The generation of Intel Alder Lake processors expands, adding entry-level options to the mix. One of these processors is the budget Core i3-12100.
The processor has been rated in several games, giving an accurate representation of its gaming prowess. It was also tested with the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 processor. Surprisingly, Intel’s entry-level option managed to overcome its rival AMD.
PC art reviewed and tested the new Intel Core i3-12100 processor, calling it “the new king of super-budget gaming”. Considering the benchmark results, the CPU seems to deserve this flattering title. The Core i3-12100 succeeds the Intel Core i3-10100, which to this day remains one of the most economical processors.
It represents a huge leap forward, giving access to DDR5 memory and PCIe Gen 5.0. While most budget users won’t want to take advantage of the currently massively overpriced access to DDR5 RAM, it does give this inexpensive processor a bit more longevity and the potential for future upgrades.
The processor is part of Intel Alder Lake, a full generation of hybrid processors, but this model doesn’t offer a mix of efficiency and performance cores. Instead, the Core i3-12100 sports four cores and eight threads, and all cores are of the Golden Cove (performance) variety. It has a base clock speed of 3.3 GHz which can be increased up to 4.3 GHz.
The lack of a base hybrid setup puts the budget Core i3 at a disadvantage compared to its older siblings Core i5 and Core i7, but it still managed to excel in benchmarks. According to Art of PC, the processor turned out to be a surprisingly competitive entry, considering its modest $ 130 price tag.
Art of PC has put together a good gaming setup to test the new processor. The platform includes an Nvidia RTX 3080 graphics card, 32 GB of DDR4 3600 MHz memory, an Asus ROG Strix Z690-A D4 motherboard and an additional CPU cooler in the form of a bequiet! Dark Rock Pro 4. The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 configuration that Intel was tested against was identical except for the motherboard: the Ryzen configuration used an Asus ROG X570 Crosshair VII Hero.
The testers revealed the average frames per second (fps) obtained by the two setups. The Core i3-12100 platform was hitting high frames even in demanding games, such as Cyberpunk 2077 (108 fps) and Microsoft Flight Simulator (66). Of course, the rest of the system plays a role in this, as the RTX 3080 on its own can dramatically boost frame rates. However, both of these titles are noticeably CPU heavy, and the Core i3-12100 still delivers high levels of performance.
Intel Core i3-12100 outperformed the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 processor by 7.85% on average. It has managed to achieve higher fps in every game it has been tested in. The Ryzen 5 3600 has two more cores and four more threads compared to the Core i3-12100, which makes this nearly 8% win all the more impressive.
With benchmark results like these, Intel’s new entry-level processor is sure to end up in many top processor rankings. For gamers on a tighter budget, it’s a good alternative to its more powerful 12th gen Intel siblings.
