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The Intel Core i3 12100F and Ryzen 5 5500 are two of the most popular budget CPUs. Both are available for under $100, making them significantly cheaper and a perfect choice for budget gamers and first-time PC builders. Intel processors have been the go-to choice for budget gamers for a while, but Ryzen chips have become cheaper now and come with more cores.
Which is the best CPU for budget gaming out of the two? Intel or AMD? That's exactly what we plan to find out in this article.
Note: Some aspects of this article are subjective and solely reflect the writer's opinions.
Intel Core i3 12100F vs Ryzen 5 5500
The Core i3 12100F and Ryzen 5 5500 are two very different CPUs. For starters, one is made by Intel and the other is from AMD. The Ryzen processor has made a name for itself in the last couple of years, but Intel has also made a huge comeback with its 12th-gen CPU. It will be interesting to see who wins the battle. But before we begin with the benchmarks, let's check out the specs.
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Specs
The Intel Core i3 12100F is a 12th Gen processor made on the Alder Lake architecture. The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 is built on the Zen 3 architecture.
Here's the full spec list of the two CPUs:
Synthetic benchmark
Let's put the specs away and see how the two processors perform in heavy benchmarks such as Cinebench, GeekBench, and more.
In single-core benchmarks, the Intel Core 13-12100F is 15.4% faster, while it is 20% slower in multi-core benchmarks on average than the Ryzen 5 5500. The Multi-core performance win for AMD was expected since it has two extra cores, which matters more in gaming and professional applications.
Due to this, you would naturally assume that the Ryzen CPU should outperform Intel significantly, but you would be wrong. That's because Intel has a lead in single-core performance, which matters in gaming significantly.
Gaming performance difference
It's time we check the gaming performance of the two processors and see which is the best in popular games. The FPS numbers you see below are provided by the NJ Tech channel on YouTube.
Note: The GPU used for the gaming benchmarks was AMD RX 6650 XT and the benchmarks were conducted on 1080p.
The result is surprising. The Ryzen 5 5500 has six cores, so it was natural to assume that the AMD CPU could significantly outperform its Intel counterpart, but that didn't happen. The Ryzen processor scored higher FPS in six games but lost in three to Intel.
The reason why this happened is because of the higher single-core performance of the Core i3 chip. In fact, Intel took a huge win in Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
Price
The Intel Core i3 12100F is available for $85, and the Ryzen 5 5500 is priced at $84. They cost the same, but the AMD processor takes the edge in performance, whether gaming or productivity.
Which is the best CPU for budget gaming?
Both Intel Core i3 12100F and Ryzen 5 5500 fought tooth and nail for the crown of the best performance for gaming. However, in the end, the AMD CPU took the win and will continue to do so in the future, thanks to the higher core count.
In the long run, the higher number of cores will be more beneficial to gaming than the higher single-core performance of the Intel processor. The Ryzen CPU would be my choice as well.
