Best GPUs for i5 9400F Reviews 2023

Intel and AMD have been standing toe-to-toe with each other for decades. AMD is getting prior in terms of excellent performance in productivity software, while Intel is all-time famous in gaming efficiencies. Intel Core i5 9400F is a perfect example of the brand’s mastery with good mid-tier gaming performance but at a reachable price point. It comes with a standard combination of six cores and six threads along with a 9MB Intel Smart Cache. In addition, the 14nm Core architecture will impress you with great efficiencies, speeds, and overall performance—this CPU is perfect for budget-conscious users.

There is not much performance difference between the 8th-generation processor but only a 2.4% performance increase. But if you pair this processor with the best GPU for i5 9400F, you can enjoy a stable 1080p to 1440p in-game resolution without compromising the fps and refresh rate. Knowing the importance of a graphics card, we decided to test and review some best-suiting cards for the following processor. Hence, this post will guide you through several aspects you must consider when buying a card and introduce you to eight good-quality graphics cards. So, read this post until the end.

Quick Shopping Tips:

Brand: The first and most apparent confusion that most of the users have is which brand to select. Well, there are several graphics card manufacturers where all their specialties. Suppose you want to simple card without any flashy features. In such a case, you can go for Nvidia cards. On the flip side, you can go for AMD or other third-party brands like MSI, EVGA, XFX, Gigabyte, and others if you want excellent designs. Make sure that it’s as per your usage and requirements.

Budget: Every user comes into the market carrying a certain amount of bucks in their pocket to buy a particular item. So, we can’t go forward without putting some light on this user-based factor. If you have a low budget, you can still uncover a perfect chip for your system to perform well. However, you need to put some extra hard work into the process. In contrast, you can read the whole post since we have added some perfect budget-friendly options.

Performance: A system needs a GPU to enhance the graphics quality and load-taking capability that you need during intense gaming or content creation sessions. You wouldn’t like to have a card that doesn’t perform well or often lags during usage. In short, you must ensure that the product you’re buying can handle the load you will put on it. You can take some help from the experts or check the customer reviews regarding a particular card.

VRAM size: Each graphics card has a certain amount of video/graphics memory or VRAM that affects the performance the same way as the volatile memory. A card with higher VRAM will perform better than a smaller memory size. Remember, its size is totally dependent on the graphics quality you want. If you need 1080p graphics, you can work it out with 4GB or 6GB of memory. The users must choose 8GB or more for 1440p and 10GB or more for 4k resolution.

Form factor: The form factor is the overall dimensions of the product’s all sides. Since the card has to fit into the PC case, every case has some specific measurement related to the card’s socket. If you purchase a card that does not fit properly into the case, it will not run and perform as expected. In short, you must check the socket size and then match the card’s dimensions with it.

Thermals: When a graphics card is running at its full pace, it’s consuming peak-level power, which ultimately causes heat production and thermal problems. With the technological enhancements, each brand is trying its best to introduce the latest cooling features to control thermal issues. You must check whether the card has all the required technologies that are required during peak-level overclocking sessions.

The Best GPU for i5 9400F You Can Buy Today

Award	Best	Retailer
Best Gaming GPU for i5 9400F	Sapphire RX 5700 Pulse OC	View
Best Mid-range GPU for i5 9400F	MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT Gaming X	View
Best Affordable GPU for i5 9400F	MSI GeForce GTX 1660 Super Gaming X	View
Best 1440p GPU for i5 9400F	Gigabyte Radeon RX 5700 XT Gaming OC	View
Best Premium GPU for i5 9400F	MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT Gaming X	View
Best Smallest GPU for i5 9400F	EVGA GeForce RTX 2060	View
Best Enthusiast GPU for i5 9400F	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super	View

Sapphire RX 5700 Pulse OC

Best Gaming GPU for i5 9400F

REASONS TO BUY

✓Perfect for 1440p graphics

✓Faster and very effective

✓Carries full value for bucks

✓Cool and quiet

✓Trixx boost software

REASONS TO AVOID

✗No DXR support

✗Plastic shroud

Sapphire has a whole budget-friendly Pulse graphics card lineup for budget-conscious customers with great features and an excellent cooler design. The Sapphire RX 5700 Pulse OC is a great graphics unit with jaw-dropping 1440p performance for its users. If we put it toe-to-toe against the reference RX 5700, the Pulse is 2-4% faster – although the difference is not that still, it’s worth telling. Interestingly, the card is built over a 12-layer PCB featuring a 7+1+2 digital power phases design and quality components with a fuse to protect against power surges.

