Intel Core i3-9100 vs Intel Core i5-8600K

Core i3-9100 vs Core i5-8600K benchmarks

Our benchmark analysis concludes that the Core i5-8600K performs better than the Core i3-9100. Furthermore, our gaming benchmark shows that it also outperforms the Core i3-9100 in all gaming tests too.

When comparing core counts for these CPUs, we notice that the Core i5-8600K has significantly more cores with 6 cores compared to the Core i3-9100 that has 4 cores. It also has more threads than the Core i3-9100. In terms of clock speed, the Core i3-9100 and Core i5-8600K are identical in this regard. Despite this, the Core i5-8600K has a slightly higher turbo speed. A Core i3-9100 CPU outputs less heat than a Core i5-8600K CPU because of its significantly lower TDP. This measures the amount of heat they output and can be used to estimate power consumption. The cache sizes of these CPUs are different. Indeed, the Core i5-8600K has significantly more L2 cache than the Core i3-9100. The Core i5-8600K 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. For instance, the Core i3-9100 has the same number of threads as cores. This means the the CPU does not support hyperthreading.