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AMD Ryzen 5 1600 (12nm refresh) vs Intel Core i5-9400F

The AMD Ryzen 5 1600 (12nm refresh) and Intel Core i5-9400F sit within a few percent of each other on our index. Treat them as equivalent in raw performance and decide on price, power draw and — for graphics cards — video memory instead.

SpecificationAMD Ryzen 5 1600 (12nm refresh)Intel Core i5-9400F
ManufacturerAMDIntel
GenerationZen+9th Gen (Coffee Lake Refresh)
Multi-thread index64 (better)61
Single-thread index7685 (better)
Cores66
Threads12 (better)6
Base clock3.2 GHz (better)2.9 GHz
Boost clock3.6 GHz4.1 GHz (better)
SocketAM4LGA1151
TDP65 W65 W
Release year20192019
Integrated graphicsNoNo

Green marks the stronger figure for that row only — for power draw and PSU requirement, lower is treated as better. Performance indexes are CanMyPcPlay estimates; read how they are derived.

Which should you pick?

  • Games follow single-thread. For gaming, the single-thread index matters more than core count.
  • Creative work follows multi-thread. Rendering, compiling and encoding scale with cores.
  • Sockets differ. Moving between platforms usually means a new motherboard and often new memory.