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Intel Core i3-10320

Intel Core i3-10320: Budget Processor for Office and Home. Complete Review

April 2025

Key Specifications: Architecture, Performance, and Key Features

The Intel Core i3-10320 processor, released in 2020, continues to be a popular choice for budget PCs. It is built on the Comet Lake architecture using a 14nm manufacturing process, which, despite its outdated status, provides stable performance.

Cores and Threads:

- 4 cores and 8 threads thanks to Hyper-Threading technology.

- Base clock frequency of 3.8 GHz, with a maximum in Turbo Boost of 4.6 GHz.

Cache and Graphics:

- 8 MB of L3 cache.

- Integrated graphics Intel UHD Graphics 630 (base frequency 350 MHz, dynamic up to 1.2 GHz).

Performance:

- In Geekbench 6 (2025): 1555 points (single-core test), 5024 points (multi-core). For comparison, the Ryzen 3 3300X scores around ~1700/5800.

Key Features:

- Support for DDR4-2666 (officially) and PCIe 3.0.

- Intel Quick Sync Video technology for accelerated video encoding.

Compatible Motherboards: Sockets, Chipsets, and Selection Tips

The processor uses the LGA 1200 socket, which limits motherboard options to the 400 and 500 series chipsets.

Optimal Chipsets:

- H410/B460: Budget motherboards (price: $60–90). Suitable for basic builds.

- Example: ASUS Prime H410M-K ($75).

- H470/Z490: Enhanced features (USB 3.2 Gen 2, more PCIe lanes).

- Z490 supports overclocking, but the i3-10320 cannot be overclocked.

Tip:

Don't overpay for Z490 — a B460 will suffice for this CPU. Ensure the board has HDMI/DisplayPort if using integrated graphics.

Supported Memory: DDR4 and Its Configurations

The processor works only with DDR4.

Recommendations:

- Frequency: Up to 2666 MHz (on H410/B460) or 2933 MHz (on Z490).

- Configuration: Dual-channel mode (2×8 GB instead of 1×16 GB) for a +15–20% performance increase.

Example:

Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2×8 GB) DDR4-2666 ($55) — ideal for office tasks and light gaming.

Power Supplies: Power Calculation and Recommendations

With a TDP of 65W, the i3-10320 does not require a powerful PSU.

Scenarios:

- Without a discrete GPU: 300–400W (e.g., EVGA 400 BR, $35).

- With a GPU like NVIDIA GTX 1650: 450–500W (recommended Corsair CX550, $65).

Important:

Do not skimp on the PSU — cheap models may perform unstably under load.

Pros and Cons of the Processor

Pros:

- Low price ($120–140 in 2025).

- Energy efficiency (65W TDP).

- Integrated graphics for basic tasks.

Cons:

- 14nm manufacturing process (loses in energy efficiency to 7nm Ryzen).

- Limited multi-threaded performance.

- No support for PCIe 4.0/5.0.

Use Cases: Who is the i3-10320 for?

1. Office and Study:

- Document work, browser (+20 tabs), Zoom conferences.

2. Multimedia:

- 4K video playback via Intel Quick Sync.

- Streaming Netflix/HBO Max.

3. Light Gaming:

- CS:GO (60–80 FPS on low settings), Dota 2 (50–60 FPS), Minecraft.

4. Home Server/NAS:

- Low power consumption suitable for 24/7 operation.

Not suitable for:

- 4K video editing.

- Heavy gaming (Cyberpunk 2077, Starfield).

Comparison with Competitors: Ryzen 3 and Others

1. AMD Ryzen 3 3300X (2020):

- Pros: 7nm, better multi-threaded performance (Geekbench 6 Multi ~5800).

- Cons: No integrated graphics, more expensive ($160).

2. AMD Ryzen 5 3400G:

- Pros: Vega 11 graphics stronger than UHD 630.

- Cons: Only 4 cores/8 threads, like the i3-10320.

