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.

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.


RELATED PRODUCTS [Affiliate Links]

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

[GamersNexus]

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.

[Beesem]

With some cheap motherboards this is going to be great value for budget builds. Assuming budget GPUs are available again of course.

[uss_liberty_incident]

It's so nice that this level of performance is starting to become affordable.

[gold]

"An average of 420 FPS sounds high, and it is."
Clever writers you have there.

[AdanFS]

According a tweet by Dr Ian Cutress, Intel updated the spec sheet for h610, it does have dual channel memory. There is only 1 DIMM per channel, however.

[Zosu]

Nice! Hopefully this will be the successor to the 3300x with actual stock.

[NBWDOUGHBOY]

I love the fact that Steve appreciates affordable options. Look at the smile on his face. 😊. I love this Chanel. ❤

[Ganimoth]

H610 is 1 DIMM PER channel, not just 1 channel. You will still get dual channel, but you will be limited to boards with just 2 dimm slots. Still no memory overclocking, so I would go for B660 anyway

[Hardwareunboxed]

Not enough cores for gaming in 2021, price is irrelevant, needs 12-cores MINIMUM!

[OrcCorp]

Very interesting 🤔 A new budget gaming CPU king? Personally I think the 12400f will still be the king in price/performance category.
P.S. 9:13 the wrong CPU is highlighted, as the 5600x is mentioned, but the 5800x is highlighted. Just a gentle poke at the editor, as it is very rare to see any errors in your videos 😅

[Phirrip]

With performance this good at such a low price I think it's time for me to finally consider retiring my i7-4790K, Intel has really shot back with these new Alder Lake CPUs

[jckt]

I am really glad that Intel is making these high punching CPU's at a very low cost. Hopefully AMD will release new cpu's at a lower cost now and get off its throne in shame.

[BRC_Del]

I wasn't aware of how much I missed seeing CPUs like this one. Great piece once more!

[__aceofspades]

Intel is the only one releasing affordable products, and they are hitting home runs. The 12400f is $180 and performs like the $300 5600x. Their 12600kf is $260 and competes with the $380 5800x. etc. Its a bizarro world when INTEL is the savior of the PC gaming world, but thank god they are because AMD and NVIDIA greed is INSANE these days.

[Traventine]

Impressive. Finally seeing significant progress. Very nice to see an i3 processor beating my old i7.

[wely]

I think you should put older CPUs into your comparison for low end chips like this. I know you've got the 3600 there but anyone looking to buy one of these probably has an older first or second gen Ryzen or a 8th/9th Gen Intel and wants to see the difference they could achieve.

[NoLongo]

This is amazing to see. One of the most budget CPUs being a beast in gaming. Intel could have eaisly abandoned the low end market just like the other two big companies but instead they commit to having a full product line that benefits all consumers.

[iffy_too]

19:57 This is why your channel, style and ethic is awesome Steve.

Thanks... Steve.

[RemedyTalon]

Intel is now the budget king.. boy have things changed.

[Djoki]

Looking forward to see how AMD responds to this.
The closest competitor to this i3 is the 3300X, but we all know that like, 3 people were able to buy it before it disappeared into the void a while ago.
I wonder how will the 7000 series Ryzen chips perform, even tho we are still like 6 months away from that stuff.