Intel’s four-core eight-thread Core i3-12100 comes with an extremely aggressive $129 price ticket that earns a spot on our checklist of finest CPUs for gaming and Greatest Low-cost CPUs as Intel lastly addresses what has grow to be probably the most ignored a part of the PC market — the sub-$200 phase. That is to not point out that the chip additionally comes as a $104 F-series Core i3-12100F that Intel ships with deactivated built-in graphics for $25 lower than the full-featured mannequin. In truth, with no clear current-gen competitor from AMD and stellar efficiency for its value level, the Core i3-12100 simply leads our CPU benchmark hierarchy within the $105 to $130 bracket.
Intel refreshed its Comet Lake Core i3 lineup when it launched its Eleventh-Gen Rocket Lake chips in 2020, however these fashions did not include a brand new structure or any significant efficiency enhancements. Fairly, they got here as refreshed Tenth-Gen fashions with a paltry 100 MHz clock velocity improve. Not that it mattered — given the realities of the chip shortages, we not often noticed these chips at retail anyway.
Talking of chips that do not actually exist, AMD’s final funds mannequin got here because the extremely spectacular Ryzen 3 3300X that landed again in 2020. The quad-core 3300X introduced an unheard-of degree of efficiency for a $120 chip, promising new ranges of gaming efficiency for funds builds. Sadly, that did not come to fruition because the chip was a ghost and by no means appeared in any significant quantity at retail.
Issues have not improved within the interim, both. AMD deserted the sub-$200 market when it launched its Ryzen 5000 processors, leaving its older 3000-series processors to carry the road. Nonetheless, as you will see in our benchmarks beneath, they don’t seem to be related. AMD’s lowest level of entry into its Zen 3-powered Ryzen 5000 sequence comes within the type of the $259 Ryzen 5 5600G. At twice the value of the 12100, it is a non-factor for lower-end gaming rigs until you intend to make use of built-in graphics.
Worth
Cores | Threads
P-Core Base/Enhance
E-Core Base/Enhance
TDP / PBP / MTP
DDR4-3200
L3 Cache
Core i9-12900K / KF
$589 (Ok) – $564 (KF)
8P + 8E | 16 Cores / 24 Threads
3.2 / 5.2 GHz
2.4 / 3.9 GHz
125W / 241W
DDR4-3200 / DDR5-4800
30MB
Core i7-12700K / KF
$409 (Ok) – $384 (KF)
8P + 4E | 12 Cores / 20 Threads
3.6 / 5.0 GHz
2.7 / 3.8 GHz
125W / 190W
DDR4-3200 / DDR5-4800
25MB
Core i5-12600K / KF
$289 (Ok) – $264 (KF)
6P + 4E | 10 Cores / 16 Threads
3.7 / 4.9 GHz
2.8 / 3.6 GHz
125W / 150W
DDR4-3200 / DDR5-4800
16MB
Core i5-12400 / F
$192-$199 | $167-$174 (F)
6P + 0E | 6 Cores / 12 Threads
4.4 / 2.5 GHz
n/a
65W / 117W
DDR4-3200 / DDR5-4800
18MB
Core i3-12100 / F
$122 – $129 | $97 – $104
4P + 0E | 4 Cores / 8 Threads
3.3 / 4.3 GHz
n/a
60W / 89W
DDR4-3200 / DDR5-4800
12MB
That leaves Intel unchecked within the funds phase, including to the corporate’s newfound dominance with the Alder Lake chips that even outperform dearer Ryzen 5000 chips. Intel’s benefits additionally lengthen to the motherboard ecosystem too, with B660 and H610 motherboards offering an awesome pairing for the Core i3-12100. So despite the fact that these boards do value greater than we’re accustomed to for the lowest-end fashions, they supply loads of connectivity for funds techniques.
