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Core i7-8700 vs i3-9100


Description
Both models i7-8700 and i3-9100 are based on Coffee Lake architecture.

Coffee Lake is the second refinement of Intel’s 14nm (Tri-Gate) technology. While it uses LGA1151 socket, it is incompatible with previous generations due to electrical changes in socket’s pins so these CPUs require Z370 chipset. This kind of generation introduced more cores in every range to compete with new AMD’s architecture. Coffee Lake uses DDR4 memory at 2400MHz for i3 and at 2666MHz for i5, i7 CPUs plus iGPU frequency has been increased 50MHz with respect to previous generation.

Using the multithread performance as a reference, the i7-8700 gets a score of 389 k points while the i3-9100 gets 229.2 k points.

Summarizing, the i7-8700 is 1.7 times faster than the i3-9100. To get a proper comparison between both models, take a look to the data shown below.

Specs
CPUID
906ea
906eb
Core
Coffee Lake-S
Coffee Lake-S
Architecture
Base frecuency
3.2 GHz
3.6 GHz
Boost frecuency
4.6 GHz
4.2 GHz
Socket
LGA 1151
LGA 1151
Cores/Threads
6/12
4/4
TDP
65 W
65 W
Cache L1 (d+i)
6x32+6x32 kB
4x32+4x32 kB
Cache L2
6x256 kB
4x256 kB
Cache L3
12288 kB
6144 kB
Date
October 2017
April 2019
Mean monothread perf.
75.01k points
66.74k points
Mean multithread perf.
388.95k points
229.2k points

Non-optimized benchmark
The benchmark in Mode 0 (FPU) measures cpu performance with non-optimized software. It uses the basic µinstructions from the i386 architecture with the i387 floating point unit. This mode is compatible with all CPUs so it's practical to compare very different CPUs
Monothread
i7-8700
i3-9100
Test#1 (Integers)
4.48k
4.3k (x0.96)
Test#2 (FP)
18.31k
17.79k (x0.97)
Test#3 (Generic, ZIP)
5.88k
5.58k (x0.95)
Test#1 (Memory)
13.45k
8.86k (x0.66)
TOTAL
42.12k
36.53k (x0.87)

Multithread

i7-8700

i3-9100
Test#1 (Integers)
27.35k
15.99k (x0.58)
Test#2 (FP)
124.94k
66.31k (x0.53)
Test#3 (Generic, ZIP)
43.23k
20.75k (x0.48)
Test#1 (Memory)
7.08k
4.44k (x0.63)
TOTAL
202.61k
107.49k (x0.53)

SSE3 optimized benchmark
The benchmark in mode I (SSE) is optimized for the use of SIMD instructions with 128 bits register and the SSE set up to version 3. Nearly every modern CPU has support for this mode.
Monothread
i7-8700
i3-9100
Test#1 (Integers)
16.45k
15.53k (x0.94)
Test#2 (FP)
23.74k
22.21k (x0.94)
Test#3 (Generic, ZIP)
6.24k
5.79k (x0.93)
Test#1 (Memory)
13.43k
8.31k (x0.62)
TOTAL
59.86k
51.84k (x0.87)

Multithread

i7-8700

i3-9100
Test#1 (Integers)
100.94k
58.56k (x0.58)
Test#2 (FP)
159.09k
86.17k (x0.54)
Test#3 (Generic, ZIP)
43.61k
22.4k (x0.51)
Test#1 (Memory)
6.59k
4.55k (x0.69)
TOTAL
310.23k
171.69k (x0.55)

AVX optimized benchmark
The benchmark in mode II (AVX) is optimized to used 256 bits registers beside the first version of the Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX). The first AVX compatible CPU was released in 2011.
Monothread
i7-8700
i3-9100
Test#1 (Integers)
16.57k
14.81k (x0.89)
Test#2 (FP)
25.52k
22.15k (x0.87)
Test#3 (Generic, ZIP)
6.01k
5.42k (x0.9)
Test#1 (Memory)
12.82k
4.8k (x0.37)
TOTAL
60.92k
47.17k (x0.77)

Multithread

i7-8700

i3-9100
Test#1 (Integers)
101.85k
52.08k (x0.51)
Test#2 (FP)
170.31k
87.45k (x0.51)
Test#3 (Generic, ZIP)
43.12k
20.98k (x0.49)
Test#1 (Memory)
7.11k
4.24k (x0.6)
TOTAL
322.39k
164.75k (x0.51)

AVX2 optimized benchmark
The benchmark in mode III (AVX2), like AVX1, is optimized to used 256 bits registers beside the second version of the Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX). The first AVX2 compatible CPU was released in 2013.
Monothread
i7-8700
i3-9100
Test#1 (Integers)
29.25k
28.03k (x0.96)
Test#2 (FP)
25.98k
24.5k (x0.94)
Test#3 (Generic, ZIP)
6.05k
5.73k (x0.95)
Test#1 (Memory)
13.74k
8.48k (x0.62)
TOTAL
75.01k
66.74k (x0.89)

Multithread

i7-8700

i3-9100
Test#1 (Integers)
182.56k
107.5k (x0.59)
Test#2 (FP)
159.9k
95.11k (x0.59)
Test#3 (Generic, ZIP)
38.18k
22.02k (x0.58)
Test#1 (Memory)
8.31k
4.57k (x0.55)
TOTAL
388.95k
229.2k (x0.59)

Performance/W
i7-8700
i3-9100
Test#1 (Integers)
2809 points/W
1654 points/W
Test#2 (FP)
2460 points/W
1463 points/W
Test#3 (Generic, ZIP)
587 points/W
339 points/W
Test#1 (Memory)
128 points/W
70 points/W
TOTAL
5984 points/W
3526 points/W

Performance/GHz
i7-8700
i3-9100
Test#1 (Integers)
6358 points/GHz
6675 points/GHz
Test#2 (FP)
5647 points/GHz
5833 points/GHz
Test#3 (Generic, ZIP)
1316 points/GHz
1365 points/GHz
Test#1 (Memory)
2986 points/GHz
2018 points/GHz
TOTAL
16307 points/GHz
15891 points/GHz

Monothread performance graph
Monothread performance graphics gives the performance vs time. They are useful to measure the time it takes to the CPU to reach the maximum performance.

Usually, CPU's performance will be steady during these tests but if it has a slow frequency strategy, the first samples will show a lower score.


Test#1 (Integers) [points vs time]

grafica bm.hardlimit.com


Test#2 (FP) [points vs time]

grafica bm.hardlimit.com


Test#3 (Generic, ZIP) [points vs time]

grafica bm.hardlimit.com


Test#1 (Memory) [points vs time]

grafica bm.hardlimit.com

Multithread performance graph
Multithread graphs measure the performance against a heavy load during certain time.

If CPU's TDP doesn't limit the frequency and the machine is properly cooled, performance should remain steady vs time. Otherwise, the performance score will oscillate or decrease over time.


Test#1 (Integers) [points vs time]

grafica bm.hardlimit.com


Test#2 (FP) [points vs time]

grafica bm.hardlimit.com


Test#3 (Generic, ZIP) [points vs time]

grafica bm.hardlimit.com


Test#1 (Memory) [points vs time]

grafica bm.hardlimit.com

Hardlimit Benchmark Central - Ver. 3.11.4