The card uses the same 7nm Navi GPU unit that has been offered in the RX 5000 lineup, powered by the advanced second-generation AMD RDNA graphics architecture. If we take a look at the specifications sheet, there is an 8GB of GDDR6 memory with a 14Gb/s of effective memory speed based on a 256-bit memory bus. Since the card has PCIe 4.0 support, you can pair it with the advanced AMD or Intel chip, and the motherboard accommodates the support. In short, this card is perfect for mid-tier graphics performance without any lag.

Moreover, a base clock of 1540MHz can be increased up to 1750MHz; these ratings are lower than the competition, which is a downside, but more than 1465/1625MHz with the reference card. The card delivers a full bang for the bucks the users spend on it. It can deliver outstanding 1440p quality graphics with an impressive 80+ fps and a three-digit refresh rate. Its advanced cooling system with dual fans, an extended heatsink, and plenty of heat pipes is perfect for cooling purposes.

MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT Gaming X

Best Mid-range GPU for i5 9400F

REASONS TO BUY

✓Perfect 1080p performance

✓Faster than GeForce RTX 3060

✓Rich feature list

✓Low power consumption

✓Efficient cooling system

REASONS TO AVOID

✗Pricey for 1080p results

✗Not very efficient Ray Tracing

The first graphics card on our list is the MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT Gaming X which is a custom version of the RX 6600 XT featured with MSI’s advanced technologies. We have tried our best to compare its performance with the competition, and our results are impressive. It easily beats the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card with 32 compute units, 2048 stream processors, and 32 ray accelerators but slightly lags behind the 3060 Ti variant in terms of performance. Overall, it’s a great choice for 1080p gaming and is the mid-range GPU, with an excellent performance-to-price ratio.

The card uses an advanced second-generation 7nm Navi 23 GPU unit powered by the record-holding RDNA 2 architecture. This graphics architecture effectively supports DirectX Ray Tracing to create more realistic and real-time graphics effects like shadows, reflections, illuminations, and more. AMD has installed 8GB GDDR6 memory with 16Gb/s memory speed based on a 128-bit bus along with 32MB AMD Infinity Cache, which is comparatively lesser than the 128MB mark but still has enough bandwidth capabilities.

A boost clock speed of 2607MHz is way more than 1755MHz in the previous RX 5700 XT, so AMD had made enough to win over the rivals with this card. As we were expecting the graphics performance, you can enjoy solid 1080p graphics resolution with impressive fps and refresh rate, but you have to compromise on some settings at 1440p resolution. Hence, for users who can work with these figures and have a tight-pocket budget. Also, it has an MSI Twin Frozr cooler design, TORX FAN 4.0 features, RGB lighting, dual fans with MSI Dragon logos in the middle, and more.

MSI GeForce GTX 1660 Super Gaming X

Best Affordable GPU for i5 9400F

REASONS TO BUY

✓Affordable

✓Effective thermal management

✓Attractive design with slight RGB touch

✓Low-noise fans

✓Impressive overclocking

REASONS TO AVOID

✗RTX and DLSS feature is not included

There are several pocket-friendly options on the list, but this MSI Gaming GeForce GTX 1660 Super can be yours even at a lesser price. MSI has done a great job while putting everything you may require during intense gaming sessions into an affordable graphics unit. It is way more premium than the previous GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Gaming X 4G and performs 8% better than the AMD RX Vega 56 and 4% more as compared to the NVIDIA GTX 1660 Super.

