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Today, we’ll delve deeper into the May 2019 release of the Intel Core i3-9100 quad-core desktop processor. The Intel Core i3 9100F is available from Intel with or without integrated graphics. The Intel Core i3-9100F, which costs $89.99 shipping and is perfect for individuals who intend to use it in a system with a dedicated graphics card, is the base model. For $119.99 delivered, you can acquire the Intel Core i3-9100 with Intel UHD Graphics 630 if you’re looking for a CPU with integrated graphics. The only difference between the two processors is whether the graphics block is enabled or disabled.

The retail packaged models of the Intel Core i3-9100F processors include a CPU cooler, which is one of their nicer features. Therefore, you can purchase a processor like the Intel Core i3 9100F for $74 and avoid having to pay extra for CPU cooling.

The conventional “pancake” CPU cooling is included with the Intel Core i3 9100F retail packaged chip. On this processor with a 65W TDP rating, it’s nothing spectacular, but it works. If you don’t want to, you don’t need an aftermarket cooling system.

We examined the Intel Core i3-9100F today, and found it to be a very competent processor. A 4-core processor may seem incredibly underpowered in today’s world, but we were pleasantly pleased by a quick and powerful system. With only 4 cores, this processor lagged behind some of its more expensive siblings in heavily threaded applications, but its high base clocks helped it shine in lighter threaded workloads, where it outperformed them.

At your preferred vendor, the Intel Core i3 9100F appears to be a reasonably performing processor that is easily accessible for $74.00. The Ryzen 3 3200G 4-Core desktop processor with Radeon Vega 8 graphics ($89 delivered) is the major rival to this chip.

In conclusion, even though the Intel Core i3 9100F is a 9 Gen Core Coffee Lake Refresh entry-level CPU, it is a very competent processor that nevertheless provides entry-level users with a pleasant computing experience.

Intel Core i3 9100F Specs

Launched in April 2019, the Intel Core i3 9100F is a desktop CPU with 4 cores. It is a member of the Core i3 family and utilizes Socket 1151 and the Coffee Lake Refresh architecture.The Intel Core i3 9100F has 6MB of L3 cache and operates at 3.6 GHz by default, although it may be overclocked to 4.2 GHz depending on the workload. The Core i3-9100F is being produced by Intel using a 14 nm manufacturing process; the number of transistors is unknown. The multiplier on Core i3-9100F is locked, which restricts overclocking.

The Core i3-9100F consumes standard power levels for a contemporary PC with a TDP of 65 W. Dual-channel DDR4 memory is supported by Intel’s processor. With overclocking (and the appropriate memory modules), you can increase the officially supported memory speed of 2666 MHz even more. Core i3-9100F connects via PCI-Express Gen 3 to communicate with other parts of the computer. You will require a separate graphics card because this processor lacks integrated graphics.

The Intel Core i3 9100F supports hardware virtualization, which significantly boosts virtual machine performance. Additionally, IOMMU virtualization (PCI passthrough) is allowed, enabling direct host hardware usage by guest virtual machines. This processor can run programs that make use of Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX), which improves performance for applications that require lots of calculations. Along with AVX, Intel also supports the more recent AVX2 standard, but not AVX-512.

Essential information

Product Collection	9th Generation Intel® Core™ i3 Processors
Code Name	Products formerly Coffee Lake
Vertical Segment	Desktop
Processor Number	i3-9100F
Status	Launched
Launch Date	Q2’19
Lithography	14 nm
Recommended Customer Price	$97.00
Use Conditions	PC/Client/Tablet

Intel Core i3 9100F specifications

Total Cores	4
Total Threads	4
Max Turbo Frequency	4.20 GHz
Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 Frequency	4.20 GHz
Processor Base Frequency	3.60 GHz
Cache	6 MB Intel® Smart Cache
Bus Speed	8 GT/s
TDP	65 W

Memory specs

Max Memory Size (dependent on memory type)	64 GB
Memory Types	DDR4-2400
Max # of Memory Channels	2
Max Memory Bandwidth	37.5 GB/s

Intel Core i3 9100F performance & gaming

Over the previous five years, this benchmark for STH has had the most requests. The assignment was straightforward; we used the Linux 4.4.2 kernel from kernel.org and a typical auto-generated configuration file, utilizing all of the system’s threads.

We can see a rather intriguing outcome in this case. Compared to the Core i3-9100 and Core i3-9100F, the Intel Core i3-8300 features a slightly faster base clock but no turbo clock speeds. The difference in cache size between it and the Core i3-9100F—which is significant in this case—is 8MB. This workload is not only core/clock dependant, as we witnessed in our recent AMD EPYC 7642 assessment, but big deltas in cache sizes can also have an influence. When the EPYC 7642 has a 256MB L3 cache and 24MB of L2 cache, 2MB might not seem like much, but it is also 33% more than the Core i3-9100F. Cache matters in our compile test; clock speed is not everything.

A popular cross-platform software for compression and decompression is 7-zip. We began utilizing the application when we first started testing Windows. Now it is a component of Linux-Bench.

Due to the turbo clock rates, the Intel Core i3-9100F performs noticeably better than the Core i3-8300 in this instance. In fact, the four quick cores can outperform the eight-core Intel Atom C3758.

Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey is the first game we have for playing on a low-end CPU. The 9100F performs no better than the 7600K in this game, which punishes quad-core processors. Even though the quad-core CPUs still offer playable performance, frame stuttering will be considerably more noticeable.

The Ryzen processors are 24% quicker than the Core i3 in the 1600 AF, which is silky smooth with 1% lows of approximately 60 fps and an average frame rate of 77 fps.

Far Cry New Dawn isn’t a CPU-intensive game, at least not in terms of how well it makes use of core-heavy CPUs. However, we purposefully included this game since it serves as a nice illustration of how some older games interact with contemporary CPUs.

It’s also crucial to point out that even though the 9100F is 14% faster than the 1600 AF, the Ryzen 5 processor still managed to keep the frame rate at or above 60 fps at all times, and the game ran quite smoothly.

Conclusion on Intel Core i3 9100F

There are presently 20 distinct 9th Gen processors available from Intel under the Core i3/i5/i7/i9 lineup, with suggested retail prices for the Core i3-9100F and Core i3-9100 starting at $122. The Intel Core i3-9100F is currently only $89.99 shipping on the open market. We examined the Intel Core i3 9100F today and found it to be a highly competent processor.

A quad-core processor may seem incredibly underpowered in today’s world, but we were pleasantly pleased by a quick and powerful system. With only four cores, this CPU was at the bottom of the pack for intensively threaded applications, but because to its high base clocks, it outperformed some of its more costly siblings in lighter threaded workloads.