What’s more, if we look at power consumption in an application such as Premiere Pro, the 1400 is actually more fuel efficient than the Core i5-7400 given its superior performance in that application, which is both shocking and exciting. The 1400 remained in charge when it came to gaming, especially once overclocked. When paired with the GTX 1080 Ti, the 1400 was vastly superior in CPU-limited scenarios like Ashes of the Singularity, even at stock speeds. Overclocked, it enjoyed commanding leads in Battlefield 1, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Hitman.

When equipped with a realistic mid-range GPU such as the RX 480, the 1400 flexed its way into a performance advantage over the Core i5 processor, particularly if you focus on the minimum results. In my opinion, the Ryzen 5 1400 ensures a smoother experience for gamers and this will become even more apparent in the future as titles become more demanding on the CPU. As a locked part, the Core i5-7400 can’t mask its lack of resources with high default clock speeds, so it will start to fall further behind the 1400 at a more rapid rate than say the 7600K will. Setting aside speculations about future performance, the Ryzen 5 1400 has proven to be the better value of these two sub-$200 quad-core processors. Although some fans of Ryzen don’t seem to care about the 1400 because it’s only a quad-core, it’s at least 20% cheaper than the 1600 and for the most part you won’t realize the difference in performance, especially when gaming with a sub-$300 graphics card.

My prediction is, by the time the 1400 starts to feel inadequate, there will be a better choice of upgrade options anyway. It’s much the same with the Ryzen memory situation. I don’t see the value in spending $50 or so on high-frequency memory if it’s not going to result in any added performance under realistic gaming conditions. Again, in my opinion you’re better off saving the money or upgrading a component that will provide noticeable performance gains, such as your graphics card. Shopping shortcuts: Wrapping this up, I think the Ryzen 5 1400 is a smart choice for gamers and enthusiasts who are on a budget or simply don’t need the best of the best. It should have you well covered for the time being and since AMD’s AM4 platform is expected to remain relevant through 2020, it should be painless to install a new processor when the time comes. Cons: We’ll report back when we find some…