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Why the i5 6400 is a better value than the i5 6500 [explanation]

mata-pombos
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A lot of people in this forum say that the the 6500 is better value than the 6400 because it has more 0.5Ghz/500mhz, like the base clock suggests. That is wrong!

The base clock is useless, the Turbo frequency is what matters! These processors are so efficient that even the stock intel cooler is enough for them to be hitting the Turbo frequency pretty much all the time.

 

Take a closer look at the Turbo frequencies for both processors. Theres turbo for 1,2 and 4 cores.

 

6400                               6500

3.3/3.3/3.1                     3.6/3.5/3.3

 

So the difference between the 2 CPU´s is 200/300mhz 99% of the times.

This is battlefield 1 running on a i5 6400. As you can see, all 4 cores are at 3.1Ghz. If it was the 6500, it would have been 3.3ghz

Now do the math, in modern games youre gonna be utilising 4 cores most of the time. 200mhz is not worth the difference in price between the 2 CPU´s!

 

bf1_2016_11_03_19_33_23_673.jpg
 

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yes making your experience with the I5 6500 better, with greater fps numbers and loads more re-sellablity for example. 

I spent $2500 on building my PC and all i do with it is play no games atm & watch anime at 1080p(finally) watch YT and write essays...  nothing, it just sits there collecting dust...

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Interesting. My friend has a 6400 and insists he wants to get into computers but says he cant do anything about it. At this point I'm questioning whether he has ever heard of the internet.

3 minutes ago, Bananasplit_00 said:

yes making your experience with the I5 6500 better, with greater fps numbers and loads more re-sellablity for example. 

FPS and general performance wasn't the point.

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I went for the 6500 because it had only a $5 (EDIT: currency conversion error) difference compared to the 6400 here.

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That depends on the price. In my country the 6400 is the same price as 6500 so why bother with 6400?

 

Edit: Nvm lol...the i5 6400 went a lot down with price and is a lot cheaper now than it was week ago by €30.

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1 minute ago, IanDrexP said:

I went for the 6500 because it had only a $10 difference compared to the 6400 here.

Right now its a $20 difference or so, enough to change some peoples mind.

 

I might be going crazy but I swear the 6500 used to be $180...

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1 minute ago, awakesquare said:

Right now its a $20 difference or so, enough to change some peoples mind.

 

I might be going crazy but I swear the 6500 used to be $180...

Yea I edited my post.

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10 minutes ago, IanDrexP said:

I went for the 6500 because it had only a $5 (EDIT: currency conversion error) difference compared to the 6400 here.

 

9 minutes ago, WereCat said:

That depends on the price. In my country the 6400 is the same price as 6500 so why bother with 6400?

 

Edit: Nvm lol...the i5 6400 went a lot down with price and is a lot cheaper now than it was week ago by €30.

Yes it depends on price. I would say under 15$ price difference you could go with the i5 6500, but 20$ or more is not worth it :)

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Note though, in the picture the CPU is only at 72% load. If the GPU was more powerful it might throttle more.

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Cheapest i can find both in the UK is £185, so for me the 6500 would be a better buy :P 

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1 hour ago, DocSwag said:

Note though, in the picture the CPU is only at 72% load. If the GPU was more powerful it might throttle more.

Nope. That GPU is a 380, i have later upgraded to a 480, which keeps my CPU at 100% load most of the times on BF1 multiplayer. It still boosts to 3.1ghz on all cores.

This CPU will never throttle with the stock intel cooler. And there is no reason for him to do so. It has never gone above 70ºC.

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58 minutes ago, mata-pombos said:

Nope. That GPU is a 380, i have later upgraded to a 480, which keeps my CPU at 100% load most of the times on BF1 multiplayer. It still boosts to 3.1ghz on all cores.

This CPU will never throttle with the stock intel cooler. And there is no reason for him to do so. It has never gone above 70ºC.

Ok, fair enough. Usually though, the price difference is $5-10 so I'd still say 6500 is usually the better choice.

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So even in your case I have seen a lot of price around i5-6400 (2.70GHz up to 3.20GHz) over the i5-6500 (3.30GHz up to 3.60GHz) currently the i5-6500 is a $20 expensive so even so your gaining 600MHz on Min and Turbo at 300MHz is like getting a more beefy CPU for around $20 here in my country and getting a good paying job here in my country is terrible for wasting cash around.

 

And if you are one of the lucky bustards around there near a microcenter I have hear a lot about cpu+mobo bundle try to canvass around, just like what I did when I canvas my i5-4590 it was around $190 and the ASUS B85M-GAMER is around $80 and the day I purchase both cpu+mobo only cost $210 USD saving of a $70 this is the only reason I have my i5-4590.

 

If you have Cash Go for the Higher Product it will be much of an investment in your end.

 

Noted: I lived in the Philippines where Technology is Great but Prices are Dumb. just got to look around.

 

 
 
 
 

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