Best motherboards for i5 8400

Intel Core i5 8400 provides the best value for money if you are going to stick with an Intel-based system and I have seen so many people asking for the best motherboard for this processor. It’s not shocking to see these queries because i5 8400 is one of the best gaming CPUs right now which has 6 cores and can work with any mid to high-end graphics card. I have even recommended it for GTX 1060 to get the maximum benefit.

As there are multiple chipsets for LGA 1151 motherboards, there will be confusion at first as to which motherboard should you buy for this CPU. I have made some recommendations below that should be best for i5 8400. Not that motherboards other than the following won’t work but when we talk about the best, then there are only a few of them for the least price you can pay for the maximum benefits.

ASRock B360 PRO4

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In the past, ASRock has produced some very decent motherboards for the B350 chipset that no other motherboard manufacturer provided at the same prices. This is true due to the fact that ASRock provides very good VRM sections that allow much more stability than any other manufacturer for a particular price. I believe that Asus is still the best manufacturer of the motherboards but ASRock isn’t far behind. With Asus, you pay much more for the same features and it would be wiser if you stick with a cheaper option as the i5 8400 isn’t an unlocked processor.

The ASRock B360 Pro4 uses B360 chipset that is better than the H310 due to various reasons. I don’t recommend going with an H310 chipset with i5 8400 because in future you might consider going with an unlocked processor. Also, B360 has more ports and slots for supporting multiple components. The main specialty of this motherboard is the VRM which has double components for more stability and a good heatsink for handling heating issues. It can support up to 64GB of RAM clocked up to 2666Mhz which doesn’t sound amazing but at a price less than $80, it’s definitely a great deal. For storage, it has 6x SATA 3 ports and 2x M.2 slots for NVME SSDs. It’s pretty much the best for under $80.

GIGABYTE H370 HD3

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The H370 chipset is better than the B360 one and I don’t recommend going above it unless you are going to use an unlocked CPU like i5 8600K or i7 8700K. This chipset provides more ports and slots for connecting components and peripherals. For this reason, if you really want to expand your peripherals collection or fast storage devices, then go with this one. Gigabyte H370 HD3 has 20 PCI lanes compared to the 12 of ASRock B360 Pro4 which helps in distributing more PCI lanes among components for blazing fast performance if you use multiple components.

It has 4x DIMM slots for supporting memories clocked up to 2666Mhz and more USB ports for connecting more peripherals. As compared to the ASRock B360 Pro4, it falls behind in the VRM section but its really not a big deal for the i5 8400 unless you will upgrade to a better unlocked processor in the future. This motherboard costs $90 and is the second good recommendation from my side. These motherboards provide the best value for the money and other boards which are above $100 having the B360 and H370 chipsets should be avoided because above $100 you can have a Z370 chipset motherboard.