Budget King: $130 Intel Core i3-12100F CPU Review & Benchmarks

This review benchmarks the Intel Core i3-12100 & 12100F CPUs versus the AMD R5 3600, R5 5600X, i5 CPUs, and more. At its price, this is an impressive budget gaming CPU.
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NOTE: Intel notified media that it incorrectly stated on its chipset comparison slide that H610 is 1 channel, but it is actually 1 DIMM per channel (DPC), while still being dual-channel. This was an Intel error and the company has corrected its spec tables going forward. We will adjust future content to reflect this.

The Intel Core i3-12100 and 12100F only have one major difference, and it's the presence of an IGP. Beyond that, the CPUs are identical and behave the same in non-GPU tasks. If paired with a dGPU, they'd also behave the same (assuming you aren't using QuickSync or some other IGP feature). We bought the Intel i3-12100F for $130 to review, and so far, it's matching-up strong against Intel's own i5-12600K -- providing most of the performance for much less money -- and against AMD's R5 5600X and R5 3600. We plan to look at the Intel Core i5-12400 next to determine which of these two makes more sense for budget gaming PC builds in 2022.

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We went through the specs of all of Intel’s lower-end Alder Lake CPUs & motherboards here:    • RIP AMD Low-End: Intel i5-12400F, i3-...  
You can see our review of the i5-12600K here:    • Attacking AMD's Prices: Intel Core i5...  
You can find our Z690 motherboard round-up here:    • Intel Z690 Motherboard Round-Up (for ...  
We also have a full playlist of CPU Cooler reviews here:    • Cooler Reviews  

RELATED PRODUCTS [Affiliate Links]

Intel Core i3-12100F CPU on Amazon: https://geni.us/DioDBW
Intel i7-12700K CPU on Amazon: https://geni.us/MP2tSl
Intel i5-12600K CPU on Amazon: https://geni.us/2gB9h1
AMD R5 5600X on Amazon: https://geni.us/02wIzEi

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TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intel i3-12100F & 12100 CPU Review
01:52 - 12100 vs. 12100F Specs
04:34 - Frequency Behavior (All-Core & Single Core)
05:23 - CSGO CPU Benchmarks (1080p & 1440p on i3-12100)
06:42 - Cyberpunk 2077 Best CPU Benchmarks
07:33 - Far Cry 6 - 1080p Budget CPU Comparison
08:42 - Red Dead Redemption 2 Best Gaming CPU
09:20 - Total War: Three Kingdoms (Battle) - 1080p
10:08 - Rainbow Six Siege (1080p & 1440p)
11:41 - F1 2021 - 1080p/High
12:17 - Production Testing: Blender
13:26 - Chromium Code Compile
14:14 - Adobe Premiere
14:43 - Adobe Photoshop
15:08 - 7-Zip Compression & Decompression
15:44 - Power Consumption - Blender & Cinebench
16:27 - Conclusion

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Host, Test Lead, Writing: Steve Burke
Testing: Patrick Lathan
Video Editing: Keegan Gallick