Intel Core i3-6100 vs Intel Core i5-6500

Core i3-6100 vs Core i5-6500 benchmarks

Our benchmark analysis concludes that the Core i5-6500 performs better than the Core i3-6100. Furthermore, our gaming benchmark shows that it also outperforms the Core i3-6100 in all gaming tests too.

With info from our database, we find that the Core i5-6500 has significantly more cores with 4 cores whereas the Core i3-6100 has 2 cores. But they both have the same number of threads. With our hardware info, we find that the Core i3-6100 has a slightly higher clock speed than the Core i5-6500. A Core i3-6100 CPU outputs less heat than a Core i5-6500 CPU because of its slightly lower TDP. This measures the amount of heat they output and can be used to estimate power consumption. In terms of cache, the Core i5-6500 has significantly more L2 cache when compared to the Core i3-6100. The Core i5-6500 also has significantly more L3 cache.

Most CPUs have more threads than cores. This technology, colloquially called hyperthreading, improves performance by splitting a core into multiple virtual ones. This provides more efficient utilisation of a core. Indeed, the Core i3-6100 has more threads than cores. Each physical core is split into multiple threads.