AMD launches Ryzen 7 8700F and Ryzen 5 8400F — budget Zen 4 CPUs without the RDNA 3 integrated graphics
AMD has officially released the Ryzen 8000 F-series processors, including the Ryzen 7 8700F and Ryzen 5 8400F. The chipmaker had silently launched the duo of Zen 4 chips in China; however, according to leaked slides from hardware detective momomo_us, they're now available worldwide.
The Ryzen 8000 F-series processors leverage AMD's existing Phoenix APU silicon, which comes directly from TSMC's 4nm oven. The chips still feature Zen 4 execution cores but lack the integrated RDNA 3 graphics engine that's present in the Ryzen 8000G counterparts. The approach is analogous to what Intel does with its F-series models, fusing off the iGPU to offer cheaper models to attack lower price points. Therefore, you must pair the Ryzen 7 8700F and Ryzen 5 8400F with a discrete graphics card. In addition to the iGPU snip, AMD disabled the Ryzen AI NPU on one of the two models. Therefore, only the Ryzen 7 8700F still has the NPU intact, which offers 16 TOPS of AI performance.
The core and cache configuration on the Ryzen 8000 F-series chips remain unaltered compared to the G-series parts. The Ryzen 7 8700F has the same octa-core, 16-thread configuration with 16MB of L3 cache as the Ryzen 7 8700G, whereas the Ryzen 5 8400F shares a hexa-core, 16-thread layout with 16MB of L3 cache like the Ryzen 5 8600G. The Ryzen 7 8700F and Ryzen 5 8400F are still 65W processors and come with AMD's Wraith Stealth CPU cooler.
AMD Ryzen 8000 F-series Processor Specifications
Besides the absence of an iGPU, the difference in clock speeds sets the F-series apart from the G-series. The Ryzen 7 8700F has a 100 MHz lower base and boost clock than the Ryzen 7 8700G. The Ryzen 5 8400F also clocks 100 MHz less than the Ryzen 5 8600G. However, there's a big gap regarding the boost clocks as the Ryzen 5 8400F exhibits a 300 MHz slower boost.
It's a little surprising that the F-series chips have lower clock speeds. Considering that the iGPU is disabled in these SKUs, there should be enough headroom for equivalent or higher clocks. The Ryzen 7 8700F and Ryzen 5 8400F are likely employing subpar silicon that doesn't comply with the requirements for the higher-tier levels. Silicon recycling is something every chipmaker does to maximize their yields. Fortunately, manual overclocking is enabled on the F-series processors, so there's always a chance that you can get them up to speed with their G-series peers.
AMD provided charts comparing the performance of the Ryzen 7 8700F and Ryzen 5 8400F to the competition. As with any launch, we recommend cautiously approaching vendor-provided benchmarks.
According to AMD, the Ryzen 7 8700F delivers 12% to 24% higher gaming performance than the Core i5-14400F. Meanwhile, the Ryzen 7 8700F reportedly has a performance advantage in applications that varies between 10% and 22%, depending on the workload. On the other hand, the Ryzen 5 8400F appears to outperform the Core i5-13400F with gaming margins between 1% and 14%.
The leaker didn't share the AMD slide with the pricing of the Ryzen 7 8700F and Ryzen 5 8400F. Nonetheless, we've already seen an early Amazon listing for the Ryzen 7 8700F at $299, and momomo_us believes that the Ryzen 5 8400F could retail for $189.
According to AMD's numbers, the Ryzen 7 8700F offers up to 24% faster gaming performance and up to 22% higher application performance than the Core i5-14400F. However, the Ryzen 7 8700F is 50% more expensive than the Core i5-14400F, which retails for $199.98. On the other hand, the Ryzen 5 8400F could prove to be a very valuable proposition, assuming AMD's benchmarks are accurate. The Ryzen 5 8400F seemingly delivers up to 14% better gaming performance than the Core i5-13400F while costing less than 2% more than the latter. For reference, the Core i5-13400F has a $185.99 price tag.
While having more options and competition on the market is always great, it may pay to wait a few before considering an upgrade. AMD's next-generation Zen 5 processors should be on the market before 2024 concludes, as will Intel's rivaling Core Ultra 200 series (Arrow Lake) processors.