3. Intel Core i5-10400:

- Pros: 6 cores/12 threads, higher performance.

- Cons: Price $180, requires a more expensive cooler.

Practical Assembly Tips

1. Cooling:

- The stock cooler is sufficient, but for quieter operation, choose the DeepCool Gammaxx 400 ($25).

2. Storage:

- An SSD is essential (e.g., Kingston A2000 500GB, $45).

3. Upgrade:

- Choose a motherboard with PCIe 4.0 support if you plan to upgrade to a new CPU later.

4. Wi-Fi:

- If you need wireless internet, add a PCIe adapter (e.g., TP-Link Archer TX50E, $35).

Final Conclusion: Who Should Consider the Core i3-10320?

This processor is an ideal choice for:

- Budget PCs: Builds costing $300–400 for office or study purposes.

- Home media centers: Streaming video, basic gaming.

- Secondary devices: Backup PC or server.

Why choose it?

- Low price.

- Reliability and proven architecture.

- Energy efficiency.

If you need performance for gaming or editing, consider the Ryzen 5 5600G or Core i5-12400. But for simple tasks, the i3-10320 remains a cost-effective option even in 2025.

Basic

Label Name

Intel

Platform

Desktop

Launch Date

April 2020

Model Name

The Intel processor number is just one of several factors - along with processor brand, system configurations, and system-level benchmarks - to be considered when choosing the right processor for your computing needs.

i3-10320

Code Name

Comet Lake

CPU Specifications

Total Cores

Cores is a hardware term that describes the number of independent central processing units in a single computing component (die or chip).

Total Threads

Where applicable, Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology is only available on Performance-cores.

Basic Frequency

3.80 GHz

Max Turbo Frequency

Max Turbo Frequency is the maximum single-core frequency at which the processor is capable of operating using Intel® Turbo Boost Technology and, if present, Intel® Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 and Intel® Thermal Velocity Boost. Frequency is typically measured in gigahertz (GHz), or billion cycles per second.

4.60 GHz

Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 Frequency

4.60 GHz

Intel Turbo Boost Technology

Intel® Turbo Boost Technology dynamically increases the processor's frequency as needed by taking advantage of thermal and power headroom to give you a burst of speed when you need it, and increased energy efficiency when you don’t.

2.0

Intel Hyper-Threading Technology

Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology (Intel® HT Technology) delivers two processing threads per physical core. Highly threaded applications can get more work done in parallel, completing tasks sooner.

Yes

Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0

Intel® Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 identifies the best performing core(s) on a processor and provides increased performance on those cores through increasing frequency as needed by taking advantage of power and thermal headroom.

L3 Cache

8 MB

CPU Socket

The socket is the component that provides the mechanical and electrical connections between the processor and motherboard.

FCLGA1200

Technology

Lithography refers to the semiconductor technology used to manufacture an integrated circuit, and is reported in nanometer (nm), indicative of the size of features built on the semiconductor.

14 nm

TDP

65 W

Max. Operating Temperature

Junction Temperature is the maximum temperature allowed at the processor die.

100°C

PCI Express Version

PCI Express Revision is the supported version of the PCI Express standard. Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (or PCIe) is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard for attaching hardware devices to a computer. The different PCI Express versions support different data rates.

3.0

Number of PCI Express Lanes

A PCI Express (PCIe) lane consists of two differential signaling pairs, one for receiving data, one for transmitting data, and is the basic unit of the PCIe bus. Max # of PCI Express Lanes is the total number of supported lanes.

Intel 64

Intel® 64 architecture delivers 64-bit computing on server, workstation, desktop and mobile platforms when combined with supporting software.¹ Intel 64 architecture improves performance by allowing systems to address more than 4 GB of both virtual and physical memory.