Everything in this card revolves around a TU116 graphics-processing unit which further utilizes the Turing graphics architecture to convert dreams into reality. The card offers just enough 6GB GDDR6 memory functioning on a 192-bit memory interface with 14 Gb/s of memory speed. Moreover, the card has 1408 GPU cores, and the engine clock speed can increase up to a 1830MHz boost clock speed. On top of that, the temperature management is done via Twin Frozr 7 technology which offers well-calculated aerodynamics, a massive heatsink, and finally, the Zero Frozr technology.

In the buying guide section, I have already mentioned that you can expect good-quality 1080p graphics quality with a card having a 6GB VRAM size. Well, the testing sessions with this card proved that statement. It can be considered worth buying for 1080p 80+ fps gaming. Apart from that, if you look at the card for the first time, the thing you will notice first is its attractive design. It is made with an appealing black look beautifully mixed into gunmetal grey, brushed metal backplate, and a minimalistic RGB lighting touch.

XFX Speedster QICK308 Radeon RX 6600 XT Black

Best 1080p GPU for i5 9400F

REASONS TO BUY

✓Perfect for 1080p graphics

✓Impressive speeds

✓Dual-BIOS feature

✓Soundless fan movements

REASONS TO AVOID

✗Expensive than the competition

We have XFX RX 6600 XT on our list—the name might belong just like the list of speed records it holds. All jokes aside, it is an excellent addition to the graphics card market and a perfect choice for users who want 1080p graphics performance. It’s not that effective when we turn the setting to 1440p resolution. Anyhow, it is built in the form of a 2.5-slot card profile along with other beneficial features and an attractive shape combined with curves to increase the airflow and maintain excellent beauty and attraction.

The advanced AMD 7nm RDNA 2 graphics architecture is being used in the item to power up the rest of the technologies like DirectX Ray Tracing to generate real-time realistic scenes, shadows, reflection, and everything related to the in-game settings. It has 8GB GDDR6 type memory with a 16 Gb/s memory clock built on a 128-bit memory interface. The 128-bit memory interface may result in lesser bandwidth, but don’t worry since the AMD Infinity Cache will help the GPU overcome this issue with some enhancements.

The card has a dual-BIOS feature to protect the motherboard from various issues and a base clock of 2188MHz that can bump up to a 2607MHz boost clock. On top of that, you can connect the card via PCIe 4.0 support to a wide range of advanced motherboards. You can power five displays simultaneously via three Display Ports and one HDMI port – you may have to use MST Hubs to meet the requirement. Some stunning graphics-related technologies with this item include Radeon Image Sharpening, Anti-Lag, and FidelityFX, further enhancing graphics quality.

Gigabyte Radeon RX 5700 XT Gaming OC

Best 1440p GPU for i5 9400F

REASONS TO BUY

✓Reasonable price

✓Perfect 1440p performance

✓Quiet Windforce 3X cooling

✓Metal backplate

REASONS TO AVOID

✗Conservative overclock

Gigabyte is a well-known brand among enthusiasts since it has been producing all types of elements for more than three decades. Its major share in the tech market comes from motherboards, but it’s quite active in the graphics cards market as well. The Gigabyte Radeon RX 5700 XT Gaming OC is an excellent example of the brand’s mastery with numerous improvements over the reference model, including robust power delivery, excellent cooling, higher boost potential, and more. Remember, It doesn’t have dual-BIOS like the higher-end Nitro+ and Taichi graphics cards.

The card revolves around a 7nm AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT graphics processing, Navi 10 GPU, which is pretty impressive in its functioning. On top of that, there is 8GB GDDR6 type memory that can accomplish 14 Gb/s memory transfer speed and 448 GB/s bandwidth, based on a 256-bit memory bus. Apart from that, there are 4 RDNA compute units where each has 160 TMUs and 64 stream processors. The PCIe 4.0 16GT/s support with the board allows two times more bandwidth than the previous-generation PCIe 3.0 connectivity.

