$100 CPU Shootout: Comparing the Ryzen 5 5500, Core i3-14100F, & Core i3-12100F
Key takeaways
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- Although AMD and Intel have mostly abandoned the sub-$150 price point with newer generations, it s still a popular segment among budget builders.
- This segment has only become more important over the past six months, as well.
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(Image credit: Tom's Hardware) Jump to: Specs and Features Gaming Performance Productivity Performance Power and Efficiency Pricing and Platform Considerations Choosing a Winner Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 10 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter If you want to buy a CPU for $100 today, you have three options. There s AMD s Ryzen 5 5500 at $80, alongside Intel s Core i3-12100F at $90 and Core i3-14100F at a clean $100. Of course, you can go back in time to pick up something like the Core i7-6700 or Ryzen 3 4100, but if you re after the best CPU for gaming, those chips won t cut it. I wanted to see how much performance you could get out of a chip for $100, brand new, without mucking around eBay or dusting off DDR3 DIMMs.
Although AMD and Intel have mostly abandoned the sub-$150 price point with newer generations, it s still a popular segment among budget builders. That s evidenced by the fact that the Ryzen 5 5500 is (and has been for months) the second best-selling CPU on Amazon. And despite being much lower in the rankings, Intel s Core i3-12100F ranks higher on that chart than the newer Core Ultra 5 250K Plus.