Is my Core i5 9400F PC good enough for gaming and editing videos?

Vigneesh from India wants to know if his Core i5 9400F-based system is good enough for gaming and editing videos.

Question by Vigneesh from India | Answered by in Computer Systems on Jul 22, 2020 9:09 PM CDT

Hello,

Is my PC good for gaming and editing videos for YouTube and also live streaming?

My current PC specs include:

  • Core i5 9400F
  • 8+8GB 2400MHz RAM + 8GB 2600MHz RAM
  • ZOTAC GTX 1660 Twin Fan
  • ASUS TUF B365M-Plus Gaming
  • Kingston 240GB SSD

Hi Vigneesh,

Let's first start by addressing the number one thing that sticks out when looking at your specs; the RAM configuration. Running two sticks of 2400MHz is fine but adding that third stick at 2600MHz not only bring the whole system down to run at JEDEC 2133 but also pulls your system out of dual-channel mode, you will likely see increased performance with the two matching 2400MHz sticks you started with, or sell the two 2400MHz sticks you have and get another 2600MHz.

Moving on with your goals for this system, what resolution do you game at? Will you also try to stream at the same resolution? All important information to include when asking questions like this.

Is my Core i5 9400F PC good enough for gaming and editing videos? 1

I'm not too familiar with the GTX 1660 myself, but assuming 1080p would be the base for any gaming machine, we do have a few reviews we can look at for performance numbers. To start, the 1660 fits between the GTX 1060 6G and GTX 1070 from last-gen, making it a solid mid-range solution.

Benchmarks put it around 85FPS in Battlefield 5, Far Cry 5, and Civ 6, while games like Hitman 2 dive to 45FPS, and others like GTA 5 can be pushed to 110FPS.

Is my Core i5 9400F PC good enough for gaming and editing videos? 2

As far as the CPU goes, the base frequency is slightly low at 2.9GHz, so this CPU will need to be kept cool to achieve the best boost clocks possible. You do have six cores, and that will help with multitasking i.e., gaming and streaming simultaneously, while video editing will want all the clock and cores you can give it. An option here for video editing would be choosing software to utilize the GPU in the encoding process to take much of the load off the CPU.

Have fun!

Last updated: Nov 3, 2020 at 07:09 pm CST

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