In this video I’m taking another look at the Intel Core i3-10100F and answering the big question: is it still the best budget CPU in 2022? This chip has been around since 2020, and it’s gotten a ton of attention for one reason—its $90 price tag. I break down the specs (4 cores/8 threads, no integrated graphics, 3.6GHz base with up to a 4.3GHz boost) and talk about what that actually feels like in real use. The boost clock makes the system feel pretty snappy, even if four cores is definitely getting “low end” for modern games. I also compare it to Intel’s current lineup—specifically the i3-12100. Yeah, the 12100 is faster, but it’s also about $50 more, and the LGA 1700 platform cost adds up fast with pricier, harder-to-find motherboards. From a true budget-builder perspective, I don’t think that extra spend is justified for most people, especially if you’re pairing this with a realistic budget GPU like a GTX 1650. Finally, I show gaming benchmarks with the 10100F + 1650 combo and talk about CPU bottlenecks. In my testing, bottlenecking was minimal (around 5% in the worst cases), with Valorant and Rainbow Six Siege being the main CPU-heavy outliers. The one real “pain” point is Intel’s 2666MHz memory speed cap on this chip, which I still think is a bad move—but it’s not enough to stop me from calling the 10100F the budget king for Intel CPUs at this price.