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Intel Core i3-6100

Intel Core i3-6100: Outdated, but Still Useful? A Detailed Review in 2025

The Relevance of the Budget Skylake Processor Nearly a Decade Later

Key Specifications: Architecture and Performance

The Intel Core i3-6100 processor, released in 2015, belongs to the Skylake generation. Despite its age, its specifications still attract the attention of enthusiasts looking for budget builds.

- Architecture and Manufacturing Process: 14-nm technology, LGA 1151 socket.

- Cores and Threads: 2 cores, 4 threads thanks to Hyper-Threading.

- Base Frequency: 3.7 GHz (without Turbo Boost).

- Cache: 3 MB L3 + 512 KB L2.

- Integrated Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 530 (base frequency 350 MHz, max 1050 MHz).

- Power Consumption: TDP of 51 W.

Performance:

- In Geekbench 6 (2025), the processor scores 1187 points in single-threaded tests and 2317 in multi-threaded tests. For comparison, the modern Intel Core i3-12100 (2023) scores ~2400 (Single) and ~9000 (Multi).

- Key Features: Support for DDR4, PCIe 3.0, hardware video acceleration (HEVC 8-bit), virtualization technology VT-x.

Compatible Motherboards: Sockets and Chipsets

The processor uses the LGA 1151 (v1) socket. Suitable chipsets include:

- H110: Budget option (no USB 3.1, maximum of 2 RAM slots).

- B150: Basic features + support for M.2 (NVMe via adapters).

- H170/Z170: Enhanced capabilities (more PCIe lanes, RAM overclocking on Z170).

Selection Features in 2025:

- New motherboards for LGA 1151 v1 are scarcely produced. Prices for leftovers start at $70-90 (for example, ASUS H110M-K).

- It is important to check the BIOS version: some motherboards require an update to work with Skylake.

Memory: DDR4 and Beyond

The Core i3-6100 supports:

- DDR4-2133 (officially) and DDR3L-1600 (with reduced voltage of 1.35 V).

- Maximum capacity: 64 GB (but for a budget build, 8-16 GB is sufficient).

Recommendations:

- DDR4 is preferred due to higher bandwidth.

- Example: 8 GB DDR4-2133 (Crucial CT8G4DFS8213) — $25-30.

Power Supply: Minimum Expense

With a TDP of 51 W, the processor does not require a powerful PSU:

- For systems without a discrete graphics card: a 300-350 W power supply is sufficient (for example, be quiet! System Power 10 — $45).

- With a GPU like the GTX 1650: models 400-450 W are recommended (EVGA 450 BR — $55).

Important: Cheap "noname" power supplies may operate unstably with modern storage devices (e.g., NVMe SSDs via adapters).

Pros and Cons of i3-6100 in 2025

Pros:

- Low price (new units — $50-70).

- Energy efficiency.

- Integrated graphics for basic tasks.

- Support for DDR4 and PCIe 3.0.

Cons:

- Only 2 cores: potential slowdowns during multitasking (e.g., streaming + gaming).

- No support for PCIe 4.0/5.0, USB 3.2 Gen 2.

- Outdated instructions: lack of AVX2, limited support for AI workloads.

Use Cases: Where is it Still Relevant?

1. Office Tasks: Working with documents, browsers (10-15 tabs), Zoom.

2. Multimedia: Watching 4K videos (via hardware decoding), streaming Netflix.

3. Light Gaming:

- CS:GO — 60 FPS on medium settings (720p).

- Minecraft — 40-50 FPS (1080p, integrated graphics).

4. Home Server: NAS or media center based on Proxmox/Plex.

Practical Example: A user built a PC with an i3-6100 + 16 GB DDR4 + 500 GB SSD for studies. The system handles simultaneous work in Word, a browser, and Telegram, but experiences lag when launching a virtual machine.

Comparison with Competitors

- AMD Athlon 3000G (2020): 2 cores/4 threads, Vega 3. Cheaper ($60), but weaker in Single-Core performance (Geekbench 6: ~900).

