Core i3-8100 vs Core i5-8250U

The Core i3-8100 packs 4 cores / 4 threads, matching the Core i5-8250U's 4 cores. Boost clocks reach 3.6 GHz on the Core i3-8100 versus 3.4 GHz on the Core i5-8250U — a 5.7% clock advantage for the Core i3-8100 (base: 3.6 GHz vs 1.6 GHz). The Core i3-8100 uses the Coffee Lake (2017−2019) architecture (14 nm), while the Core i5-8250U uses Kaby Lake Refresh (2017−2019) (14 nm). In PassMark, the Core i3-8100 scores 6,073 against the Core i5-8250U's 6,158 — a 1.4% lead for the Core i5-8250U. Geekbench 6 single-core — the metric most relevant to gaming — records 1,200 vs 1,127, a 6.3% lead for the Core i3-8100 that directly translates to higher frame rates. Both processors carry 6 MB (total) of L3 cache.

The Core i3-8100 uses the LGA1151 socket (PCIe 3.0), while the Core i5-8250U uses BGA1356 (PCIe 3.0) — making them incompatible on the same motherboard. Both support up to DDR4-2400 memory speed. The Core i3-8100 supports up to 64 GB of RAM compared to 32 GB — 66.7% more capacity for professional workloads. Both feature 2-channel memory with ECC support. PCIe lanes: 16 (Core i3-8100) vs 12 (Core i5-8250U) — the Core i3-8100 offers 4 more lanes for additional GPUs or NVMe drives. Chipset compatibility: B360,H310,H370,Z370,Z390 (Core i3-8100) and Kaby Lake-R (Core i5-8250U).

Neither processor supports overclocking. Virtualization support: VT-x, VT-d (Core i3-8100) vs VT-x, VT-d, EPT (Core i5-8250U). Both include integrated graphics — Intel UHD Graphics 630 (Core i3-8100) and UHD Graphics 620 (Core i5-8250U) — useful as a fallback for troubleshooting or display output without a dedicated GPU. Primary use case: Core i3-8100 targets Budget Desktop, Core i5-8250U targets Mainstream Laptop. Direct competitor: Core i5-8250U rivals Ryzen 5 2500U.