The clock frequencies are slightly increased than the reference card — a base clock of 1650MHz can increase up to a 1905MHz boost clock. With these speeds and specifications we have discussed above, this card can be the best 1440p GPU with excellent 1440p 90+ fps graphics quality. If we discuss its build, the card comprises a good 7+1 power phases design, high-quality MOSFETs, durable certified chokes, and long-lasting capacitors. Some other stunning aspects include a basic backplate and five copper heat pipes with direct fin stacks contact.

MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT Gaming X

Best Premium GPU for i5 9400F

REASONS TO BUY

✓Pretty affordable

✓Excellent 1440p performance

✓Twin Frozr 7 thermal design

✓Easy to cool

REASONS TO AVOID

✗No Ray Tracing

✗Blower style cooler

Team Red has been dominating the tech market in the CPU field not just now, but for years. No doubt, it produces some of the most advanced technologies to help computer users reach their peak-level performance. Interestingly, the brand has succeeded in attracting customers in the GPU market with the help of the MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT Gaming graphic card. It stands firmly against the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 and 2060 Super in terms of money and performance.

The card gets power from the AMD 7nm Radeon DNA (RDNA) graphics architecture which is way more efficient than the brand’s Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture. It has a total of 8Gb GDDR6 memory with 14 Gb/s memory speed and 448 GB/s memory bandwidth based on a 256-bit memory pathway. The card further stabilized its position with PCIe 4.0 support, especially among the X570, B550, and other latest motherboards. You can utilize 40 RDNA compute units, 2560 stream processors, and 64 ROPs according to your usage.

As long as you’re conscious of its graphics capabilities, you can play all types of games at 1440p resolution at high settings without lag. However, it struggles a little bit on 4k; well, it’s even made for that much high quality. At the end of the discussion, I would like to put some light beams on its thermal management side. It follows Twin Frozr 7 thermal design powered by Torx Fan 3.0, which is known for silent operations and dispersion fan blades mixed with traditional design for adequate airflow. The attractive RGB lighting is another reason to choose this card.

EVGA GeForce RTX 2060

Best Smallest GPU for i5 9400F

REASONS TO BUY

✓Excellent graphics performance

✓Impressively fast

✓Perfect for mini-ITX PC cases

✓Triple-slot wider-thicker cooler

REASONS TO AVOID

✗No RGB lighting

The EVGA GeForce RTX 20-series has already established its place strongly among gaming enthusiasts for many reasons. Some of those are ultra-edge graphics performance, excellent cooling, more than enough overclocking, and, most importantly, EVGA Precision X1 software to do all of the stuff we named above. The EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 GPU powered by the NVIDIA 12nm Turing architecture and enhanced RTX platform to put Ray Tracing and Tensor cores together to bring real-time realistic graphics reinvented by AI-based improvements onto the monitor.

This EVGA RTX 2060 XC is pretty much the same as NVIDIA’s RTX 2060, using the same TU 106 GPU unit, memory design, and other graphics-related technologies. The card has a total of 6GB GDDR6 type memory based on a 192-bit memory interface running at 14000MHz memory speed and 336 GB/s memory bandwidth. Further, it has a base clock of 1365MHZ that can bump up to 1680MHz of boost clock speed depending upon the load setting and graphics stock settings. Some other item-related things include 1920 CUDA Cores, 120 texture units, and 48 ROPs.

When you have read the card’s technologies and features, you will have an idea about the graphics quality it can deliver. If not, then listen. It can provide excellent 1080p quality graphics during gaming sessions at the full setting with 90+ fps and a three-digit refresh rate. You can go to 1440p, but then you have to reduce the stock settings. It features the mini-ITX form factor with a short PCB and triple-slot wider-thicker cooler to build compact systems.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super

Best Enthusiast GPU for i5 9400F

REASONS TO BUY

✓Excellent 1440p graphics

✓Ray Tracing and Tensor cores

✓Performed better than RTX 2070

✓Runs quiet

REASONS TO AVOID

✗Still kind of pricey

Who doesn’t know about NVIDIA? One of the most famous graphics card manufacturers on the planet has a major market share on its side. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super is a perfect example of the brand’s identity, with an impressive boost in performance via improved technologies at the same price as the RTX 2070 card. Its close competitor in the market is the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT, where both provide pretty much the same performance at the same price.

