Intel’s 2020 introduction of its LGA1200 desktop platform has been an interesting entry for PC builders and upgraders to weigh. The 10th Generation of Intel desktop processors delivered increased performance over the outgoing LGA1151 platform, pushing chips like the Core i9-10900K to prominence, with 10 cores and turbo speeds in excess of 5GHz. But not everyone needs a jet-fuel CPU, and 10th Generation Intel, soon to be augmented by 11th Generation “Rocket Lake” chips, runs all the way down to humdrum Celerons, and the Pentium Gold G6400, a quiet bargain at around $65. Though the chip does little to stand out from last-generation Pentium entries, it gains new prominence here in early 2021, with many CPUs and GPUs hard to find at retail, and prices distorted. You can get the Pentium Golds without much fuss, and if all you need is a PC for web browsing and wrestling Word documents, the G6400 is enough to get you by.
The Latest Pentium Gold: Basic Details on a Basic Chip
Before looking at this modest processor’s specs, I should make it clear that this chip is not overly new, either here in 2021 (it was introduced in mid-2020) or when looked at versus the generation before it. It’s virtually identical to the Pentium G5000-series processors that are still available (if you hunt a bit for them) for Intel’s outgoing LGA1151 platform. As you will see later in the benchmark-breakdown section of this review, it also performs much the same as those older chips.
Ultimately then, you may wonder why to consider the Pentium Gold G6400 at all, if it’s the same as Intel’s last-generation Pentiums. Indeed, if you have a compatible LGA1151 motherboard, you won’t gain nearly enough in raw performance with a new LGA1200 board and the latest Pentium Gold to make it worth the bother. For the most part, these components should be viewed on an equal footing, and when deciding between the two, it may come down to whichever motherboard and CPU you can get for the lowest price (or which hardware you already own).
The only definitive benefits to buying one of these newer Pentiums will come from the motherboard that you use, as there may be some notable component-level improvements there. Many OEMs have opted to use 2.5Gbit Ethernet controllers on their better LGA1200 motherboards, for example, which makes for a nice upgrade over the single-gigabit controllers that were ubiquitous on LGA1151 boards. Having an LGA1200 board also means you will be able to upgrade to a higher-end processor down the road, like the top-end Core i9-10900K or, presumably, one of the coming 11th Generation Rocket Lake chips.
These two points are, realistically, the most attractive features of using one of Intel’s G6000-series Pentium Gold processors, and should be taken into consideration when making your decision. The thing is, though, LGA1200-compatible motherboards remain a bit costly a little under a year after the launch of the platform. Boards start at around $90 for Intel B560 and H510 chipset models, not a trivial investment for a $60 to $70 CPU. (AMD Socket AM4 boards that work with late-model Athlons start at around $60 to $65.)
As for the Pentium Gold G6400 itself, this processor comes equipped with two Hyper-Threading-enabled CPU cores that are clocked at 4GHz, allowing for up to four concurrent processing threads. Turbo Boost is not enabled, like with the 10th Generation Celeron G5920 we are reviewing alongside the G6400. The chip also has 4MB of cache and a 58-watt thermal design power (TDP) rating. It also has a slightly improved memory controller that can now officially support memory clocked at 2,666MHz, an upgrade over the 2,400MHz limitation of the outgoing G5000-series Pentiums.
Most of these specs are the same as the Pentium Gold G6400’s direct predecessor, the Pentium Gold G5400. Other than the move to the new socket and the slightly upgraded memory controller, the G6400 has only one other advantage over its predecessor, in that it’s clocked 300MHz higher.
The Pentium Gold G6400’s integrated graphics processor (IGP) remains unchanged from its direct predecessor. The IGP is labelled as the Intel UHD Graphics 610, and it features a dozen execution units clocked at 1.05GHz.
The Test Setup
The Pentium Gold G6400’s main competition in the following benchmarks will come from the last-gen Pentium Gold G5600 (which actually features slightly better UHD Graphics 630 silicon), the AMD Athlon 200GE, and the AMD Athlon 3000G. All of these have specs that are reasonably close to each other, and test results are likely to be a mixed bag of win and loss among them. (Note that we tested the slightly more upscale Pentium Gold G5600 instead of the G5400, which is the G6400’s more likely direct competitor, but the price difference between them is small.)
The one area the Pentium Gold G6400 is sure to lose in, though, is the graphics tests. The G6400’s UHD Graphics 610 IGP isn’t as capable as the Radeon IGPs in the two AMD chips mentioned above. It instead compares best with the slower Intel Celeron G4920 and G5920.
I tested the Pentium Gold G6400 with Asrock’s B460 Steel Legend motherboard. Due to limitations built into the CPU and chipset, I used RAM clocked at 2,666MHz with timings of 15-16-16-36. This puts the test system at a slight disadvantage versus the one I use for AMD CPUs, as the AMD CPUs were tested with RAM clocked at 3,000MHz. This is all by design, though. AMD gives you more freedom to adjust the RAM speed on low-end CPUs, but Intel caps you at the speed specified on the CPU’s spec page.
