Intel core i3 【all the information】?

What are Intel Core i3 processors and what are their characteristics

Not so long ago, processors were largely judged by raw clock speed, a measure of how many calculations the chip is capable of performing in the span of a second. Today, all processors include multiple cores, which has allowed chip makers like Intel to increase speed by dividing tasks into a series of processing units, which exist on the same chip. Along with software designed to take advantage of multiple cores, these processors can end up doing more intensive work than ever.

Buying a new processor is not as simple as choosing one with the fastest clock speed and a large number of cores. Let's start with a bit of history of what Intel has to offer. The most popular Intel processors belong to the Core "i" series, which is now in its eighth generation with the current code name of Coffee Lake. Core i is a successor to the Core 2 processor introduced in 2006, the “i” series is divided into three categories that can generally be classified as good, better and better.

The names , Intel Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, and Core i9 do not mean how many processing cores each has, but is simply a designation that classifies these processors based on their performance. This classification places the Core i3 as the little brother of this new family, that is, it is the lowest-performance models.

The Intel Core i3 debuted first in distant 2010 with the code name Clarkdale and the Nehalem architecture, manufactured at 45nm. Since then, Core i3 processors have been dual-core, four-thread processing models thanks to Intel's hyper-threading technology that handles two threads on each physical core. This has changed with the arrival of the eighth generation, making the Core i3 become quad-core and four-thread processors since they now do not have hyper-threading. These processors have traditionally had a TDP between 35W and 73W, as well as an amount of L2 cache that has varied from 3MB to 4MB.

Core i3 processors arrived with initial clock speeds of 2.4 GHz that have been increased to 4 GHz in recent years. Although the Intel Core i3 is lower than its brothers in gross power, it has a lower power consumption, making it the most suitable processors for very compact and low-cost systems in which you do not want to compromise on good performance..

The eighth generation of Intel processors is in full swing. These processors were officially launched in October 2017 under the code name 'Coffee Lake', these are the CPUs that power almost all the new PCs you can buy today. There's a smaller subset that uses AMD's Ryzen CPUs, but for the most part, Intel pretty much dominates the situation regarding processors.

What is Intel hyper-threading

Hyper-threading technology is Intel's simultaneous multi-process implementation (SMT), it is used to improve the parallelization of calculations, that is, to be able to perform multiple tasks at the same time, on x86 microprocessors. It first appeared in February 2002 on Xeon server processors and in November 2002 on Pentium 4 desktop CPUs. Later, Intel included this technology in Itanium, Atom and Core 'i' series CPUs, among others.

For each physically present processor core, the operating system targets two virtual (logical) cores and shares the workload with each other when possible. The main function of hyper-threading is to increase the number of independent instructions in the pipeline; leverages superscalar architecture, in which multiple instructions operate on separate data in parallel. With HTT, a physical core appears as two processors in the operating system, allowing the simultaneous programming of two processes per core. Also, two or more processes can use the same resources: if the resources for one process are not available, then another process can continue if its resources are available.

In addition to requiring simultaneous multithreading support (SMT) in the operating system, hyper-threading can be used appropriately only with an operating system specifically optimized for it. Additionally, Intel recommends that hyper-threading be disabled when using operating systems that are unaware of this hardware feature.

Intel Coffee Lake, the most advanced Intel architecture

Coffee Lake is the manufacturing code name given to all 8th generation Intel processors, these are the company's most advanced processors, although the 9th generation is in the doldrums and may have already been announced when you read this. Coffee Lake includes the Core brand, as well as entry-level Pentium processors that we talked about in another article. The latter only tend to be found on very basic systems that are not equipped for gaming, so for the remainder of this article, we will focus only on Core processors.

Skylake is the name of the underlying microarchitecture used by Intel's 7th generation of desktop processors, Kaby Lake, and even the current eighth generation, Coffee Lake. It is also configured to form the basis for Intel's next set of processors, currently codenamed Cannon Lake. So technically we've been using 'Skylake' chips for the past three years and will continue to do so for at least one other.

This is largely due to Intel abandoning its "tick-tock" upgrade model, where one year "tick" represented a reduction in nanometers, and one year "tock" introduced a new micro-architecture. In fact, the last 'tock' was the initial Skylake presentation. Now, we're supposed to be in a 'process, architecture, optimization' model, but all we've had are optimizations because the next process, or the nanometer reduction, was delayed.

In fact, the aforementioned Cannon Lake processors were originally meant to come after Skylake as a new 10nm family. Instead, we have Kaby Lake (14nm +), and now Coffee Lake (14nm ++), with Cannon Lake still to make an appearance.

We recommend reading our post on Intel Core i3 8100 vs i3 8350K vs AMD Ryzen 3 1200 vs AMD Ryzen 1300X (Comparative)

The easiest way to find out if a Core CPU is in the Coffee Lake family is to take a look at its model number. If it's part of the Intel 8000 family, for example Intel Core i5-8400 or Intel Core i7-8700K, then you're in Coffee Lake territory.