- Intel Core i3-10100 (2020): 4 cores/8 threads, UHD 630. Priced at $80-100 in the second-hand market.

- Market in 2025: New budget CPUs (e.g., Ryzen 3 8300G) offer 3-4 times higher performance for $120-150.

Conclusion: The i3-6100 falls behind modern counterparts but remains suitable for ultra-budget builds.

Building Tips

1. Motherboard: Look for models with M.2 (can connect NVMe via PCIe adapter). Example: ASRock B150M Pro4S.

2. Memory: 8 GB DDR4 is the minimum, 16 GB is comfortable.

3. Storage: An SSD is a must (Kingston A400 480 GB — $35).

4. Cooling: The stock cooler is sufficient, but for quiet operation, replace it with a Deepcool GAMMAXX 400 V2 ($20).

5. Upgrade: Adding a GPU (GTX 1650) will turn the system into a basic gaming PC.

Final Conclusion: Who Should Consider the i3-6100?

This processor should only be considered in cases such as:

- Ultra-Budget Builds: When the budget is limited to $200-300.

- Temporary Solution: For example, while waiting for discounts on modern components.

- Retro PC Enthusiasts: Building systems on older hardware for experimentation.

Alternative for 2025: For $120-150, one can buy a new Ryzen 3 8300G or Intel Core i3-13100F, which are significantly more powerful. However, if the i3-6100 is acquired for free or at a nominal price — it can still serve a purpose!

Prices are valid as of April 2025. Information is based on data from publicly available sources and user experiences.

Basic

Label Name

Intel

Platform

Desktop

Launch Date

September 2015

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.

i3-6100

Code Name

SkyLake

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

3.70 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.

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

L3 Cache

4 MB

CPU Socket

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

FCLGA1151

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

51 W

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.

DDR4-1866/2133 | DDR3L-1333/1600 @ 1.35V

Max Memory Size

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

64 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).

34.1 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.

Yes

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® HD Graphics 530

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.

1.05 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.

4096x2304@24Hz

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.

4096x2304@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.

4096x2304@60Hz

Max Resolution (VGA)

N/A

Number of Displays Supported

Graphics Output

Graphics Output defines the interfaces available to communicate with display devices.

eDP/DP/HDMI/DVI

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.

3 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

1187

Geekbench 6

Multi Core Score

2317

Geekbench 5

Single Core Score

880

Geekbench 5

Multi Core Score

1863

Passmark CPU

Single Core Score

2198

Passmark CPU

Multi Core Score

4151

Compared to Other CPU

Geekbench 6 Single Core

EPYC 7702

1267 +6.7%

Ryzen 5 4500U

1226 +3.3%

Core i3-6100

1187

Xeon E5-1630 v4

1159 -2.4%

EPYC 7532

1120 -5.6%

Geekbench 6 Multi Core

Ryzen 5 3550H

2832 +22.2%

Xeon E5-1620 v2

2533 +9.3%

Core i3-6100

2317

Core i5-6287U

2089 -9.8%

Xeon E5-2603 v3

1910 -17.6%

Geekbench 5 Single Core

Core i7-6820HK

917 +4.2%

Pentium G4560

897 +1.9%

Core i3-6100

880

Core i7-8706G

869 -1.3%

Xeon E5-2696 v3

852 -3.2%

Geekbench 5 Multi Core

Opteron 4334

2119 +13.7%

Pentium G4600

1978 +6.2%

Core i3-6100

1863

A8 PRO-7600B

1710 -8.2%

A10-7870K

1605 -13.8%

Passmark CPU Single Core

Core i7-4940MX

2255 +2.6%

Ryzen Embedded V1807B

2224 +1.2%

Core i3-6100

2198

Xeon Gold 5122

2167 -1.4%

Xeon E3-1545M v5

2144 -2.5%

Passmark CPU Multi Core

Core i7-6970HQ

4632 +11.6%

Core i5-3470S

4392 +5.8%

Core i3-6100

4151

Athlon 300U

3944 -5%

Pentium G4620

3751 -9.6%

Intel Core i3-6100