First Priority of the many fundamentals of any electronic device is its processor and it is no different for a gaming PC or any kind of PC so to speak. But not all of us can afford the best and yet you will be surprised how much juice some of the affordable processors kick out. We already know the number of cores determines the power of the processor. The threads just help process the information systematically. Do we really need the best of the best for some quality gaming, streaming? You will think differently after reading this post about the Best Budget Gaming CPU.
So naturally higher the core count, better the output processing power. But not everyone can afford the intel i9 9th gen or the latest AMD. Therefore our suggestion for the Best Budget Gaming CPU is the intel i3 8th gen. This choice was made by comparisons of core count, clock speed and other essentials with many other CPUs of the same range. Let’s first take a quick look at the specifications of the Best Budget Gaming CPU that we chose.
Gaming CPU Performance Specifications
- Number of Cores :4
- Number of Threads: 4
- Processor Base Frequency :3.60 GHz
- Cache 6 MB Intel® Smart Cache
- Bus Speed :8 GT/s
- TDP :65 W
Most PC and gaming enthusiasts refer to this as an entry-level processor. Because if this is paired with a moderate level graphics card, lets say Nvidia GTX 1060 it will render some real quality gaming. Not the best of course but certainly it is more than creditable.
We will talk about the processing graphics in a minute but now lets focus on the above list. This is a quad-core processor with four threads, i.e, it doesn’t give hyper-threading. Compared with its predecessor, the Core i3-7100, the Core i3-8100 is a lot faster on games and applications that use four cores.
Compared to one of its direct competitors, the Ryzen 5 1400, we observe that the Ryzen is faster on some apps that require a lot of processing power hence several threads, but the intel is faster on most games, and this is the first reason for it being our Best Budget Gaming CPU.
This CPU cannot be overclocked and frankly speaking we don’t see the need for that as well. We will elaborate it further in a bit. It is even comparable and some users might even say better than Intel i5 7th gen. A cache is a smaller, faster memory, located closer to a processor core, which stores copies of the data from frequently used main memory locations and this has 6 MB. Speed of 3.6 GHz is pretty fast for many applications requiring stronger processing.
Using benchmarking software such as PCMark 10,Cinebench R15 we see that it’s actually faster than Intel i3-7th gen, Ryzen 5 1400. These software basically test these processors with real world applications such as video editing, conferencing, internet browsing with the appropriate motherboard, GPU etc. setup.
Memory Specifications
- Max Memory Size (dependent on memory type)64 GB
- Memory Types DDR4-2400
- Max Memory Channels 2
- Max Memory Bandwidth 37.5 GB/s
- ECC Memory Supported ‡Yes
Yes on paper it officially states i3-8100 supports 2400. But the motherboard can increase it. It is a bonus, more expensive motherboards can support higher frequency RAM. But many consumers have said that this didn’t drastically improve the performance so it’s hardly worth pursuing. This processor is compatible with motherboards that sport an LGA 1151 socket and an Intel 300-series chipset. If you are a beginner a maximum of 8-12 GB would be a good start.
Processor Graphics
- Processor Graphics ‡Intel® UHD Graphics 630
- Graphics Base Frequency 350 MHz
- Max Dynamic Frequency 1.10 GHz
- Graphics Video Max Memory 64 GB
- 4K Support, at 60Hz
- Max Resolution (HDMI 1.4)‡4096×2304@24Hz
- Highest Resolution (DP)‡4096×2304@60Hz
- Highest Resolution (eDP – Integrated Flat Panel)‡4096×2304@60Hz
- DirectX* Support12
One of the reasons for choosing this as the Best Budget Gaming CPU is because of its graphics. Even without a dedicated graphics card ,but with a higher RAM this could output decent graphic quality under minimum settings. The processing power helps out quite a bit in this scenario.
Pairing the i3-8100 with a Nvidia GTX 1050 or 1060 will deliver some awesome gaming experience if you have the right gaming monitor.For example GTA V, Apex legends, Fortnite can be run in Full HD and with medium image quality,60 fps.
In games like Ashes of the Singularity which are heavily threaded this processor performs really well, but the AMD Ryzen 5 is slightly above. In GTA V the Core i3-8100 can be run at 83.3 FPS, which is way ahead of the Core i3-7100’s 58.4 FPS. The Ryzen processors lag Intel’s Coffee Lake-based models, even after tuning.
Expansion Options
- Scalability1S Only
- PCI Express Revision3.0
- PCI Express Configurations ‡Up to 1×16, 2×8, 1×8+2×4
- Max # of PCI Express Lanes16
PCIe (peripheral component interconnect express) is an interface standard for connecting high-speed components. Every PC motherboard has a number of PCIe slots you can use to add GPUs , RAID cards, Wi-Fi cards or SSD add-on cards.
Skeletal Gaming Setup
These are some of the picks of internal peripherals and your choice may be better. For a motherboard Gigabyte Z370 AORUS Ultra Gaming or Gigabyte H310M-H HDMI and VGA Port Ultra Durable motherboard, for further options visit here. As mentioned earlier a starter of 8 GB would be fine, and remember it should be 2400 speed and DDR4. For a GPU, GTX 1050,1060 should suffice. The HDD,SSD are according to your needs. Always keep in mind to choose the proper cooling system that suits your build.
Conclusion
Considering many CPUs in the same category, those were the reasons for selecting the intel i3-8100 as the Best Budget Gaming CPU. Undoubtedly it is better than the i5-7th gen and most AMD competitors like the Ryzen 5 1400. Yes it lacks hyper-threading and overclocking but it certainly is a great CPU for gaming/ daily work. A better gaming experience can be rendered with the appropriate peripheral setup.
Purchase here-> Intel i3-8100
