Intel Core i3-10100

[W1zzard]

Intel's Core i3-10100 is the most affordable Comet Lake "Core" processor. Unlike its predecessor, it finally has HyperThreading, which brings the core configuration to 4c/8t. Our Core i3-10100 review takes a close look at how Intel's new budget offering performs against AMD Ryzen 3 3100 and 3300X.

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[Cobain]

Thanks for the review! Once again,3300x better option imo. The 2666mhz RAM limite on h410/b460 only hurts Intel.. but it's their decision,nothing to do.

 

[theGryphon]

Thanks for the review! Once again,3300x better option imo. The 2666mhz RAM limite on h410/b460 only hurts Intel.. but it's their decision,nothing to do.

This should be emphasized very strongly. The only case where 10100 makes any sense is for a budget build, which means b460 tops = 2666 MT/s RAM tops.

Everyone should focus on the 2666 MT/s performance in order not to get disappointed, or mislead others.

 

[dirtyferret]

Soon to be appearing in a Dell or HP PC near you.

 

[Hugis]

Cheers @W1zzard for putting the little one through its paces in your lab, i wonder how this stacks up against my i7 4770k....
Edit : Techspot have it up against an i7 7700k as well as others and its pretty even, not bad i suppose....

 

[watzupken]

Again, I think it will be good to see if the stock Intel cooler is sufficient to allow the chip to run at a high boost clockspeed. Most people going for budget build may just stick to the stock heatsink, and may not see that kind of performance as shown here with a chunky cooler.

I feel Intel's artificial and strict no overclocking for mid and low end chip and chipsets are hurting them more at the mid and low end market segment. Which is why the Ryzen 5 3600 is selling so well in the DIY space, relative to Intel's mid end offering. You can tell Intel is slowly caving in to competition by allowing more cores at the mid end, allowing HT across the entire product range, lowering prices, etc.

 

[AusWolf]

At first I was thinking, "bah, no improvement in the last 4 years", but then I thought, "hey, it's my i7-7700 for 1/3 of the release price". It's worthless for owners of Skylake and later generation CPUs, but a good value nonetheless.

 

[1d10t]

Intel really give word "DOA" to a new height...

 

[Joss]

Truth be told, a good 4/8 is enough for a mid-range gaming/all purpose desktop.

 

[cucker tarlson]

should be cheaper than 3300x but it does have an igpu on the other hand.

 

[bug]

This little bastard trades blows with the 3100 and 3300X. Can you imagine the competition we'd have if Intel moved off 14nm at long last?

 

[ppn]

I don't like Hyperthreading. since it adds 25% more perfomance at the price of effectively reducing the 4C/8T 4Ghz to 2.5GHz 8C/8T equivalent.

 

[AddSub]

So, a 1600X/1600/1600AF that can actually game? Nice. Paired with a $60 16GB RAM kit and a sub $100 Hxxx board and you got yourself a nice no-nonsense easy-peasy gaming combo in the $250 range. You know, about or less of the price of some upcoming B550 boards by themselves.

A nice cheap upgrade for first gen Ryzen owners on old B or X370 boards, now that Zen 3 is not happenin' for them. Or even for those folks still rocking old Nehalems or AMD FX chips from 2012. Def a nice starting point for those not interested in tweaking or OC'ing. You still get 8 threads and Intel's single x87/32bit threaded advantage for legacy stuffs.

Great review.

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[Vader]

I don't like Hyperthreading. since it adds 25% more perfomance at the price of effectively reducing the 4C/8T 4Ghz to 2.5GHz 8C/8T equivalent.

What? Last time i checked, HT/SMT increased efficiency, not reduced it.

So, a 1600X/1600/1600AF that can actually game? Nice. Paired with a $60 16GB RAM kit and a sub $100 Hxxx board and you got yourself a nice no-nonsense easy-peasy gaming combo in the $250 range. You know, about or less of the price of some upcoming B550 boards by themselves.

Also applies to 3300X+B450 combo as well, you don't have to buy B550.
I'm interested to see how A520 chipset will fit into all of this, as you don't need to overclock ryzen 3XXX, but these will allow for RAM oc.

