Today marks a milestone for Intel with the release of the first mainstream six-core CPUs in the Core i5 and Core i7 segments and the first quad-core Core i3 CPUs. Core counts have skyrocketed this year across the board, first with High-End Desktop segments hitting a staggering eighteen cores, and...

Today we're checking out the most affordable six-core processor ever released, and this time it's not from AMD.

Intel's best value chip; Great for gamers across the board, decent at productivity, thermals in line with a 7700K

Intel's B360 motherboards won't be available until 2018 and the cost of Z370 boards strains the value of this offer

Yesterday we took a look at Intel's flagship 8th Generation Core Desktop processor, the Core

– 6 cores in a Core i5; – Great performance; – Very competitive against Ryzen 5 parts; – Price; – Lower TDP and operating temperatures

– No HyperThreading; – No Overclocking

I do not have the price for the Intel Core i5-8400 but the estimated price for Malaysia market is RM 700 – RM 900 range, it could be more but it shouldn't be too far apart. The Intel Core i5-8400 is now a "6 cores 6 threads" model which is unlike before where all Core i5 models were "4 cores 4...

Intel's six-core "Coffee Lake" Core i5 trades blows with much pricier previous-generation Core i7 chips. But it's most impressive as an affordable high-end CPU for gamers when paired with a dedicated graphics card.

Often bests previous-generation Core i7-7700K flagship CPU on multi-core tests; Best-in-class gaming performance; when paired with a dedicated graphics card

Not unlocked for overclocking (though i5 K-version does exist; Requires a new motherboard; despite Z370 chipset offering no substantive new features

The Core i5-8400 is Intel's most affordable option to go beyond a quad-core setup on the desktop. With a price point of $190, it is only half the price of Core i7-8700K, but delivers nearly the same performance in games and can also compete with the Ryzen 6c12t processors thanks to its good...

So much has happened this year in the desktop-PC CPU market, it's getting difficult to paint even the broad strokes without a billboard-size canvas. The thumbnail version? More cores and more threads for your CPU dollar, the more into 2017 you get. That extends to the Intel Core i5-8400 ($178.99). AMD kicked off the trend with its eight-core Ryzen 7 chips in March, topping out on that platform with the Ryzen 7 1800X ($295.00 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) . And the new-CPU conveyor belt really hasn't stopped running since then, with AMD following on with six-core Ryzen 5 chips like the Ryzen 5 1600X, and quad-core, four-thread Ryzen 3 options like the AMD Ryzen 3 1300X. Intel parried with enthusiast-class offerings in a new family called the Core X-Series, topped by the 18-core Core i9-7980XE Extreme Edtion ($1,200.00 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) . That extravagant mega-chip made AMD's competing counterpart, the 16-core Ryzen Threadripper 1950X ($548.70 at Amazon)(Opens ...

Intel's six-core "Coffee Lake" Core i5 trades blows away much pricier previous-generation Core i7 chips. But it's most impressive when paired with a dedicated graphics card.

Often bests previous-generation Core i7-7700K flagship CPU on multi-core tests; Best-in-class gaming performance, when paired with a dedicated graphics card

Not unlocked for overclocking; Requires a new motherboard, despite Z370 chipset offering no substantive new features