Intel Core i3-9100 vs Intel Core i7-3960X

Compare Intel 9th Generation Core i3 4 core CPU vs Intel Core X-series 6 core processor, specs and benchmark score. Which is the better CPU for gaming?

CPU Comparison

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Price

The cheapest price from our partner retailers

$ 72.99
$ 177.01 significantly less expensive
$ 250.00

Benchmark Score

Overall Score

A combined score of all workloads

2845 points
3693 points
29% slightly better overall score

Gaming Score

The raw gaming performance with a fast GPU

5304 points
6% slightly better gaming score
4998 points

Multitasking Score

Performance in workloads using up to 8 cores

2160 points
3261 points
50% significantly better multitasking score

Heavy Workload Score

Performance in workloads using up to 16 cores

2073 points
3155 points
52% significantly better heavy workload score

Free CPU Benchmark

Want to compare your processor against the Core i3-9100 and the Core i7-3960X? Download our free and quick PC Performance Test.

Other Benchmarks

Blender score

Blender score

Cycles Render (Samples per minute)

54.00 points
69.62 points
28% slightly higher Blender score
Geekbench 5 (multi) score

Geekbench 5 (multi) score

Multi threaded benchmark

3579 points
6% slightly higher Geekbench 5 (multi) score
3363 points
Geekbench 5 (single) score

Geekbench 5 (single) score

Single threaded benchmark

1335 points
100% significantly higher Geekbench 5 (single) score
665 points
Geekbench 6 (multi) score

Geekbench 6 (multi) score

Multi threaded benchmark

3650 points
13% slightly higher Geekbench 6 (multi) score
3209 points
Geekbench 6 (single) score

Geekbench 6 (single) score

Single threaded benchmark

1394 points
110% significantly higher Geekbench 6 (single) score
661 points

Specifications

Cores

Number of physical processing units

4
6
49% significantly more cores

Threads

Number of logical processing units

4
12
200% significantly more threads

Clock Speed

Base frequency at which the chip operates

3.6 GHz
9% slightly higher clock speed
3.3 GHz

Turbo Speed

Higher frequency used for heavy workloads

4.2 GHz
7% slightly higher turbo speed
3.9 GHz

TDP

Thermal Design Power: Measure of heat generated by the CPU

65 W
100% significantly lower TDP
130 W

PCIe Lanes

Number of physical connections between the CPU and expansion slots

16
40
150% significantly more pcie lanes

Memory Channels

Lanes for simultaneous memory access

2
4
100% significantly more memory channels

Supported Memory

Maximum amount of RAM supported by this CPU

64 GiB
Identical
64 GiB

Other details

Rank

Ranking in the hardwareDB database

561st of 1,089
464th of 1,089

Family

The product line

9th Generation Core i3
Core X-series

Release date

The official date of release of this chip

2019 May
2011 November

Memory Type

The type of memory used by this chip

DDR4-2400
DDR3-1066

Is Unlocked

Can this CPU can be overclocked

No
-

Supports ECC memory

Does this CPU support error correcting memory

Yes
No

Core i3-9100 vs Core i7-3960X specs and performance

According to the hardwareDB Benchmark tool, the Core i7-3960X is faster than the Core i3-9100. Despite this, the Core i3-9100 has the advantage in our gaming benchmark.

With info from our database, we find that the Core i7-3960X has significantly more cores with 6 cores whereas the Core i3-9100 has 4 cores. It also has more threads than the Core i3-9100. Our comparison shows that the Core i3-9100 has a slightly higher clock speed compared to the Core i7-3960X. Also, the Core i3-9100 has a slightly higher turbo speed. A Core i3-9100 CPU outputs less heat than a Core i7-3960X CPU because of its significantly lower TDP. This measures the amount of heat they output and can be used to estimate power consumption.

Modern CPUs generally have more logical cores than physical cores, this means that each core is split into multiple virtual cores, improving efficiency for parallel workloads. For instance, the Core i3-9100 has the same number of threads as cores. This means the the CPU does not support hyperthreading.

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