Intel Core i3-10300 Review

Presenting the Core i3-10300! This Desktop processor is a powerhouse in Intel's entry-level series. Launched in 2020, it packs 4 cores and 8 threads. It runs at a base clock speed of 3.7GHz, can accelerate to 4.4GHz, and has a power requirement of 65W, making it an ideal choice for your gaming system. The Core i3-10300 is a product of the advanced Comet Lake 14nm technology and is a part of the distinguished Core i3 series.

And guess what? The Core i3-10300 is the ultimate successor to Intel's previous-gen gaming champion, the Core i3-9300. The Core i3-9300 was based on the legendary Coffee Lake Refresh and 14nm process, and it made its grand entrance into the gaming scene back in 2019. But now, it's time for the Core i3-10300 to take the throne and conquer the gaming world!

The best CPUs are the ones that slay frames at a price that won't make you ragequit. The Core i3-10300 totally wins this game.

This CPU packs 4 cores and 8 threads, the first time this many come in a mainstream package! Plus, it costs about the same as the Ryzen 3 3200G, which only has 4 cores and 4 threads. Talk about a total noob!

Can the Intel Core i3-10300 finally dethrone the king of mainstream CPUs, the Ryzen 3 3200G? It's a maybe. The Core i3-10300 doesn't quite reach the same single-core performance as its rival, but more games are starting to use all those threads, so who cares!

We already went deep into the nitty-gritty details of the Comet Lake chip design in our reviews of the Intel Core i3-10320 and Core i3-10100. If you want to learn more about the Core i3-10300's architecture (which is identical to the Core i3-10100), head over there!

The Core i3-10300 is the more expensive version of the Core i3-10100, and it shows with its higher base and boost clock speeds: 3.7 GHz and 4.4 GHz, respectively. That's a nice boost in speed, but the real game changer is the higher power delivery (PPT). This lets the motherboard pump more juice (up to 142W) to the Core i3-10300 compared to the Core i3-10100's limit of 65W. This extra power allows the Core i3-10300 to crank up the boost clocks even more aggressively, on both single and multiple cores. That means the performance gap between these two CPUs might be bigger than what the specs on paper suggest.

But for most gamers who also do other stuff on their PC besides gaming, the Core i3-10300 is a better overall choice. It offers double the threads compared to the similarly priced Ryzen 3 3200G, and those extra threads come in handy for tasks like editing and encoding videos. The Core i3 chips have always been great for these workloads, and Intel's recent improvements to AVX performance are super impressive.

The high number of threads (over 7!) in the Intel Core i3-10300 makes it a monster for tasks that use all the cores at once (multi-threaded workloads), especially for the price. If you edit a lot of videos or work with giant spreadsheets, the Core i3-10300 will give you a noticeable performance boost.

One of the best things about the Intel Core i3-10300 is that it comes with a free CPU cooler! You can grab the Core i3-10300 for $143 without having to spend extra on cooling.

The Intel Core i3-10300 comes with a basic heatsink cooler, nothing fancy. But it gets the job done for this low-power CPU (TDP of 65W). You won't need a fancy aftermarket cooler unless you want to overclock it.

Don't let the 4 cores fool you, the Intel Core i3-10300 is a surprisingly capable processor! It held its own and felt snappy in our tests. While it fell behind on heavily threaded tasks due to the lower core count, it actually beat some pricier siblings in lightly threaded tasks thanks to its high clock speeds.

The Intel Core i3-10300 is a decent performing chip for $143. The main competitor at this price point is the Ryzen 3 3200G, a 4-core unlocked processor with integrated graphics, which costs $89.

The Intel Core i3-10300 might not get a lot of hype, but it's a solid entry-level option that delivers a good experience for casual users.

If you don't care too much about overclocking and max boost speeds, then the Intel Core i3-10100 is a good option for $122. It also has 4 cores and 8 threads, but with slightly lower clock speeds (3.6GHz base and 4.3GHz boost).

With Core i3, Intel brings new innovation with its new architecture and a 14nm manufacturing process. Similar to Core i3, Core i3 is built for the LGA1200 platform with support for all the latest features like DDR4 RAM, super-fast NVMe SSDs, and Thunderbolt 3 ports.

Can you game on Intel's Core i3 CPU? Absolutely! We got a solid 86% score in our gaming benchmarks.

Looking for an affordable powerhouse CPU for work and play? Look no further than the Core i3-10300!