Intel BX80684I38350K 8th Gen Core i3-8350K Processor

I set out to make a "nearly" silent PC, in that I didn't want to go fanless, but I wanted it to have the fans running so slowly (or off) during normal operation that it was silent, and it was only during intensive activities that the fans would ramp up. And I wanted a fair amount of horse-power too so that I could effortlessly do my engineering work (mechanical part creation and PCB layout work mostly). The key to doing that is getting both a CPU and GPU that while high horsepower are also very efficient and then cooling them with well designed heatsinks that don't take a large amount of airflow and fans that run quietly and allow for very granular control at low RPMs. For the CPU I'm glad I chose the Intel Core i3-8100. 14 nm technology allows them to have a 4-core processor running at 3.6 GHz but still only generates 65 watts. I don't think there's a better combination of horsepower and efficiency on the market right now. It's a real winner and when paired with the GTX 1050 Ti GPU, this computer rocks while not generating a lot of heat. Measured from the wall outlet, it's usually below 100 watts total. But it is also quiet. Pairing this CPU with a good CPU cooler (Cooler Master Hyper T2), a good fan (Noctua NF-B9) and powering it with an EVGA 650 GQ PSU in "eco mode" I have built a truly silent PC in all but the most intensive work situations. Using my pretty sensitive dB meter, I can not detect it being on. I have to do the test in the middle of the night, because even cars going by outside are detectable. But at 3 AM, it reads 21.1 dB with the PC off and 21.1 dB with it on. My stomach gurgles and the stupid thing goes up to 24 dB or I click the mouse and it goes up to over 30 dB so trust me when I say the dB meter is sensitive enough to detect pretty small readings. To be fair and give a caveat, to keep it silent, the fans are running at 13% on the rear of the case, 10% on the CPU and 5% on the GPU. But that's just enough air flow with the good heatsinks that in normal operation the system temp stays around 40 and both the CPU temp and GPU temps stay in the mid 50's. Build details: Intel Core i3-8100 CPU MSI Z370M Mortar motherboard Gigabyte GTX 1050 Ti "Windforce OC" GPU (Note: Gigabyte is the only vendor with a good fan controller on their 1050 GPU. The other companies have junk 2-pin fans, see my review on that product for more details on how I modded it to be more quiet.) 2 of 4 GB DDR4 2400 Kingston Fury DIMMs Samsung 960 EVO M.2 SSD EVGA 650 GQ PSU in eco mode

this is for the I3-8100. let me go ahead and save you the asking trouble, yes, this is a good upgrade from any sandybridge and haswell I3-I5, i came from the i5-2500k, which when the rig was first built was a beast, run any CPU intensive title with easy and load in-game assets like a boss. however, that was 6-5 years ago not now, it would hold up fine but was noticing (in games like battlefield 1 and gta 5) it just wasn't doing what it used to do, so i was gonna upgrade to a kabylake I5-6500 and BOOOOYY let me tell you I'm glad i didn't, i ran into money trouble and couldnt afford to upgrade at the moment so i waited, now even after hearing about the new Coffeelake CPU's i was still skeptical and was headed Down Kabylake lane until i saw the specs and price, wow, an I3 that preforms like an i5 for half the price? i gotta check this out and im glad i did. we put my pc against his I5-6500 build with basically the same specs and it was keeping up with an I5?!?! same frame rate, better temps and same well, everything! and his rig cost $300 more than mine (he needs a better cooler because his processor draws a LOT of heat and power) i was just amazed at the performance that i can get with this thing! anyway here are the specs down below and i hope that little story and comparison helped ( here's the specs) CPU I3-8100(stock fan lol) GPU GTX 1050ti 4gb MOBO Gigabyte Z370 HD3 RAM Corsair VengenceLPX DDR4 2400mhz PSU Rosewill 650 80+ARC CASE Rosewill Tyrfing SSHD Seagate FireCuda 2TB SSHD

This little Quad Core CPU Is A BEAST!!, I have been putting it through it's paces (on realworld apps) , I opened literally 8 tabs, 3 with video youtube, netflix,, and video player, without a hiccup, Using a MSI ATX Z370-A PRO Motherboard, and a ADATA XPG SX6000 PCIe 128GB 3D NAND PCIe Gen3x2 M.2 2280 SSD, GSkill Ripsaw DDR4 2133 MHz overclocked and stable to 2666 MHz it never went over 95F and had VERY LITTLE lag, So if you are a person who just wants a fast and stable future-proof computer don't hesitate it is really nice and pleasant to play with as well as doing gaming, if you paired this with a pretty decent GPU you can probably play 90% of modern triple "A" titles. Also makes a great CPU for a very good HTPC build....

Good price and very fast for basic user. I'm using stock heat sink and it's temps are reasonable. Its max fsb is 2166, so right now just buy whatever RAM is cheapest at the size you need. For Linux users, kernel 4.16 is the first version that fully support this, so make sure your distro has at least that. I had problems with centos and they won't have an upgrade version that supports 8 or 9 gen until mid- summer. Redhat 8, fedora, Ubuntu, mandriva and a bunch of other main stream are ready from install. It's more power than an average user needs for web or word processing. Even the Intel graphics are pretty good for 1080 and 4k. Totally worth the money

Had this in my system with a 1060 and worked like a charm! Was able to play ever game I wanted to with great FPS as well as VR! However, I wouldn’t recommend this if your doing something like streaming or video editing; in that case, get an i5 or i7 or the ryzen equivalents.

Too good

Recommended for entry level builds! Purchased for my son’s entry level gaming build. Cooled by a Hyper Evo 212 on a MSI Z370 A-Pro, it works flawlessly. I re-purposed a EVGA 970 SSC, along 32GB Trident Z 3200MHz RAM, and was hitting 80-110 FPS on Apex Legends Med/High settings. Fortnite averaged 101 FPS on High as well. 100% load, it stayed at 52 degrees (Celsius), sometimes with spikes to 61 degrees (Celsius) with spotify playing on the background and chrome opened with FB and YT (highest common RAM consumers). Multi-tasked without an issue, transitioning from game to apps/software without freezing or crashes. I’m sure that with lower RAM the goal can similarily be achieved.

This is a great little CPU for budget gaming, just a shame it's not a K chip so you could overclock it. Used in an HTPC mini itx gaming PC for a friend as the living room computer. Paired with an ASROCK motherboard and founders GTX 970, it's capable of playing AAA games of a few years ago at over 60fps at high settings. You'd probably have to scale the settings back a little bit to hit higher FPS if you have a 120 or 144hz monitor, but I don't think you'd hit a CPU bottleneck until you start hitting the GTX 1080 GPU level of performance. At that rate, you should be pairing it with a better CPU anyway. Was comparable to they Ryzen 2200G, but the ryzen prices have likely plummeted making that a better choice for value. Still, a great CPU!