Best GPU for i5 8400 – [Best for Mid Gaming Builds]

Best GPU for i5 8400: Intel’s processors have been an industry standard for gaming computers for years now, more mid-level gaming processors. The Intel i5-8400 Processor features a base frequency of 2.80 GHz and a Max Turbo Frequency of up to 4.00 GHz with some overclockers pushing it much further than this point.

While having a powerful CPU is incredibly important to any gaming PC, another (equally important) PC component for gaming is the graphics card. The graphics card powers the monitors and is highly important if PC builders are looking to maximize their PC’s gaming performance.

There are two main graphics card manufacturers AMD and NVIDIA. AMD has been releasing and substantially improving their graphics cards to compete with NVIDIA’s long-standing lead in the graphics card industry.

We also have a review about the best motherboards to pair with the Intel Core i5-8400 processor, if you want to check it out.

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Best Graphics Card for Intel Core i5-8400 Processor

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Best Value AMD GPU for i5 8400 – Radeon RX Vega 64

Brand	PowerColor
Video Output Interface	DisplayPort, HDMI
Graphics Processor Manufacturer	Radeon RX Vega 64
Graphics Ram Size	8 GB
Memory Clock Speed	945 MHz

AMD’s Radeon RX Vega 64 graphics card features some fantastic specifications, including sixty-four compute units and a base frequency of 1,247 MHz with a boost frequency of 1,546 MHz.

The RX Vega 64 graphics card is a perfect choice for larger displays that features a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz and has a recommended PSU of at least 750-watts. This is due to the larger power consumption of the Radeon RX Vega 64. Typically this graphics card can take up to 295-watts of power, which is significantly more than its NVIDIA counterpart, and the heat produced by this card is also very substantial.

When paired with the Intel i5-8400 processor, this graphics card can be overclocked, due to the lower TDP that the Intel processor has, being just 65-watts. The Radeon RX Vega 64 is a considerably cheaper card due to being older than AMD’s newer generation of graphic cards.

This graphics card was top of AMD’s graphics card lineup for quite some time due to the higher core count and higher clock speed supplied by this graphics card.

For connectivity, the Radeon RX Vega 64 features three DisplayPorts and a single HDMI port, which easily allows PC builders to connect up to four different displays.

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Best Value Nvidia GPU for i5 8400 – GeForce GTX 1080

Brand	ZOTAC
Graphics Coprocessor	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080
Video Output Interface	DisplayPort, DVI, HDMI
Chipset Brand	NVIDIA
Graphics RAM Type	GDDR5

NVIDIA is an industry standard when it comes to graphics cards, The GTX 1080 graphics card was fantastic for quite some time, but now with the RTX 3000 series coming out soon, the price of this card will most likely drop considerably.

The GTX 1080 graphics card is a perfect value choice for PC builders who want to get the most out of their gaming PC that uses an Intel Core i5-8400 processor, which is a fantastic value due to the processor also being a few generations old.

The GTX 1080 lacks a single feature that the RTX card is known for; this feature is the ability to turn on Ray Tracing. This feature is only available on the RTX card but when comparing the overall performance of the GTX 1080 and the RTX 2080.

The GTX 1080 graphics card has only 17% less power than the significantly lower cost in both power and price making this a perfect card for a value computer. The GTX 1080 features a recommended PSU with at least 500-watts of power, while the TDP of the GTX 1080 is just 180 watts.

Not only have there been multiple versions of this card, which offers a significantly different form factor allowing for the GTX 1080 to be installed in either mATX PC case or Mini-ITX PC cases.

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Best High-End AMD GPU for i5 8400 – Radeon RX 5700 XT

Brand	Gigabyte
Series	GV-R57XTGAMING OC-8GD
Graphics Coprocessor	AMD Radeon RX 5700
Video Output Interface	DisplayPort, HDMI
Chipset Brand	AMD

AMD’s newest line of graphics cards features a new top-of-the-line version, and its newest graphics card is called the Radeon RX 5700 XT. This newer graphics card offers not only a significantly lowered power consumption, making the graphics card faster and cooler.

AMD focused more on speed than raw power with the RX 5700 XT graphics card as it features fewer compute units when compared to the Vega 64, but these units are much faster, offering a base frequency of 1,650 MHz and a boost frequency of up to 1,905 MHz.

The RX 5700 XT graphics card features a TDP of 225 watts, which means anyone looking to install this graphics card into their system should look at a PSU of at least 600 watts. This means even ITX systems can have this graphics card installed.

This significant increase in speed makes this graphics card a perfect choice for any system that uses the Intel i5-8400 processor, due to the faster speed and overall better performance.

For connectivity, this graphics card features a single HDMI port and three DisplayPorts. This makes connecting up to four monitors quick and efficient.

The main downside of this graphics card is the overall size of the heatsink., which is a considerable issue for a smaller PC build.

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Best High-End Nvidia GPU for i5 8400 – GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER

Brand	EVGA
Series	08G-P4-3173-KR
Graphics Coprocessor	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070
Chipset Brand	NVIDIA
Graphics RAM Type	GDDR6

Having a high-end graphics card is highly important in any gaming PC with NVIDIA being the industry standard. The RTX 3000 series is still only available for pre-order, even though they are all sold out.

The RTX 2070 Super graphics card may not be the most powerful in the RTX series but is a perfect graphics card paired with the Intel Core i5-8400 due to the graphics card’s TDP being 215 watts and the fantastic performance this GPU can offer in that small TDP.

RTX 2070 Super features a total of 2,560 CUDA cores and a boost clock speed of 1,800 MHz which does come in a bit slower than the Radeon RX 5700 XT. NVIDIA has finely tuned these CUDA cores to offer the highest performance.

The reason that the RTX 2070 Super is on this list instead of the standard RTX 2070 is due to the standard RTX 2070 still costing a similar amount while performing overall worse when compared in gaming and various other tests.

This tuning leads the RTX 2070 Super to surpass the Radeon RX 5700 XT in specific workloads, like gaming but can lead to longer rendering times due to the slower cores and smaller number of CUDA cores to Compute Units.

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Recommendation Summary