Intel's Core i5-10400 ($182) is not the company's flagship six-core desktop CPU in its 10th Generation stack. (That honor goes to the unlocked Core i5-10600K, which we reviewed at launch last year.) But what the Core i5-10400 lacks in overclockability, it makes up for in tenacity. The chip stays in the race against AMD's onslaught of Editors' Choice-winning powerhouse six-core CPUs, like the Ryzen 5 5600X and last-generation 3600X. The Core is a solid value pick for those who already own an LGA 1200 motherboard and are looking to game with a discrete GPU. But strictly as a midrange upgrade, AMD's Ryzen 5 chips make more sense in both cost-per-core and overall performance—if you can get one near list price. As a rare Intel value play, the Core i5-10400 is a decent bet for PC gamers and mainstream users if AMD Ryzen 3000 and 5000 chips stay hard to get and/or inflated in price.
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