Intel Core i3-10100 vs Intel Core i7-12700KF

Compare Intel 10th Generation Core i3 4 core CPU vs Intel 12th Generation Core i7 12 core processor, specs and benchmark score. Which is the better CPU for gaming?

CPU Comparison

Quickly search and compare processors

Price

The cheapest price from our partner retailers

$ 139.78
$ 90.19 significantly less expensive
$ 229.97

Benchmark Score

Overall Score

A combined score of all workloads

3478 points
11376 points
227% significantly better overall score

Gaming Score

The raw gaming performance with a fast GPU

5576 points
13117 points
135% significantly better gaming score

Multitasking Score

Performance in workloads using up to 8 cores

2857 points
10800 points
278% significantly better multitasking score

Heavy Workload Score

Performance in workloads using up to 16 cores

2743 points
10658 points
288% significantly better heavy workload score

Free CPU Benchmark

Want to compare your processor against the Core i3-10100 and the Core i7-12700KF? Download our free and quick PC Performance Test.

Other Benchmarks

3DMark Physics score

3DMark Physics score

Physics simulation benchmark

4780 points
10063 points
110% significantly higher 3DMark Physics score
Blender score

Blender score

Cycles Render (Samples per minute)

75.47 points
304.09 points
302% significantly higher Blender score
Geekbench 5 (multi) score

Geekbench 5 (multi) score

Multi threaded benchmark

4319 points
13015 points
201% significantly higher Geekbench 5 (multi) score
Geekbench 5 (single) score

Geekbench 5 (single) score

Single threaded benchmark

1401 points
2418 points
72% significantly higher Geekbench 5 (single) score
Geekbench 6 (multi) score

Geekbench 6 (multi) score

Multi threaded benchmark

4213 points
13490 points
220% significantly higher Geekbench 6 (multi) score
Geekbench 6 (single) score

Geekbench 6 (single) score

Single threaded benchmark

1432 points
2520 points
75% significantly higher Geekbench 6 (single) score

Specifications

Cores

Number of physical processing units

4
12
200% significantly more cores

Threads

Number of logical processing units

8
20
150% significantly more threads

Clock Speed

Base frequency at which the chip operates

3.6 GHz
Identical
3.6 GHz

Turbo Speed

Higher frequency used for heavy workloads

4.3 GHz
5 GHz
16% slightly higher turbo speed

TDP

Thermal Design Power: Measure of heat generated by the CPU

65 W
192% significantly lower TDP
190 W

PCIe Lanes

Number of physical connections between the CPU and expansion slots

16
20
25% slightly more pcie lanes

Memory Channels

Lanes for simultaneous memory access

2
Identical
2

Supported Memory

Maximum amount of RAM supported by this CPU

128 GiB
Identical
128 GiB

L1 Cache

Smallest embedded memory, but the fastest

256 KiB
960 KiB
274% significantly more L1 cache

L3 Cache

General memory pool for all cores

6 MiB
25 MiB
316% significantly more L3 cache

Other details

Rank

Ranking in the hardwareDB database

485th of 1,089
62nd of 1,089

Family

The product line

10th Generation Core i3
12th Generation Core i7

Release date

The official date of release of this chip

2020 May
2021 November

Memory Type

The type of memory used by this chip

DDR4-2666
DDR5-4800

Is Unlocked

Can this CPU can be overclocked

No
Yes

Supports ECC memory

Does this CPU support error correcting memory

No
-

Core i3-10100 vs Core i7-12700KF comparison

Our benchmark analysis concludes that the Core i7-12700KF performs better than the Core i3-10100. Furthermore, our gaming benchmark shows that it also outperforms the Core i3-10100 in all gaming tests too.

With info from our database, we find that the Core i7-12700KF has significantly more cores with 12 cores whereas the Core i3-10100 has 4 cores. It also has more threads than the Core i3-10100. In terms of clock speed, the Core i3-10100 and Core i7-12700KF are identical in this regard. Despite this, the Core i7-12700KF has a slightly higher turbo speed. A Core i3-10100 CPU outputs less heat than a Core i7-12700KF CPU because of its significantly lower TDP. This measures the amount of heat they output and can be used to estimate power consumption.

The more cores a CPU has, the better the overall performance will be in parallel workloads such as multitasking. Many CPUs have more threads than cores, this means that each physical core is split into multiple logical cores, making them more efficient. Indeed, the Core i3-10100 has more threads than cores. Each physical core is split into multiple threads.

Comments

No comments yet! Be the first to leave a comment using the form below.

Keep comments on topic and be polite. Comments are subject to moderation before they are published.

Popular CPU Comparisons