Intel Core i9-9980HK vs Intel Core i3-12100

Compare Intel 9th Generation Core i9 8 core CPU vs Intel 12th Generation Core i3 4 core processor, specs and benchmark score. Which is the better CPU for gaming?

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Benchmark Score

Overall Score

A combined score of all workloads

3558 points
5115 points
43% significantly better overall score

Gaming Score

The raw gaming performance with a fast GPU

4626 points
8339 points
80% significantly better gaming score

Multitasking Score

Performance in workloads using up to 8 cores

3403 points
4166 points
22% slightly better multitasking score

Heavy Workload Score

Performance in workloads using up to 16 cores

3616 points
4001 points
10% slightly better heavy workload score

Free CPU Benchmark

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Other Benchmarks

3DMark Physics score

3DMark Physics score

Physics simulation benchmark

8280 points
105% significantly higher 3DMark Physics score
4034 points
Blender score

Blender score

Cycles Render (Samples per minute)

132.90 points
18% slightly higher Blender score
111.80 points
Geekbench 5 (multi) score

Geekbench 5 (multi) score

Multi threaded benchmark

6312 points
6822 points
8% slightly higher Geekbench 5 (multi) score
Geekbench 5 (single) score

Geekbench 5 (single) score

Single threaded benchmark

1386 points
2105 points
51% significantly higher Geekbench 5 (single) score
Geekbench 6 (multi) score

Geekbench 6 (multi) score

Multi threaded benchmark

6310 points
6766 points
7% slightly higher Geekbench 6 (multi) score
Geekbench 6 (single) score

Geekbench 6 (single) score

Single threaded benchmark

1411 points
2147 points
52% significantly higher Geekbench 6 (single) score

Specifications

Cores

Number of physical processing units

8
100% significantly more cores
4

Threads

Number of logical processing units

16
100% significantly more threads
8

Clock Speed

Base frequency at which the chip operates

2.4 GHz
3.3 GHz
37% slightly higher clock speed

Turbo Speed

Higher frequency used for heavy workloads

5 GHz
16% slightly higher turbo speed
4.3 GHz

TDP

Thermal Design Power: Measure of heat generated by the CPU

45 W
33% slightly lower TDP
60 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

512 KiB
60% significantly more L1 cache
320 KiB

L3 Cache

General memory pool for all cores

16 MiB
33% slightly more L3 cache
12 MiB

Other details

Rank

Ranking in the hardwareDB database

480th of 1,089
337th of 1,089

Family

The product line

9th Generation Core i9
12th Generation Core i3

Release date

The official date of release of this chip

2019 May
2022 February

Memory Type

The type of memory used by this chip

DDR4-2666
DDR5-4800

Is Unlocked

Can this CPU can be overclocked

Yes
No

Supports ECC memory

Does this CPU support error correcting memory

No
-

Core i9-9980HK vs Core i3-12100 specs and performance

Our benchmark analysis concludes that the Core i3-12100 performs better than the Core i9-9980HK. Furthermore, our gaming benchmark shows that it also outperforms the Core i9-9980HK in all gaming tests too.

In terms of the number of cores of each of these CPUs, the Core i9-9980HK has significantly more cores than the Core i3-12100. Indeed, the Core i9-9980HK has 8 cores compared to 4 cores found in the Core i3-12100. It also has more threads than the Core i3-12100. These CPUs have different clock speeds. Indeed, the Core i3-12100 has a slightly higher clock speed compared to the Core i9-9980HK. Despite this, the Core i9-9980HK has a slightly higher turbo speed. A Core i9-9980HK CPU outputs less heat than a Core i3-12100 CPU because of its slightly 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. Indeed, the Core i9-9980HK has more threads than cores. Each physical core is split into multiple threads.

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