Coffee Lake CPUs use a 14 nanometer (nm) manufacturing process. This refers to the size of the individual transistors in a processor. The smaller they are, the more you can fit into a single piece of silicon, resulting in better performance than chips with larger transistors, and therefore less.

Technically, Intel is a bit behind here, as AMD has already switched to using a 12nm process for its new second-generation Ryzen + CPUs. Intel, on the other hand, has chosen to follow the same 14nm manufacturing process as the last three generations of processor for Coffee Lake, although it uses a process that is 'improved' and more efficient than its previous 14nm Broadwell, Skylake, and Kaby Lake. To use the official language, technically it's called 14nm ++.

However, Coffee Lake's most important is not the number of transistors it has, it's the number of cores that come with each CPU. While previous Intel Core i3 processors only had two cores at their disposal, the Coffee Lake Intel Core i3 CPUs now come with four cores. The end result is a massive performance boost across the board, especially at the lower end of Intel's Core family, without too much of a price increase, offering great value for money against AMD's always competitive Ryzen CPUs.

Graphics built into Coffee Lake chips enable compatibility with DP 1.2 to HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2 connectivity. Coffee Lake natively supports DDR4-2666 MHz memory in dual channel mode when used with Xeon, Core i5, and i7 CPUs, DDR4-2400 MHz memory in dual channel mode when used with Celeron, Pentium, and Intel CPUs Core i3, and LPDDR3-2133 MHz memory when used with mobile CPUs. Intel is updating the nomenclature of integrated graphics from HD to UHD, indicating that silicon is suitable for 4K playback and processing.

These new integrated graphics cores are not an advance in terms of power, but it has been confirmed that the new chips come with HDCP 2.2 support as standard for DP1.2a, eliminating the need for an external LSPCON for this feature. However, apart from this display controller, it appears that these new UHD iGPUs are architecturally the same as their HD predecessors.

The Intel Coffee Lake processors, including of course the Intel Core i3 that we are dealing with in this article, work with the motherboards equipped with the set of 300 series chipsets. These processors do not work with the motherboards with 200 series chipsets. and 100, something that has been very controversial based on the same LGA 1151 socket. Intel has justified this with the fact that the arrangement of the pins is slightly different in the case of Coffee Lake, something that would make them not physically compatible with the previous ones. motherboards.

The Z370 chipset is the current top of the range for these processors, which was released alongside the first Coffee Lake CPUs in October 2017, it was the only officially supported chipset for these core CPUs. When the full line of CPUs were revealed in April 2018, it was accompanied by low-end chipsets for home and business users, including the H370, B360, and H310. The Z370 chipset will soon be replaced by the new Z390, which is expected to include some new features related to connectivity, such as a greater number of USB 3.1 ports.

H310 ($ 55– $ 85) B360 ($ 68– $ 136) H370 ($ 85– $ 140) Z370 ($ 110– $ 250)

Current models of Intel Core i3 processors

The current Intel Core i3 processors have undergone a number of improvements compared to the previous generation, known as Kaby Lake. The most important improvements in this new generation Core i3 are the following:

Higher core to quad core count hence Core i3 is now a brand of quad core L3 cache boost according to the number of threads Higher clock speeds up to 4 GHz Higher iGPU clock speed by 50 MHz and renamed to UHD (Ultra High Definition) 300 series chipset in LGA 1151 second socket revision

The following tables summarize the most important features of current Core i3 processors:

Current Intel Core i3 processors for desktop
	Cores	Threads	Frequency	L3 cache	iGPU	TDP
Intel Core i3 8350K	4	4	4	8	Intel UHD 630	91
Intel Core i3 8300	4	4	3.7	8	Intel UHD 630	62
Intel Core i3 8300T	4	4	3.2	8	Intel UHD 630	35
Intel Core i3 8100	4	4	3.6	6	Intel UHD 630	65
Intel Core i3 8100T	4	4	3.1	6	Intel UHD 630	35

Current Intel Core i3 processors for notebooks
	Cores	Threads	Frequency	L3 cache	iGPU	TDP
Intel Core i3 8109U	two	4	3 / 3.6 GHz	4	Iris Plus 655	28
Intel Core i3 8100H	4	4	3 GHz	6	Intel UHD 630	Four. Five

Broadly speaking, we can say that the current Intel Core i3 processors are what the Core i5 of the previous generations were, since the number of cores and the L3 cache that these had were reached. Intel Core i3 8350K is the most powerful model today, with a speed of 4 GHz and unlocked multiplier for overclocking. This means that the user will be able to increase even more his clock speed to obtain a better performance in all kinds of tasks. These overclockable processors are those that include the suffix "K"

On the other hand, the suffix "T" designates the models with low energy consumption, these stand out for presenting a lower TDP, something that makes them ideal for use in very compact equipment. With even lower power consumption we have the “U” models, which are used in ultrabooks, very thin laptops and that cannot dissipate a large amount of heat.

As for the integrated graphics, all of them have the Intel UHD 630, capable of decoding 4K video at 60 FPS, making them excellent for multimedia. The Intel Core i3 8109U model is the only one that has the Iris Plus 655 graphics, which are more powerful and perform better in video games.

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