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Intel Core i3-7101TE

Intel Core i3-7101TE: A Comprehensive Review of the 2025 Processor

Kaby Lake Architecture in the Era of Multicore—Is it Worth Considering in 2025?

Key Specifications

Architecture and Process Technology

The Intel Core i3-7101TE is a member of the Kaby Lake line (7th generation), released in 2017. It is manufactured on a 14 nm process, which by 2025 is considered outdated as modern chips utilize 5–7 nm technology. However, this does not diminish its relevance in niche scenarios.

Key Parameters:

- Cores/Threads: 2/4 (Hyper-Threading enabled).

- Base Clock Speed: 3.4 GHz (no Turbo Boost).

- TDP: 35W – energy efficiency is its main advantage.

- Graphics: Intel HD 630 (supports 4K@60Hz via HDMI/DisplayPort).

- Cache: 3 MB L3.

Performance:

- Geekbench 6: 1188 (Single-Core), 2368 (Multi-Core). For comparison, the modern Ryzen 3 8300G (2024) scores around ~1800/5500.

- Strengths: Stability, low heat generation, support for DDR4.

Compatible Motherboards

Socket and Chipsets

The processor uses LGA 1151, but only v1 revision (not compatible with 8th–9th generation motherboards). Supported chipsets:

- H110, B250, H270, Q270 – budget solutions with basic functionality.

- Examples of motherboards: ASUS Prime B250M-K ($70–90), Gigabyte H270-HD3 ($80–100).

Important!

- BIOS: Newer motherboards in 2025 may lack firmware support for Kaby Lake. Look for models released in 2017–2018.

- Ports: Check for USB 3.1, M.2 (NVMe support available via adapters).

Supported Memory

DDR4 — The Foundation of the Configuration

- Types: DDR4-2133/2400 MHz (officially).

- Modes: Dual-channel – to enhance iGPU performance.

- Maximum Capacity: Up to 64 GB (depends on the motherboard).

Advice: For office tasks, 8 GB is sufficient, and for a media center, 16 GB is recommended. Use modules with low timings (CL15–16).

Power Supply Recommendations

Energy Efficiency vs. Power Reserve

With a TDP of 35W, the processor does not require a powerful power supply, but it's important to consider other components:

- Integrated Graphics: A power supply of 300–400W is sufficient (e.g., EVGA 400 N1, $35).

- With Discrete Graphics Card: For GTX 1650 or RX 6400, choose a power supply of 450–500W (Corsair CX450, $55).

Rule: Don’t skimp on quality. Cheap power supplies can damage components.

Pros and Cons

Why Should (or Shouldn’t) You Consider the i3-7101TE in 2025?

Pros:

- Energy Efficiency: Ideal for compact PCs (HTPC, office builds).

- Price: New units are priced around $60–80 (cheaper than most modern analogs).

- Stability: A well-established platform with no "growing pains."

Cons:

- 2 Cores: Multitasking is limited (Chrome + Word + background music = 100% load).

- Outdated Architecture: Lags behind even budget Ryzen 3s from 2024 in IPC.

- No PCIe 4.0/5.0: NVMe drive speeds are limited to 3.0.

Use Cases

Where is the i3-7101TE Still Relevant?

1. Office PCs: Document work, video conferencing, web surfing.

2. Media Centers: 4K playback via HDMI 2.0, streaming services.

3. Light Gaming: CS:GO, Dota 2 – 720p/low settings (up to 40-50 FPS).

4. Thin Clients: For working with cloud applications.

Limitations: Video editing, 3D rendering, modern AAA games (Cyberpunk 2077, Starfield) – not recommended.

Comparison with Competitors

Kaby Lake vs. Modern Budget Chips

1. AMD Athlon 3000G (2025, $65):

- 2 Cores/4 Threads, Vega 3 (gaming at 720p).

- Pros: Cheaper, PCIe 3.0 support.

- Cons: No AVX2.

2. Intel Pentium Gold G7400 (2025, $90):

- 2 Cores/4 Threads, UHD 710.

- Pros: New Alder Lake architecture (IPC +18%), DDR5 support.

- Cons: Higher price.

Conclusion: The i3-7101TE only wins in second-hand market prices. New builds are better off with modern CPUs.

Practical Assembly Tips

How to Build a PC with i3-7101TE in 2025?

1. Motherboard: Look for B250/H270 with warranty (for example, ASRock B250M-HDV).

2. Memory: 2×8 GB DDR4-2400 (Patriot Signature Line, $35).

3. Storage: Kingston A400 480 GB (SATA III, $30) or NVMe via adapter.

4. Case: Mini-ITX (Cooler Master Elite 110, $50) for a media center.

5. Cooling: The stock cooler is sufficient (temperature up to 65°C).

Hack: Use Linux (Ubuntu/Linux Mint) to reduce CPU load.

Final Conclusion: Who is the i3-7101TE Suitable For?

This processor is a choice for:

- Enthusiasts on a budget assembling PCs for basic tasks.

- Corporations updating their office computer fleets.

- Retro build enthusiasts on the LGA 1151 platform.

Alternative: If the budget allows for $100–150, consider used Intel Core i5-8400 (6 cores) or a new Ryzen 3 8300G.

Price in 2025: New i3-7101TEs are rare; expect to pay $60–80. But remember, for the same price, you can find more powerful options on the second-hand market.

Conclusion: The Intel Core i3-7101TE is an example of a "workhorse" that has outlived its era. It may not impress in benchmarks, but it is ideal where reliability and minimalism are important.

Basic

Label Name

Intel

Platform

Desktop

Launch Date

January 2017

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.

i3-7101TE

Code Name

Kaby 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

3.40 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

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

35 W

Max. Operating Temperature

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

88°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.

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.

DDR3L-1600 | DDR4-2400

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

GPU Name

Intel® HD 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.

1.10 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@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.

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 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

1188

Geekbench 6

Multi Core Score

2368

Geekbench 5

Single Core Score

858

Geekbench 5

Multi Core Score

1930

Passmark CPU

Single Core Score

2007

Passmark CPU

Multi Core Score

3949

Compared to Other CPU

Geekbench 6 Single Core

Core i3-10105T

1270 +6.9%

Core i3-4370

1227 +3.3%

Core i3-7101TE

1188

Xeon E3-1226 v3

1161 -2.3%

Core i3-8130U

1123 -5.5%

Geekbench 6 Multi Core

Core i5-6440HQ

2868 +21.1%

Xeon E3-1245 v2

2578 +8.9%

Core i3-7101TE

2368

Core i3-10110U

2116 -10.6%

Core i5-7267U

1956 -17.4%

Geekbench 5 Single Core

Xeon Gold 6246R

889 +3.6%

Athlon 300GE

874 +1.9%

Core i3-7101TE

858

Core i5-7360U

840 -2.1%

Xeon Gold 6130F

822 -4.2%

Geekbench 5 Multi Core

Core i5-2400

2220 +15%

Ryzen 3 3300U

2063 +6.9%

Core i3-7101TE

1930

Core i3-6300

1775 -8%

Core i7-5650U

1649 -14.6%

Passmark CPU Single Core

Xeon E3-1220 v5

2056 +2.4%

EPYC 7642

2036 +1.4%

Core i3-7101TE

2007

Pentium Gold G5420T

1978 -1.4%

Ryzen 7 3780U

1953 -2.7%

Passmark CPU Multi Core

Athlon PRO 300GE

4398 +11.4%

Core i7-7567U

4152 +5.1%

Core i3-7101TE

3949

PRO A10-8850B

3752 -5%

A12-9800

3567 -9.7%

Intel Core i3-7101TE