Home > CPU Comparison > Core i7 6700 or Core i3 12100F: what's better?

Intel Core i7 6700 vs i3 12100F

29 out of 100
Intel Core i7 6700
VS
48 out of 100
Intel Core i3 12100F
Intel Core i7 6700
Intel Core i3 12100F

We compared two 4-core desktop CPUs: the 3.4 GHz Intel Core i7 6700 against the 3.3 GHz i3 12100F. On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.

  1. Review
  2. Differences
  3. Performance
  4. Specs
  5. Comments

Review

General overview and comparison of the processors
Single-Core Performance
Performance in single-threaded apps and benchmarks
Multi-Core Performance
Measure performance when all cores are involved
Power Efficiency
The efficiency score of power consumption
The "iGPU" and "Power Efficiency" have a minor impact on the NanoReview Score for desktop CPU.
NanoReview Final Score
Choose your main usage scenario to recalculate the Final Score and see which CPU suits your needs.
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Value for money (Beta)

Global average CPU prices are used by default! For better accuracy, enter your current prices and click “Calculate".
Currency
VS
8.8
(Bad)
Value Index
113.2
(Excellent)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 12100F and 6700
Advantages of Intel Core i7 6700
  • Includes an integrated GPU Intel HD Graphics 530
Advantages of Intel Core i3 12100F
  • Newer - released 6 years and 6 months later
  • Around 42.7 GB/s (125%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • Supports up to 128 GB DDR5-4800 RAM
  • 82% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 2529 vs 1389 points
  • Newer PCI Express version – 5.0
  • Has 4 MB larger L3 cache size
  • More modern manufacturing process – 10 versus 14 nanometers
  • 7% higher Turbo Boost frequency (4.3 GHz vs 4 GHz)

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core i7 6700
vs
Core i3 12100F

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Submit your benchmark results

GeekBench v6

The new version of this benchmark emulates common operations often used in real-world apps
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Core i7 6700
1389
Core i3 12100F +82%
2529
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Core i7 6700
4625
Core i3 12100F +91%
8827
File compression 405 MB/sec 792.9 MB/sec
Clang compilation 32.8 Klines/sec 60.1 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 102.6 pages/sec 204.1 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 137.5 Mpixels/sec 263.7 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 137.9 pages/sec 267.7 pages/sec
Background blur 24.2 images/sec 48.6 images/sec
Photo processing 46.1 images/sec 82.8 images/sec
Ray tracing 6.29 Mpixels/sec 14.4 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 1074 & 1026 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Core i7 6700
2275
Core i3 12100F +51%
3433
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Core i7 6700
8036
Core i3 12100F +74%
13953
Integer math 25.7 GOps/sec 40.8 GOps/sec
Floating point math 15.9 GOps/sec 31.9 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 27M Primes/sec 59M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 14.4M Strings/sec 15.9M Strings/sec
Data encryption 2.7 GBytes/sec 8 GBytes/sec
Data compression 113.5 MBytes/sec 159.7 MBytes/sec
Physics 556 Frames/sec 972 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 7.5B Matrices/sec 10.8B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 14827 & 3972 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Core i7 6700
69.79
Core i3 12100F +53%
106.99

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 4 PPW 7.6 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 71.2 PPW 152.2 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 123.6 PPW 240.6 PPW
Blender / Watt 1.07 PPW 1.84 PPW
These are rough calculations, as most CPUs surpass PL1 TDP wattage even in multicore workloads.

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Intel Core i7 6700
No benchmark results yet
Add
Intel Core i3 12100F
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2025-11-02 (idkez)Cinebench 202485 / 442
Add View all (1)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i7 6700 and i3 12100F

General

Vendor Intel Intel
Released September 1, 2015 January 4, 2022
Type Desktop Desktop
Instruction Set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Skylake Alder Lake
Model number i7-6700 i3-12100F
Integrated GPU HD Graphics 530 No
Successor - Intel Core Ultra 7 265 - Intel Core i3 14100F
Intel CPU rating (#171st place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 4 4
P-Threads 8 8
Base Frequency (P) 3.4 GHz 3.3 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 4 GHz 4.3 GHz
Total
Total Cores 4 4
Total Threads 8 8
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 34x 33x
Bus Bandwidth 8 GT/s -
L1 Cache 64K (per core) 80K (per core)
L2 Cache 256K (per core) 1280K (per core)
L3 Cache 8MB (shared) 12MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Fabrication Process 14 nm 10 nm
TDP (PL1) 65 W 58 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) - 89 W
Socket LGA-1151 LGA-1700
Peak Temperature - 100°C
Desktop CPU ranking (185th and 115th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel HD Graphics 530 -
GPU Boost Clock 1150 MHz -

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR4-2133
- DDR3L-1600		 - DDR5-4800
- DDR4-3200
Max. Memory Size 64 GB 128 GB
Memory Channels 2 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 34.1 GB/s 76.8 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

Official Site Intel Core i7 6700 official page Intel Core i3 12100F official page
PCI Express Version 3.0 5.0
PCI Express Lanes 16 20

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
5 (11.4%)
39 (88.6%)
Total votes: 44

Competitors

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2. Intel Core i3 12100F vs AMD Ryzen 5 5600 (1)
3. Intel Core i3 12100F vs Intel Core i3 13100F
4. Intel Core i3 12100F vs AMD Ryzen 5 5500
5. Intel Core i3 12100F vs AMD Ryzen 5 3600 (1)
6. Intel Core i3 12100F vs Intel Core i3 12100
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Intel Core i3 12100F or i7 6700?
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