The Zen 4 Ryzen 8000F Series processors are officially launched by AMD. The two new offerings by AMD are the Ryzen 7 8700F and the Ryzen 5 8400F. As the name suggests, the new chips won’t include integrated graphics (RDNA3), similar to Intel’s F line of processors. They share the same TSMC’s 4nm Zen 4 platform as the 8000G series (Phoenix). Although they sound like a good deal, you should note that you need to pair them with a dedicated graphics card, unlike the G series. That won’t be a problem if you already own one, though. Moreover, the AI NPU, which will be an AI breath for the Windows 24H2 Update, is featured only in the Ryzen 7 8700F.
The new processors will be on par with Intel’s Core i5 14400F and 13400F, which, according to AMD, perform better than their blue rivals. That said, the Ryzen 7 8700F is about 20% better than the 14400F in gaming and performance tasks but costs considerably more. On the other hand, the Ryzen 5 8400F is about 10% better than the Core i5 13400F at about the same price tag. According to AMD, of course. The two Zen 4 chips sound like interesting suggestions for the average user. If the benchmarks are accurate, then Intel has stiff competition from the red team.
The Ryzen 7 and the 5 F processors are almost identical specs-wise to their G cousins but with lower clock speeds and the same 65W TDP. That means that the Ryzen 7 8700F has 8 cores and 16 threads at 4.1/ 5 GHz (Base/ Boost Clock), 8 MB of L2 Cache, and 16 MB of L3 Cache. On the other hand, the Ryzen 8400F offers 6 cores and 12 threads at 4.2/ 4.7 GHz (Base/ Boost Clock), 6 MB of L2 Cache, and 16 MB of L3 Cache. Both processors include the AMD Wraith Stealth CPU Air Cooler. As you see, the absence of iGPU is not the only major difference with the 8000G line of processors where clock speeds might matter. However, manual overclocking can be utilized for the F chips, so their difference could be minimal performance-wise.
Ryzen 7 8700F Specs:
- Cores / Threads: 8 / 16
- Base / Boost Clock: 4.1 / 5 GHz
- L2 Cache: 8 MB
- L3 Cache: 16 MB
- TDP: 65W
Ryzen 5 8400F Specs:
- Cores / Threads: 6 / 12
- Base / Boost Clock: 4.2 / 4.7 GHz
- L2 Cache: 6 MB
- L3 Cache: 16 MB
- TDP: 65W
Although the Ryzen 7 8700F and the Ryzen 5 8400F are decent options, newer Zen5 and Intel processors are expected to be released later this year. That means it might be better to wait if you need to upgrade, and prices tend to get lower over time. Moreover, you should consider that the Windows 11 24H2 Update will support new AI features utilizing NPUs. That might be challenging for the consumer who wants to keep up with the latest standards. AI is the future of technology, and the NPU will be better utilized in the next generation of chips, so it is another factor you should consider as well. As always, the final choice is yours.
