In an earlier post we reviewed why the intel i3-8100 is the best budget gaming processor for 2020. Still most gamers on a tight budget wonder Is the Intel Core i3 Good for Gaming? Today let’s take a look at the rest of the core i3 CPUs for gaming. They might not be the best, But they definitely deliver good performance and future proof for the games yet to be released. 530,540 with 2 cores marked the beginning of i3. Some time ago 2 cores and hyper threading was enough to run many games at high resolution even if you didn’t have a dedicated graphics unit.
Paired with the appropriate GPU it will definitely deliver the optimum. But when AMD introduced 4 cores with hyper threading i3 began to deteriorate. In response Intel too increased the core and thread count in every CPU category. i3 was no difference, but the overclocking ones are a tad bit expensive. Nevertheless the budget gamer is not completely abandoned! Check out our best recommendations for Intel core i3 gaming processors even sustainable for 2020.
Intel Core i3-10100-is i3 10th gen good for gaming?
- 4 cores/8 threads
- 3.60 GHz base frequency/4.30 GHz turbo frequency
- 6 MB Intel® Smart Cache
- 4.30 GHz Intel turbo boost speed
- DDR4-2666 2 memory channels allowable up to 128 GB
- 41.6 GB/s memory bandwidth
- Intel® UHD Graphics 630
- TDP @ 65 W
- Hyper-threading
- FCLGA1200 sockets
This is the entrance for 10th generation for core desktop processors. Architecture is comet lake for this processor. Supports 350 MHz graphics frequency and 64GB maximum graphics memory. DirectX 12 support , Intel quick sync and few other usual options are available for processor graphics. PCI 3.0,maximum of 16 PCI express lanes. Intel optane memory supported. B460 is the appropriate motherboard for this processor.
Benchmark performance
There is a common concept that Ryzen processors outperforms Intel in real world operations rather than gaming. Meaning it can perform with software demanding high threading power over Intel. However most high end Intel processors outperformed same range Ryzen CPUs in the Super Pi benchmark test. This software calculates and round up the value of pi to a large number of digits. And i3-10100 did pretty good, of course the overclocked CPUs did better. What must be mentioned is that under the same test setups Intel performed better than Ryzen collectively.
However in certain benchmark tests parallel Ryzen CPUs outperformed Intel, even the overclockable CPUs. Some such benchmark tests are the Wprime and CineBench R20 for multi threading, Rendering-blender. These software test the performance of individual CPUs with the accurate setup for different functions. Real time ray tracing, adaptive material sampling, photo realistic rendering etc.
Performance-real world and gaming
In web browsing performance tests such as Google octane and Mozilla kracken i3 performed significantly well above the parallel Ryzen processors. However in day to day softwares such as Adobe photoshop and Microsoft office both the CPUs seem to perform in parallel with minute differences in time lapse.
Experts test CPUs combined with the best GPU RTX 2080ti and the other appropriate peripherals do draw the maximum possible power for a clear conclusion to be made. The intel core i3 tests was of no difference. Games like Assassin’s creed odyssey, Shadow of the tomb raider, Battlefield V, Far cry 5 were tested for frame rates at 720p with ultra settings enabled. Some of them reached 200+ fps, while the others reached 150+ fps. On an average the Intel core i3 tops at 100 fps for gaming at 720p when paired with a powerful GPU.
With HD,1440p and 4K resolutions frame rates reach 90+ per second for the same games with the same setup. But keep in mind that this was paired with the king of GPU RTX 2080ti.
Efficiency and Heating
Power consumption in multi-threaded is comparatively lower than the counterparts, somewhere around 105 W. When taken the average of all readings such as stress test, gaming, single and multi threading all the overclocking CPUs of the core family rank higher. However the i3 consumes about 48 W on an average. For temperature recording with high-end benchmark test software the i3 reading was about 48 degrees celsius. This is way cooler than the overclocking intel CPUs.
Conclusion
The intel core i3-10100 is a great CPU for the budget gamer, for both gaming and executing some other day to day functions. It’s not the type to have if you wanna do video encoding. But for the gaming community this is definitely a good choice. Not everyone can afford the high-end GPU, but it will definitely render 60+ frame rates for most games if paired with the proper graphics unit. GPU is the bottleneck when resolution is higher. Overall Intel core i3 seems a really wise choice for gamers given the performance and efficiency.
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i3-9100F
- 4 cores/4 threads
- Base frequency @ 3.6 GHz/Max Turbo Frequency @ 4.2 GHz
- 6 MB Intel Smart Cache
- DDR4-2400 memory maximum 64 GB
- FCLGA1151 socket supported
- PCI 3.0
This is the next in line for the Intel core i3-8100 for budget PC builders. Since graphics aren’t integrated in this one, a dedicated GPU is essential. Nevertheless features such as Intel optane memory support, Intel Virtualization Technology, Intel Identity Protection Technology are still integrated.
Benchmark Performance
Experts have tested this processor with software such as Blender, Keyshot, wPrime. Of course the performance was not enough to match the CPUs with higher core and thread count. Time elapsed is higher with the Intel core i3-9100 with these software compared to the higher -end ones. These benchmark software vary in purpose. 3D modeling, rigging, animation, simulating etc. Also software for video editing, game development and complex calculations.
Again this processor is also not for techies hoping to do any sort of video transcoding or some high quality ray tracing graphic involved stuff. Since i3-9100 doesn’t have hyper threading and only 4 cores performance with these type of high-end software is not that good. Some such software are Handbrake, POV-Ray. Frames per second rendered for standard 2D 4K videos by the Intel core i3-9100 was less than the other high end CPUs.
However it must be mentioned that in some benchmark software such as Geekbench and CineBench the performance of 9100 is pretty good. These software test the single thread and multi thread performance with real-world scenarios. The single thread performance of the 9100 almost matched the overclocking, higher core count CPUs such as Intel core i7-8700K.
Gaming Performance
Pair this one with a powerful GPU like the RTX 2080ti or the 2060 you can squeeze out some solid HD gaming performance from this one. With the correct test setup, i.e higher RAM(say 16 GB), good SSD, and the GPU you can see some shockingly amazing results. Far cry 5 managed to output 120+ frames per second, also rainbow six siege, Metro exodus managed to render 270+,130+ frames respectively. These were tested in high image quality and game built-in benchmark utility.
Compared with a dedicated GPU, intel graphics is not a big deal. But performance can be enhanced when the two are combined. Intel core i3-9100 cannot be used to do this as it lacks integrated graphics. But if you pair this with a mid-level GPU like the GTX 1660ti or the GTX 1050, you will definitely get 60+ fps with HD resolution.
Efficiency
The intel core i3-9100 has 65W TDP. Idle power consumption for this CPU is about 58 W. For more processing power in order to use benchmark type software it will top up to 110+ W.
Conclusion
The Intel core i3-10100 is an awesome affordable gaming CPU. But the performance of the Intel core i3-9100 is surprisingly great. For anyone who wants to be future-proof, they’d give up soon as they hear 4 cores and 4 threads. But paired with the right internals this will definitely make most gamers really satisfied and contented. It even outperformed AMD Ryzen 5 3600X when paired with the RTX 2080ti. Of course you don’t need the 2080, instead we can all be contented with a GTX 1660ti I’m sure. Bottom line is that this is an awesome processor for mainstream gamers, specially for those in a budget.
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