The Intel Core i3-12300 Review: Quad-Core Alder Lake Shines
by Gavin Bonshor on March 3, 2022 8:30 AM ESTIntel Core i3-12300 Performance: DDR5 vs DDR4
Intel’s 12th generation processors from the top of the stack, including the flagship Core i9-12900K) and the more affordable and entry-level offerings such as the Core i3-12300, allow users to build a new system with the latest technologies available. One of the main elements that make Intel’s Alder Lake processors flexible for users building a new system is that it includes support for both DDR5 and DDR4 memory. It’s no secret that DDR5 memory costs (far) more than the already established DDR4 counterparts. One element to this includes an early adopter’s fee. Having the latest and greatest technology comes at a price premium.
The reason why we have opted to test the difference in performance between DDR5 and DDR4 memory with the Core i3-12300 is simply down to the price point. While users will most likely be looking to use DDR5 with the performance SKUs such as the Core i9-12900K, Core i7-12700K, and Core i5-12600K, users building a new system with the Core i3-12300 are more likely to go down a more affordable route. This includes using DDR4 memory, which is inherently cheaper than DDR5 and opting for a cheaper motherboard such as an H670, B660, or H610 option. Such systems do give up some performance versus what the i3-12300 can do at its peak, but in return it can bring costs down signfiicantly.
Traditionally we test our memory settings at JEDEC specifications. JEDEC is the standards body that determines the requirements for each memory standard. In the case of Intel's Alder Lake, the Core i3 supports both DDR5 and DDR4 memory. Below are the memory settings we used for our DDR5 versus DDR4 testing:
- DDR4-3200 CL22
- DDR5-4800(B) CL40
CPU Performance: DDR5 versus DDR4
In our computational benchmarks, there wasn't much difference between DDR5-4800 CL40 and DDR4-3200 CL22 when using the Core i3-12300. The biggest difference came in our WinRAR benchmark which is heavily reliant on memory to increase performance; the DDR5 performed around 21% better than DDR4 in this scenario.
Gaming Performance: DDR5 versus DDR4
On the whole, DDR5 does perform better in our gaming tests, but not enough to make it a 'must have' in comparison to DDR4 memory. The gains overall are marginal for the most part, with DDR5 offering around 3-7 more frames per second over DDR4 memory, depending on the titles game engine optimization.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
140 Comments
View All Comments
Calin - Thursday, March 3, 2022 - link
Last page:"Intel has rated the i3-12300 at base frequencies with a TDP of 60 W and a 69 W TDP when at turbo clock speeds." - the TDP was mentioned in the first page as 89W (basically a tie to the 88W of AMD).
"Due to AMD's Zen architectures, Intel has been on the ropes in both performance and value for a while." - Intel suffered a lot from their inability to improve their lithography, they could have been competitive in cost, performance and power use with better lithography
" One of AMD's most cost-effective processors remains the Ryzen 5 5600X, with six cores, eight threads" - it has 12 threads.
All in all, AMD still make sense in an "upgrade only the processor" scenario - though that could be a niche within a niche. And, apparently, the greatest competition the i3-12300 with DDR5 has is from the i3-12300 with DDR4 (or maybe an i5 with DDR4).
Wereweeb - Thursday, March 3, 2022 - link
Intel's dies are massive and entirely fabbed in Intel 7. They're only competing in cost because Intel is deliberately choosing to sacrifice their famous "Intel margins" to get back into the market.Failing to do that might've meant inactive fabs, and if fabs aren't making money they're losing money (Since new fabs are so expensive and there's a definite time frame where they can recuperate the investments into cutting edge tooling, after which wafer prices will tend to fall)
This is Intel at it's most desperate yet, and I'm loving it.
Calin - Friday, March 4, 2022 - link
Intel still reports very high "Gross Margins". How much other activities (cough OEM bribes cough) eat into this might not be truly evident.As for "Failing to do that might've meant inactive fabs, and if fabs aren't making money they're losing money"...
AMD simply can not produce enough - so if Intel stopped fabrication of those inferior processors (of the last at least couple of years), prices would have exploded.
While I don't condone the US government saving banks involved in the sub-prime mortgage crisis, at this moment at least Intel truly is too big to fail.
Lbibass - Thursday, March 3, 2022 - link
In my opinion, running both of these CPUs with JDEC standard memory is an incredibly stupid idea that makes this review significantly less useful. DDR4 3600cl18 or 3200cl16 are super affordable. DDR5 is not affordable right now, but purchasing DDR5 with similar latencies (timing in terms of ns, not just CAS latency) would result in a much more effective review.TheinsanegamerN - Thursday, March 3, 2022 - link
So where is this ddr5 that has equivalent latency? Also no matter which ddr4 kit is used the peanut gallery will complain it isn’t the RIGHT kitAlB80 - Thursday, March 3, 2022 - link
Imho, running both of these CPUs with XMP profile is an incredibly stupid idea for review.CPU, MB and stick makers give guarantee only for JEDEC profiles.
Wereweeb - Thursday, March 3, 2022 - link
If you mean warranty, how are they going to prove that you were running it with XMP on?AlB80 - Saturday, March 5, 2022 - link
Guarantee of stable operation. XMP is always OC.Also all XMP sticks have very low JEDEC profiles.
Oxford Guy - Sunday, March 6, 2022 - link
If JEDEC’s actual mission is stability, ECC should have been required for many many years now.Oxford Guy - Sunday, March 6, 2022 - link
The Apple Lisa bad ECC. That was 1983 tech. I am less than impressed with jEDEC and its alleged concern with stability.