The card is powered by NVIDIA Turing architecture along with Ray Tracing technology featuring real-time graphics and scenes enhanced by Tensor core for further AI-base enhancements. One common thing between this card and the RTX 2070 is the memory specifications, with 8GB GDDR6 memory running at 14 Gb/s memory speed and 448 GB/s bandwidth based on a 256-bit memory bus. Other crucial specifications include the TU109 GPU unit, 40 stream processors, 40 RT cores, 320 Tensor cores, 160 texture units, and 2560 CUDA cores.

You can fluctuate its clock speeds between a 1605MHz base clock and a 1770MHz boost clock depending upon the graphics load. Let me add some graphics performance statistics that we got in the testing sessions. In the case of Metro Exodus, we have noticed 1440p graphics with 70+ fps and a three-digit refresh rate. It was still delivering smooth gameplay on enabling the ultra settings along with ray tracing and DLSS. In short, you can expect a good-quality 1080p to 1440p stable gaming experience with this card, depending upon the rest of the graphics settings.

Conclusion

The Intel Core i5 9400F is a great mid-tier processor and an excellent choice for users with a tight-pocket budget. It uses the advanced 14nm manufacturing process and has 6 cores and 6 threads with 9MB Intel Smart Cache for improved bandwidths. Apart from that, since it also has a 4.1GHz of maximum clock speed, you can expect good-level 1080p and 1440p quality gaming graphics if you pair it with the best GPU for i5 9400F. A compatible graphics unit will take the graphics-related load from the CPU and enhance the overall system’s power for gaming and content creation.

When in the highly saturated market, you can’t just go and pick a graphics card. You have to spend some hours researching how to buy a graphics card. If you can’t do so, keep reading this post until the end since it’ll help you drop a perfect pick. It contains a list of eight best out of best products, each of which is made to fulfill some particular needs. We have added some options, including budget-friendly, high-end performance, premium, 1440p resolution, 1440p graphics, and more. Remember, if you’re an ordinary user, you must start reading this post from the buying guide section.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does i5 9400F need GPU?

Another significant difference with the 9th-gen CPUs is that there’s once again an option without an integrated GPU. The Core i5-9400F is an excellent example of this, and if you choose this version, you’ll need to pick up a separate, discrete GPU to go with it

Which is the best graphics card for i5 9400F?

The MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT Gaming is the best graphics card to pair with the Intel Core i5 9400F since it provides the same premium performance as a higher-end card but at an affordable price. You can expect an excellent 1440p graphics performance along with excellent thermal management. Remember, it doesn’t have Ray Tracing technology so you have to compromise on it.

What GPU is best for i5 9400F?

The i5 9400F is a Hexa core CPU, so in my opinion, you can use any GPU up to RTX 2070 super without much bottlenecking from the CPU. The bottlenecking will be higher if you play games on lower resolutions (Like 1080p) at higher resolutions (like 1440p and higher). Bottlenecking should be minimal, but it will be there.

Is the i5 9400F good enough for RTX 2060?

Our runner-up to pair with the RTX 2060 is Intel’s Core i5 9400F. Sporting the exact core count as the Ryzen 5 3600, It offers a great alternative at a slightly lower price.

Which GPU is best for i5?

We now have the Radeon RX 6950 XT, RX 6750 XT, and RX 6650 XT in our charts, along with Nvidia’s RTX 3090 Ti. Unfortunately, MSRPs on all four of those are higher than pre-existing cards, making them a questionable value.

Abdullah Sarfraz

Motherboards & Graphics Cards Expert

Abdullah Sarfraz is a skilled writer with a BS in Economics (Honors) from GC University Faisalabad. He began his academic journey at High School No. 1. His expertise lies in technology, specifically motherboards and graphics cards, backed by three years of practical experience. His unique blend of economics and technology knowledge allows him to write comprehensively about these intersecting fields. His work is a valuable resource for understanding complex technological concepts and their economic implications.