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Intel Core i3-8100
The i3 that became a quad-core: four Coffee Lake cores at a flat 3.6 GHz with no turbo and no Hyper-Threading, for $117 at launch. Its problem in 2026 is the platform, not the chip - it needs a 300-series board that now often costs more than the CPU.
Pros
- Four real cores at 3.6 GHz for i3 money - it matched an i5-7500 in multi-threaded work
- 65 W with a stock cooler included
- UHD Graphics 630 with QuickSync and 4K HEVC/VP9 decode, fine for an office box or HTPC
- On Microsoft's Windows 11 supported-CPU list, unlike every 6th and 7th gen part
- No turbo means clocks never sag - performance is identical in a cramped case
Cons
- Flat 3.6 GHz with no turbo at all, so single-thread speed trails every 8th gen i5
- No Hyper-Threading: four threads, and only 6 MB L3
- Locked multiplier, and official memory support stops at DDR4-2400
- Needs a 300-series chipset - it will not run in a Z170 or Z270 board despite the identical socket
Below average
Computed from specs & benchmarks via our public methodology.
Full specifications
Everything we track for the Intel Core i3-8100
General
- Announced
- 2017
- Socket
- LGA1151-v2
- Process
- 14 nm
- Base TDP
- 65 W
- Unlocked multiplier
- No
- Cooler included
- Yes
Cores & Clocks
- Cores
- 4
- Performance cores
- 4
- Efficiency cores
- 0
- Threads
- 4
- Base clock
- 3.6 GHz
- Boost clock
- 3.6 GHz
- L2 cache
- 1 MB
- L3 cache
- 6 MB
Integrated GPU
- iGPU
- Intel UHD Graphics 630
- iGPU clock
- 1,100 MHz
Memory
- Memory support
- DDR4-2400
- Max memory
- 64 GB
- Memory channels
- 2
Platform
- PCIe version
- 3
- CPU PCIe lanes
- 16
Benchmarks
- PassMark
- 6,053Bottom 6%
- PassMark (single thread)
- 2,186Bottom 11%
Quick answers
Is the Intel Core i3-8100 good in 2026?
The Intel Core i3-8100 earns an Inno Score of 23.3/100 (“Below average”) based on its specs and benchmark results. The i3 that became a quad-core: four Coffee Lake cores at a flat 3.6 GHz with no turbo and no Hyper-Threading, for $117 at launch. Its problem in 2026 is the platform, not the chip - it needs a 300-series board that now often costs more than the CPU.
What are the key specs of the Intel Core i3-8100?
Cores: 4 · Threads: 4 · Boost clock: 3.6 GHz · Socket: LGA1151-v2
What are the closest alternatives to the Intel Core i3-8100?
Its closest rivals on InnoReviews are Intel Core i5-6500, Intel Core i7-3770, Intel Pentium Gold G6400 — open the comparison pages for a spec-by-spec breakdown.
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