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The i3-10100 is Intel’s entry level 10th generation Comet Lake processor and represents the best value for money within the line-up. This quad-core hyper-threaded 65 Watt processor ships with a cooler and is capable of 4.3 GHz single and 4.1 GHz all core boosts. Although the i3-10100 requires a new LGA1200 motherboard, Intel have guaranteed that LGA1200 will be compatible with the next generation of Rocket Lake CPUs, expected later this year. Running at stock (2666 MHz) RAM frequency handicaps performance by as much as 15% so gamers should pair the 10100 with a Z490 motherboard. This will both open an upgrade path to higher tier "K" tier CPUs and unlock higher XMP RAM speeds (here is one of the builds from our EFps test lab). When paired with an RTX 2060S, the 10100 lags just 13% behind the i9-10900K flagship. The 10100 allows budget gamers to allocate more money towards a better GPU which often results in a stronger overall gaming system. At a retail price of $122 USD, the 10100 competes against AMD’s quad-core Ryzen 3 3300X. Game EFps and effective speed benchmarks show that the 10100’s lower memory latency gives it the edge. In addition, unlike the 3300X, the 10100 also packs integrated graphics with Quick Sync hardware encoding, which alleviates the need for desktop users to purchase a separate GPU. In order to achieve better value for money, it is necessary to consider the older generation 9100F, which, when paired with a 2060S, is 39% cheaper ($75 USD) for comparable gaming performance. [Jun '20 CPUPro]
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