Intel · LGA1151-v2 · Upgrade guide
Upgrading from a Core i5-9400?
What you can drop into the same LGA1151-v2 motherboard, and the graphics cards the Core i5-9400 can drive before it becomes the bottleneck.
See all upgrades for my board → Socket LGA1151-v2
Gaming tier 46/100
TDP / base power 65 W
Released 2019
⬆️ Best drop-in upgrades (LGA1151-v2)
The fastest gaming chip for your socket is the Core i9-9900K (~24% more CPU gaming potential). No new motherboard or RAM needed — a BIOS update might be.
🎮 Graphics cards it can drive
The strongest GPU the Core i5-9400 can keep up with before it bottlenecks, by resolution:
1080p up to ~GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER
1440p up to ~Radeon RX 7900 XT
4K up to ~GeForce RTX 5090
Higher resolutions lean on the GPU, so the same CPU pairs with stronger cards at 4K than at 1080p.