Intel BX8071512100F

The Core i3-12100F is the best budget gaming CPU you can buy right now. Single-thread performance is top-tier for the price, and it runs cool and efficient. Skip the stock cooler, grab a cheap aftermarket one, and you've got a killer foundation for a budget build.

Single-thread performance is where this little chip shines. Our database puts it in the 85th percentile for single-thread, which means it hangs with CPUs costing twice as much in everyday tasks and older games. Multi-thread lands at 67th percentile, solid but not spectacular. The 12MB of L3 cache and 5MB of L2 keep things snappy. Power draw is tame too, 58W base and 89W max turbo, so it runs cool and quiet with a decent aftermarket cooler. The stock cooler is another story, it spins up loud when you push the chip hard.

Stacked against the Ryzen 3 lineup, the 12100F trades blows nicely. It beats most Ryzen 3 chips in single-thread and holds its own in gaming. The Ryzen 9 7900X and Core i9-9960X are in a completely different league, but they cost 4-5x more and most budget builders don't need that kind of horsepower. The Xeon E5-2637 V2 is older server silicon that doesn't make sense for desktop use. For pure budget gaming, the 12100F is the sweet spot. If you need more cores for streaming or heavy multitasking, step up to a 12400F or 12600K instead.

This is where the 12100F absolutely cleans up. Our budget score puts it at 90.1 out of 100, and that's not hype. US pricing bounces between USD 107 and USD 162 depending on the vendor, with Amazon typically landing at the lower end. That's a USD 55 spread, so shop around before you click buy. In Europe, prices range from EUR 106 to EUR 120, with the best deals showing up on Amazon's EU storefronts. For what you get, this is one of the best value CPUs on the market right now.

The Core i3-12100F is the budget CPU that makes you wonder why you'd spend more. Four cores, eight threads, and a 4.3GHz boost clock for pocket change. It's built on Intel's Alder Lake architecture, so you get PCIe 5.0 support and solid single-thread performance that punches way above its price class.

No integrated graphics here, so you'll need a discrete GPU. That's fine, because this chip is aimed squarely at budget gaming rigs and everyday desktops. The included stock cooler works, but it gets loud under load. More on that later.

Skip this if you need integrated graphics for a no-GPU office build or HTPC. Also skip it if you do heavy multitasking, video editing, or streaming while gaming, those workloads want more than 4 cores. And if you're planning to overclock, look elsewhere, this chip is locked.

If you're building a budget gaming PC or upgrading an older LGA1700 system, the 12100F is a no-brainer. It delivers smooth 1080p gaming when paired with a mid-range GPU like an RTX 3060 or RX 6600, and it won't bottleneck most cards in that class. The lack of integrated graphics is a non-issue for gamers. Just budget for a cheap aftermarket cooler if the stock fan noise bothers you.