Yes

Instruction Set

The instruction set is a hard program stored inside the CPU that guides and optimizes CPU operations. With these instruction sets, the CPU can run more efficiently. There are many manufacturers that design CPUs, which results in different instruction sets, such as the 8086 instruction set for the Intel camp and the RISC instruction set for the ARM camp. x86, ARM v8, and MIPS are all codes for instruction sets. Instruction sets can be extended; for example, x86 added 64-bit support to create x86-64. Manufacturers developing CPUs that are compatible with a certain instruction set need authorization from the instruction set patent holder. A typical example is Intel authorizing AMD, enabling the latter to develop CPUs compatible with the x86 instruction set.

64-bit

PCI Express Configurations

PCI Express (PCIe) Configurations describe the available PCIe lane configurations that can be used to link to PCIe devices.

Up to 1x16 | 2x8 | 1x8+2x4

Memory Specifications

Memory Type

Intel® processors come in four different types: Single Channel, Dual Channel, Triple Channel, and Flex Mode. Maximum supported memory speed may be lower when populating multiple DIMMs per channel on products that support multiple memory channels.

DDR4-2666

Max Memory Size

Max memory size refers to the maximum memory capacity supported by the processor.

128 GB

Memory Channels

The number of memory channels refers to the bandwidth operation for real world application.

Bus Speed

8 GT/s

Max Memory Bandwidth

Max Memory bandwidth is the maximum rate at which data can be read from or stored into a semiconductor memory by the processor (in GB/s).

41.6 GB/s

ECC Memory Supported

ECC Memory Supported indicates processor support for Error-Correcting Code memory. ECC memory is a type of system memory that can detect and correct common kinds of internal data corruption. Note that ECC memory support requires both processor and chipset support.

GPU Specifications

Integrated Graphics Model

An integrated GPU refers to the graphics core that is integrated into the CPU processor. Leveraging the processor's powerful computational capabilities and intelligent power efficiency management, it delivers outstanding graphics performance and a smooth application experience at a lower power consumption.

Intel® UHD Graphics 630

Graphics Base Frequency

Graphics Base frequency refers to the rated/guaranteed graphics render clock frequency in MHz.

350 MHz

Graphics Frequency

Graphics max dynamic frequency refers to the maximum opportunistic graphics render clock frequency (in MHz) that can be supported using Intel® HD Graphics with Dynamic Frequency feature.

1.15 GHz

Graphics Video Max Memory

64 GB

4K Support

Yes | at 60Hz

DirectX Support

DirectX* Support indicates support for a specific version of Microsoft’s collection of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) for handling multimedia compute tasks.

Max Resolution (HDMI)

Max Resolution (HDMI) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor via the HDMI interface (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your system.

4096 x 2160@30Hz

Max Resolution (DP)

Max Resolution (DP) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor via the DP interface (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your system.

4096 x 2304@60Hz

Max Resolution (eDP - Integrated Flat Panel)

Max Resolution (Integrated Flat Panel) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor for a device with an integrated flat panel (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your device.

4096 x 2304@60Hz

Number of Displays Supported

Miscellaneous

Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x)

Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x) allows one hardware platform to function as multiple “virtual” platforms. It offers improved manageability by limiting downtime and maintaining productivity by isolating computing activities into separate partitions.

Yes

Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)

Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) continues from the existing support for IA-32 (VT-x) and Itanium® processor (VT-i) virtualization adding new support for I/O-device virtualization. Intel VT-d can help end users improve security and reliability of the systems and also improve performance of I/O devices in virtualized environments.

Yes

Intel Standard Manageability (ISM)

Intel® Standard Manageability is the manageability solution for Intel vPro® Essentials platforms and is a subset of Intel® AMT with out-of-band management over Ethernet and Wi-Fi, but no KVM or new life cycle management features.

Intel® SSE4.1 | Intel® SSE4.2 | Intel® AVX2

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology is an advanced means of enabling high performance while meeting the power-conservation needs of mobile systems. Conventional Intel SpeedStep® Technology switches both voltage and frequency in tandem between high and low levels in response to processor load. Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology builds upon that architecture using design strategies such as Separation between Voltage and Frequency Changes, and Clock Partitioning and Recovery.

