.

- Remove the ram, spray them with CC, give it a rub.

- Spray the slots with CC, gently brush it with a new soft toothbrush.

RAM and CPU is the most durable part of the PC, especially if you run them at stock speed.

90% problems i had with memory sticks / slots are remedied with this trick.

copper contact can oxidize overtime or get dust buildup.

[Newblesse Obblige]

5 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

Try this:

- get a Contact Cleaner in your local hardware store.

- Turn off, unplug the pc for at least 3 minutes.

- Remove the ram, spray them with CC, give it a rub.

- Spray the slots with CC, gently brush it with a new soft toothbrush.

RAM and CPU is the most durable part of the PC, especially if you run them at stock speed.

90% problems i had with memory sticks / slots are remedied with this trick.

copper contact can oxidize overtime or get dust buildup.

I see, I have CC and sprayed on the CPU and its socket, the slots, and RAM sticks but never brushed them. What brush should i use? 

[SupaKomputa]

Simply a toothbrush will do.

If it doesnt' work, try rubbing the memory contact with pencil eraser.

Don't do it with the cpu socket, spray only.

[Mister Woof]

2 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

Part of Intel's new design, some faster but more power hungry cores combined with slower but less power intensive cores. It can switch between them according to the use case

 

E cores are not available on the i5-12400 from leaks I've read, which means CPU in OP's budget (i.e. even cheaper ones) wont have them.

No, they are on the i5-12600k from what I've seen though, rumored around $279 but of course it's not for sure.

 

If we're in the realm of 8 core chips that are bring discussed here, why not an it k chip

[Jurrunio]

On 10/13/2021 at 8:14 PM, Mister Woof said:

No, they are on the i5-12600k from what I've seen though, rumored around $279 but of course it's not for sure.

 

If we're in the realm of 8 core chips that are bring discussed here, why not an it k chip

8 core is not the main focus here, it's 4 or 6.

[Mister Woof]

1 hour ago, Jurrunio said:

8 core is not the main focus here, it's 4 or 6.

It's a mid-range product on the higher end of that tier. Price is in line with AMD's Ryzen 5.

 

If it's only a couple bucks more than the 12400 it might be worth it. This is unlike in previous generations, which went from an i5 to a K i5 only got you some frequency and unlocking. It seems this time around, there's a difference in core configuration (the addition of 4 E-cores) which can warrant the increase in price, making it potentially much more compelling to go K compared to the past.

 

Options are good.