I could have gotten around this limitation by using a Z490 motherboard, but it’s unlikely many people will throw a low-cost Pentium CPU on an enthusiast-class motherboard that costs several time what the chip does. Considering this, I opted to run the tests with the B460 board. This felt closest to what people will do and experience in real life.
I also opted to use the included Intel stock cooler for these tests, to give you the best possible picture of what performance will be like right out of the box. This also makes sense, as this is how most people will use the chip. After all, if you can afford an aftermarket cooler, it would be better to throw that cash back into a Ryzen 3 or Core i3 processor instead, and use the stock cooler in the box with that chip.
Testing the Pentium Gold G6400: Two Cores at Four Gigs
So, for starters, here’s a summary of the results we saw in our standard suite of CPU-stressing benchmark tests. In the mix below is a host of recent-generation Core i3, Core i5, Ryzen 3, and Ryzen 5 chips for perspective on what you can get in an upticked CPU between $100 and $200…
In the first test, using Cinebench R15, we clearly see the Pentium Gold G6400 near the top of the charts among the Pentium, Celeron, and Athlon set. It lost against the quad-core Ryzen 3 3200G in the multi-core test, but it managed to punch above its weight when just one core was used, beating some Core i3 and Ryzen 3 chips, in part thanks to its lofty 4GHz clock.
The Pentium Gold G6400 managed to outperform the older Pentium Gold G5600 and two Celerons in our Handbrake video-conversion trial, as well as the Athlon 200GE. It lost again to the four-core Ryzen 3 3200G, and it also lost to the AMD Athlon 3000G, but it came within a whisker of matching the latter.
The Pentium Gold G6400’s POV-Ray test results, though, show us that having two CPU cores with Hyper-Threading just isn’t as good as having four physical cores. Of course, it isn’t quite that simple, but nonetheless, in this case, we once again see the Hyper-Threaded dual-core Pentium Gold G6400 easily top everything Celeron, Pentium, and Athlon that we tested in the price class, but not the “true” quad-core AMD Ryzen 3 3200G.
The results from our legacy iTunes test were a little odd this time around, but repeatable. I ran this test several times, and for some reason the Pentium Gold G6400 struggled with this decidedly non-threaded workload. It came almost in last place, even losing out to slower Celeron processors.
Little changes when we look at the Blender test results. The Pentium Gold G6400 is still unable to match the Ryzen 3 3200G, but it surpasses the rest of the closely priced (again: Celeron, Pentium, and Athlon) chips with ease.
More Tests: IGP Benchmarks
Intel didn’t design the Pentium Gold G6400 for gaming, and it should come as no surprise that its Intel UHD Graphics 610 IGP performs quite poorly in gaming benchmarks when running without a video card installed…
The higher clock speed and the Hyper-Threading support enabled the G6400 to beat out the Celeron G4920 that utilizes the same IGP silicon. That’s the Pentium G6400’s only win, though, as everything else in this lot beats it by a hefty margin. Even the last-gen Pentium Gold we tested, with slightly more muscular UHD Graphics 630, outpaced the G6400. It’s really not much of a win, either, when you consider that only one of these games (CS:GO) was technically playable on the Pentium Gold, and that with the resolution turned down to 720p and the graphics settings to Medium.
Verdict: Solid Budget Silicon for Basic Tasks
With performance that surpasses AMD’s low-end Athlon CPUs, and with an MSRP of $64, Intel’s Pentium Gold G6400 fills a small niche in the processor market. Remarkably, given current market conditions and the spotty shortages afflicting the higher tiers of PC components these days, you can actually find the Pentium Gold 6400 for its list price at launch, or within a burger’s throwing distance of it. This may sound like no big deal, but with how the CPU and GPU markets are treating shoppers here in early 2021, that’s actually quite notable.
As a result, the G6400 makes for a sensible option for someone who wants more performance than an Athlon or Celeron but doesn’t want to pay out for a more costly Core i3 or Ryzen 3 processor. The IGP gaming performance is barrel-bottom low, but it makes up for this by offering solid CPU performance for everyday tasks.
The Pentium Gold G6400 in particular also stands out as Intel’s least-expensive Pentium processor for the LGA1200 platform. The company has several other Pentium CPUs on offer in the 10th Generation, but as these track upward in price, they get dangerously close to Core i3 and Ryzen 3 processors and become far less attractive relative options. Overall, the Pentium Gold G6400 stands out as an excellent budget-friendly option for a non-gaming home PC, if you’re willing to adopt the LGA1200 platform and the new motherboard it demands. These start at around $90 for options based on the B560 and H510 chipsets.