Yes

Execute Disable Bit

Execute Disable Bit is a hardware-based security feature that can reduce exposure to viruses and malicious-code attacks and prevent harmful software from executing and propagating on the server or network.

Yes

Cache

CPU Cache is an area of fast memory located on the processor. Intel® Smart Cache refers to the architecture that allows all cores to dynamically share access to the last level cache.

8 MB Intel® Smart Cache

Intel AES New Instructions

Intel® AES New Instructions (Intel® AES-NI) are a set of instructions that enable fast and secure data encryption and decryption. AES-NI are valuable for a wide range of cryptographic applications, for example: applications that perform bulk encryption/decryption, authentication, random number generation, and authenticated encryption.

Yes

Intel Boot Guard

Intel® Device Protection Technology with Boot Guard helps protect the system’s pre-OS environment from viruses and malicious software attacks.

Yes

Intel Clear Video HD Technology

Intel® Clear Video HD Technology, like its predecessor, Intel® Clear Video Technology, is a suite of image decode and processing technologies built into the integrated processor graphics that improve video playback, delivering cleaner, sharper images, more natural, accurate, and vivid colors, and a clear and stable video picture. Intel® Clear Video HD Technology adds video quality enhancements for richer color and more realistic skin tones.

Yes

Intel Clear Video Technology

Yes

Intel VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT)

Intel® VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT), also known as Second Level Address Translation (SLAT), provides acceleration for memory intensive virtualized applications. Extended Page Tables in Intel® Virtualization Technology platforms reduces the memory and power overhead costs and increases battery life through hardware optimization of page table management.

Yes

Intel InTru 3D Technology

Yes

Intel OS Guard

Yes

OpenGL Support

OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a cross-language, multi-platform API (Application Programming Interface) for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics.

4.5

Intel Quick Sync Video

Intel® Quick Sync Video delivers fast conversion of video for portable media players, online sharing, and video editing and authoring.

Yes

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6

Single Core Score

1555

Geekbench 6

Multi Core Score

5024

Geekbench 5

Single Core Score

1064

Geekbench 5

Multi Core Score

4014

Passmark CPU

Single Core Score

2839

Passmark CPU

Multi Core Score

10032

Compared to Other CPU

Geekbench 6 Single Core

Core i7-1180G7

1673 +7.6%

Core i5-1230U

1622 +4.3%

Core i3-10320

1555

Core i5-7600K

1500 -3.5%

Xeon E3-1270 v6

1448 -6.9%

Geekbench 6 Multi Core

Xeon W-11865MLE

5681 +13.1%

Ryzen 7 5700U

5396 +7.4%

Core i3-10320

5024

Core i5-8600T

4734 -5.8%

Xeon E3-1285L v4

4490 -10.6%

Geekbench 5 Single Core

Ryzen 7 5700U

1107 +4%

Core i5-10500H

1085 +2%

Core i3-10320

1064

Ryzen 7 PRO 2700X

1040 -2.3%

Core i7-9750HF

1019 -4.2%

Geekbench 5 Multi Core

Ryzen 5 5500U

4461 +11.1%

Core i3-9350K

4259 +6.1%

Core i3-10320

4014

Core i7-11390H

3817 -4.9%

Xeon E3-1280 v6

3676 -8.4%

Passmark CPU Single Core

Xeon W-1270

2990 +5.3%

Xeon Max 9480

2926 +3.1%

Core i3-10320

2839

Core i7-10700T

2772 -2.4%

Core i7-8700K

2739 -3.5%

Passmark CPU Multi Core

Core i7-9750H

10927 +8.9%

Xeon E5-2630L

10491 +4.6%

Core i3-10320

10032

Ryzen 5 2500X

9521 -5.1%

Xeon E5-2629 v3

9139 -8.9%