Intel Core i3-8100 CPU Review

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VRMark & 3DMark

Intel architectures tend to perform best in the VRMark tests, and that trend continues with Core i3-8100. The pricier -8350K leverages its higher clock rate to beat Intel's Core i3-8100. Meanwhile, it's noteworthy that the Core i3-7100 lands at the bottom of our chart. This is a trend we'll see continue through several of our tests.

Core i3-8100 competes readily against AMD's Ryzen 3 1300X and 1200 during the 3DMark physics and CPU tests. The Ryzen 5 1500X and 1400 enjoy a significant advantage from their eight threads. But then again, they're also more expensive.

Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation

Ashes of the Singularity is a heavily-threaded game that performs best on CPUs with lots of cores. Even still, Core i3-8100 scores impressively well compared to its quad-threaded competitors. It even outstrips the 4C/8T Ryzen 5 1400 at stock settings.

Ryzen 3 1200 features a 3.1 GHz base and 3.4 GHz boost frequency, which hampers performance during this CPU-intensive benchmark. Even the dual-core Core i3-7350K is allowed to squeak past. Then again, an overclocked Core i3-8350K surprisingly leads the six-core Core i5-8400, so high clock rates clearly pay off, too.

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Paul Alcorn
Managing Editor: News and Emerging Tech

Paul Alcorn is the Managing Editor: News and Emerging Tech for Tom's Hardware US. He also writes news and reviews on CPUs, storage, and enterprise hardware.

  • Dark Lord of Tech
    Great CPU for the $$$!
    Reply
  • shrapnel_indie
    It's impressive.... and makes a harder sell on the Ryzen 1200 and 1300X.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    Still missing affordable motherboards...
    Reply
  • JQB45
    When are the lower cost "B" and I assume "H" series motherboards supposed to arrive?
    Reply
  • MCMunroe
    Why does the little green button to buy the product always have a wildly higher price than the assumptions made in the article?

    Just a glaring sign that the articles value comparison is off, in real life.
    Reply
  • marcelo_vidal
    I don't see the point of this review? This get the UPDATE ? Bios UPDATE Microcode Update ? Where is the meltdown TRAIN ?
    Reply
  • JQB45
    Tesetilaro - Passmark benchmark results comparing the i3-8100, i5-4570 and the i5-3570.

    https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare.php?cmp=3103&cmp=1896&cmp=827
    Reply
  • ghettogamer
    $100 upwards for a motherboard ,g4560 is still the budget king!
    Reply
  • John Philips
    Does it comes with the Meltdown and Spectre improvements?
    Reply
  • Martell1977
    I have to agree, knowing that these reviews can take some time, I'm curious (as the others) if these tests include the S&M fixes?

    The performance loss might change the results here significantly. I know it's a lot of work, but I think we need new benchmarks for pretty much all Intel's new models. The current numbers are no longer accurate. Maybe retest some of AMD's to see if there is much, if any effect on their performance as well.
    Reply