Core i3-6100 vs Core i7-3820

Gaming speed, cores and clocks

On our gaming index the Core i3-6100 scores 20 and the Core i7-3820 scores 19, about 5% faster for gaming. That gap is small and mostly shows up at 1080p with a very fast graphics card.

The Core i3-6100 has 2 cores and 4 threads, and the Core i7-3820 has 4 cores and 8 threads. The extra cores of the Core i7-3820 help with video editing, streaming while you play and heavy multitasking more than with the game itself. Boost clocks are 3.7 GHz and 3.8 GHz.

Platform, power and price

The Core i3-6100 uses the LGA1151 socket and the Core i7-3820 uses LGA2011, so they need different motherboards, and often different memory. When you compare prices, count the board as well as the chip.

Rated power is 51 W for the first and 130 W for the second. That difference changes the cooler you need, and it shows up in heat and noise.

At launch the Core i3-6100 cost $117 and the Core i7-3820 $294, which gives 17.1 and 6.5 points of gaming performance per $100. Today's prices will differ.

Which graphics cards each one can feed, and which to buy

At 1080p the Core i3-6100 can feed a card up to the GeForce RTX 2060 before it holds the card back by more than 10 percent. The Core i7-3820 reaches the GeForce RTX 3050. Both chips are in the same range for graphics card pairing.

Choose the Core i3-6100 if you want the faster gaming chip. Choose the Core i7-3820 if you would rather spend the difference on a graphics card, which does more for frame rates in most games.