A nice cheap upgrade for first gen Ryzen owners on old B or X370 boards

Nonsense, these folks can upgrade to ryzen 3600 for the price of 10100+mobo, plus i don't see how this i3 could be an attractive upgrade to anything above an R3 1200

 

[Sithaer]

Nonsense, these folks can upgrade to ryzen 3600 for the price of 10100+mobo, plus i don't see how this i3 could be an attractive upgrade to anything above an R3 1200

Yea,I'm using a 1600x since 2018 and I don't see why would I even 'upgrade' to something like this.
If I upgraded strictly with gaming in mind then it would be a 3300x or a 3600 more likely,my B350 supports them anyway.

That being said I see zero reason to upgrade from my current CPU since I do not play competitive games and I'm GPU bound pretty much everywhere.

 

[cucker tarlson]

I'm GPU bound pretty much everywhere.

cause you've a weak gpu.
try a 1660 and that 1600x is already gonna feel tight at times.

 

[Sithaer]

cause you've a weak gpu.
try a 1660 and that 1600x is already gonna feel tight at times.

Not really,I did have a 1660 Super borrowed for a day testing and it had no issues running at 99-100% in every game I tried.
I'm not playing in 1080p but a bit higher,2560x1080 which is about -10-12 FPS less compared to standard 1080p so even less CPU importance.

And if thats not enough I cap my FPS at 74 so ye. 'prefer ot stay in my freesync range'

 

[cucker tarlson]

depends what games those were.and what settings.

 

[Sithaer]

depends what games those were.and what settings.

Like I said I play exactly zero e-sport or any competitive games.
So whatever singleplayer games I had installed at the time.

Examples,since I have the comparison screens saved on my pc.
Witcher 3,Man of Medan,Borderlands 3,Plague Tale Innocence,Darksiders 3,Far Cry 5 and We Happy Few

Settings are close to max or maxed. 'tweaked in BL 3 cause its not worth maxing that game anyway'

 

[cucker tarlson]

Like I said I play exactly zero e-sport or any competitive games.
So whatever singleplayer games I had installed at the time.

Examples,since I have the comparison screens saved on my pc.
Witcher 3,Man of Medan,Borderlands 3,Plague Tale Innocence,Darksiders 3,Far Cry 5 and We Happy Few

Settings are close to max or maxed. 'tweaked in BL 3 cause its not worth maxing that game anyway'

tested that 1600x in novigrad ? with hw off ? and still getting 100% usage on 1600x ?
do not take this personally,but this is anecdotal evidence.

 

[Sithaer]

tested that 1600x in novigrad ? with hw off ? and still getting 100% usage on 1600x ?
do not take this personally,but this is anecdotal evidence.

I tested it where my last save was,early part of Hearts of stone.

Forest part in Plague where the 1660S pulled twice the frames as my 570:

Same story in man of medan,double frames at the same scene:

Would I use this CPU with ~High end cards or high refresh rate gaming?
Probably no but for my case use or for the casual/average gamer first gen Ryzen is still okay imo,especially when they don't plan on pairing with expensvive cards in the first place.

As long as the CPU itself is capable of pushing ~60 FPS in the games I'm interested in I don't see a reason to upgrade,rather save that money for other hardware parts.

Non taken 'personally',its cool just discussing stuff.

 

[Mark Little]

As I've said before, if you only game, then any latest quad core or better will be within 10% of the performance of the fastest CPU at 1080p or higher. CPUs don't have much effect on gaming at high resolutions.

 

[Joss]

Would I use this CPU with ~High end cards or high refresh rate gaming?

Yes. Most people tend to forget that with a 60hz monitor almost any recent CPU will suffice.

 

[bug]

As I've said before, if you only game, then any latest quad core or better will be within 10% of the performance of the fastest CPU at 1080p or higher. CPUs don't have much effect on gaming at high resolutions.

It depends how you game. For most gamers, you are right, it doesn't matter much. But for competitive play, people tend to lower visual in exchange for high frame rates.

 

[Fourstaff]

10100F going to be released at a cheaper price? It will give some competition to 3100/3300X twin which is currently short in supply.