While we here at AnandTech tend to be focused at the high-end of Intel's Core CPU product stacks, the company has a far more comprehensive lineup than we typically have the time to take a look at. Among these are a significant number of vanilla, non-K series chips. These parts typically offer a better balance of performance, power consumption, and efficiency at every level.
This is also where you'll find Intel's cheapest parts– which don't have enthusiast variations – the Core i3 series. Aimed at the entry-level market, the i3 parts are built around four Performance (P) cores, dropping the efficiency cores in exchange for offering entry-level users a cheaper alternative for non-critical and less demanding tasks.
For this generation Intel technically only offers a single i3 tier, the i3-13100, which is further broken up into three configurations: the base version, the 35W TDP sion (i3-13100T), and finally a version without working integrated graphics, the i3-13100F. Today we're taking a look at the latter of those chips, which at an MSRP of $109 is the lowest priced chip in the 13th generation Core lineup, making it the true entry-level part for this generation.
As the cheapest of Intel's 13th generation Core series SKUs, is there any real value to be found? And does the i3-13100F deliver enough performance to justify it to users on a budget? Today we're digging in to see if the Core i3-13100F does enough to claim the quad-core top crown, and determine how it compares to the rest of Intel and AMD's entry to mid-range offerings.
