Intel Core i3-8100 Desktop Processor 4 Cores up to 3.6 GHz Turbo Unlocked LGA1151 300 Series 95W

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 CPUMSI Z370M Mortar motherboardGigabyte 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 DIMMsSamsung 960 EVO M.2 SSDEVGA 650 GQ PSU in eco mode

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

I purchased this for a budget gaming PC build and I am pleasantly surprised by the performance. My previous computer was running an old Ivy Bridge i7 mobile CPU and boy does this cheap little processor beat the pants off of that old thing! Absolutely no performance issues thus far but I will be sure to update this review if I encounter some. Installation was a breeze for the processor but I did take a little bit of extra time with the cooling fan but definitely not a detractor. If you are looking for a great starter CPU I really recommend this for a great budget Intel build.

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 4gbMOBO Gigabyte Z370 HD3RAM Corsair VengenceLPX DDR4 2400mhzPSU Rosewill 650 80+ARCCASE Rosewill TyrfingSSHD Seagate FireCuda 2TB SSHD

bought this awhile ago, so i got time with it now. i bought this cpu when my old motherboard went out, as the intel cpu i had didnt match with the new motherboard. for the games i play, this cpu runs perfectly with my current gpu, no bottlenecks, but i havent tested any top tier heavy cpu driven games yet. as i been just been working to long. but i do recommend this cpu for budget gamer. or for a pc build of id say $600-$700 range. anymore better off getting a better intel cpu or ryzen at that point.