Intel® Pentium® Gold G7400 Desktop Processor 6M Cache, up to 3.7 GHz

Introduction The Intel Pentium Gold G7400 is very good value for money, however, I wouldn’t recommend it for gaming as it only has 2 cores and 4 threads. If you are looking to get a cheap CPU for gaming, I would recommend spending the extra to get the i3 12100 or 12100f or even higher model (‘f’ means no integrated graphics so therefore, it is slightly less expensive) as it gets up to twice as many fps in some circumstances. Suitable Use Cases If you are looking for something to test components with, this CPU is an excellent option. And if you are looking to make an inexpensive, quiet pc for word processing, internet browsing or any other day-to-day or office tasks, it is really a perfect option, unless you are working with CAD or video editing, where you will want the extra threads of the i3. Performance Although it has only 2 cores and 4 threads, the 2 cores and 4 threads it has are all quite fast, and more than enough for office or day-to-day tasks. On the CPU-Z Benchmark, it gets slightly better SINGLE THREAD results than a Ryzen 9 3950X, which was AMD’s last flagship processor in the Ryzen line-up, however, it falls back in the multi-thread benchmark, which is why it is not good for gaming. You can see what extent this is by seeing the results which are shown in an attached graph image. Power Usage A positive point of this CPU is that is uses very little power. Because it has no turbo boost, it should have no reason to go above its 46w base power. In fact, when idling, I would very rarely see it go over 15w, and when under heavy load from a 3d mark time spy benchmark, both on the CPU and GPU tests, it didn’t go over 25w. This means that you won’t need as powerful of a power supply which can save you money. If you opt to get a higher wattage one anyway (for stability, longevity and future-proofing purposes), then you will not be using a high percentage of its possible power, putting less strain on it which means that it will last longer. A lot of modern high-end power supplies even have the fan shut off when a low amount of power is being drawn, which makes your computer quieter. Sound & Thermals – High & Low load Scenarios That brings me onto my next point – because it uses very little power, it will generate less heat, mine is averaging at around 40-42 Celsius which is under low load, and only reached 57 Celsius very briefly when under heavy load from a 3d mark time spy benchmark, and this is with the included small intel stock cooler, with a fan curve favouring noise over performance. The computer I have the Pentium in has been on for over 5 hours now, in a small MicroATX case, with one 90mm fan and a side panel on, so it has had time to warm up. Because it doesn’t generate much heat, CPU coolers will not have to work nearly as hard to keep the CPU warm, meaning it will be quieter as the fan won’t be ramping up as much, which will not only be quieter, but it will also make the cpu cooler fan(s) last longer as they will tend to sit at a lower speed. It also comes with a very compact, new design CPU cooler which looks sleek and subtle - much nicer than the old design. It is quite quiet, and when running the benchmark, I didn’t actually hear the CPU cooler speed up significantly or start making a significant amount of noise, so it should be good enough for most people, but if you want to get this CPU specifically so your computer is quiet, then you should consider getting a third party cooler such as something from Noctua, or for a more budget friendly option, a Coolermaster hyper 212 is also very good. Built in Graphics The built in graphics in this CPU get the job done, but won’t run any sort of game or graphic intensive task. If you are looking to game, then you have probably already considered getting a discrete GPU, but if you haven’t, do some research to find what best fits your budget, as you will be very disappointed at how the built-in graphics perform in games. However, if you are not planning to use it for gaming, or any other graphically intensive tasks - just casual day-to-day and office tasks, then it works fine, and it supports screen resolutions up to 8K. Reasons to Get This Over Similarly Priced Used CPUs You might be wondering why to get this instead of something similarly priced from the used market. Or why not to. The main reason I would get THIS is because it is very recently released, meaning it is compatible with some of the latest things released into the PC world like DDR5 Ram (on compatible motherboards, some motherboards compatible with this CPU are DDR4) and PCIe 5.0. PCIe 5.0 doubles the bandwidth available per PCIe lane (doubled from PCIe 4.0), meaning you could have an SSD running faster, which would increase read/write speeds for data, which is good for loading programs and games. It also means you can get more data transfer through a GPU, meaning better rendering speeds. This might have a bigger influence in the future when more products have this technology, but it is better to be set for what is yet to come. Reasons to Get Similarly Priced Used CPUs Instead of This For similar prices on the used market, you will be able to find CPUs with more cores and threads, which will be better for gaming, CAD and editing, but then again, for a similar price, not much more, you could have the i3 12100f, which is the best of both worlds. It depends what is most important to you; FPS or modern features. Conclusion For the price, it is excellent. The only things that it struggles with are things which require multiple fast cores and threads, such as gaming, rendering and CAD work. The G7400 is efficient, doesn’t produce much heat, so with the right cooler it is quite quiet as well. The cooler included is very usable. It looks much better than the old one, it is small and very subtle looking and is definitely worth using if you’re tight on budget or just don’t want to spend money on something you don’t need, especially as it’s free. The only reasons I would not recommend it is if you are trying to overclock this CPU, or if you are trying to get a completely silent system, in which case I would recommend investing in something with a bigger heatsink and fan(s) like I previously mentioned.