Intel Core i7-8086K vs Intel Core i3-12100

Core i7-8086K vs Core i3-12100 specs and performance

Our benchmark analysis concludes that the Core i3-12100 performs better than the Core i7-8086K. Furthermore, our gaming benchmark shows that it also outperforms the Core i7-8086K in all gaming tests too.

In terms of the number of cores of each of these CPUs, the Core i7-8086K has significantly more cores than the Core i3-12100. Indeed, the Core i7-8086K has 6 cores compared to 4 cores found in the Core i3-12100. It also has more threads than the Core i3-12100. Our comparison shows that the Core i7-8086K has a slightly higher clock speed compared to the Core i3-12100. Also, the Core i7-8086K has a slightly higher turbo speed. The Core i3-12100 outputs less heat than Core i7-8086K thanks to a significantly lower TDP. This measures the amount of heat they output and can be used to estimate power consumption.

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 i7-8086K has more threads than cores. Each physical core is split into multiple threads.