The top 5 best budget CPUs under $100 in 2020 (Updated)

Few months ago i uploaded a blog on the best 5 CPUs under $100 but due to the pandemic the prices increased so much that the older list is not not good now so i am making this newer updated blog to tell you about the best CPUs under $100 in November 2020.

I will be putting them in the order of cheapest to most expensive. The 5 Processors that I have chosen will provide the best value for the price. The following CPUs will  have atleast 4 logical cores/Threads, average TDP, good ratings and worth at price.

I won't discriminate between against the past generation CPUs, dual core CPUs and companies.

1. Intel Core i5 3470S

Firstly here comes the cheapest of the all, at only $39 the Core i5 3470S.

I already made a blog on this CPU, so check it out but for a quick recap this CPU was mostly similar to the i5 3470 which had same number cores, same lithography process, turbo speed Clock, equal L3 cache, same microarchitecture, etc but the i5 3470 had more base Clock (3.20 GHz) than i5 3470S (2.90 GHz). So why was this CPU even need? That was because it had a lower TDP of 65W as compared to 77W of 3470. This means that less heat is produced in the i5 3470S.

PROCESSOR	CORE I5 3470S
CORES	4
THREADS	4
HT	YES
BASE CLOCK	2.90 GHz
TURBO BOOST CLOCK	3.60 GHz
UNLOCKED	NO
MICROARCHITECTURE	Ivy Bridge
LITHOGRAPHY PROCESS	22nm
TDP	65W
L3 CACHE	6MB
SOCKET	LGA1155
BUS SPEED	5 GT/s
PCIE SUPPORT	Upto 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes
MEMORY	Upto 32GB
MEMORY SPEED	Upto 1600 MHz
MEMORY BANDWIDTH	25.6 GB/s
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS	Intel HD 2500
GRAPHICS BASE CLOCK	650 MHz
DYNAMIC GRAPHICS FREQUENCY	1.1 GHz
LAUNCH DATE	2 June, 2012
LAUNCH PRICE	$184

This CPU is a great choice for budget gamers as the 4 cores will handle all medium spec and some AAA titles. Also for some comparison it performs near about a Ryzen 3 1200. As it is pretty much same as a Ryzen 3 1200 in most of tasks and also is a bit cheaper, you can pair it with a Radeon RX 570 and play on High 1080p settings. It can do your normal editing work and a little bit streaming.

Here's the link to buy it: Intel Core i5-3470S Quad-Core Processor 2.9 Ghz 6 MB Cache LGA 1155

2. AMD Athlon 3000G

The Athlon 3000G from AMD costs $49 and it is a dual core APU that comes with integrated Radeon Vega 3 graphics. The CPU is based on the ZEN microarchitecture and processed on 14nm Lithography process. The APU can be easily overclocked to 3.9GHz with the Vega 3 graphics to 1650MHz.

It has a TDP of 35W and L3 cache of 4MB. It can be paired with any AM4 socket motherboard (except the 500 series chipset and above). It can support upto 32GB 2667 MHz RAM.

Processor	Athlon 3000G
Cores/Threads	2/4
Microarchitecture	ZEN
Lithography	14nm process
Base Clock	3.5 GHz
Boost Clock	Upto 3.9 GHz
TDP	35W
L3 cache	4MB
Socket	AM4
PCIe version	PCIe 3.0
Max memory frequency	2667 MHz
Integrated graphics	Radeon Vega 3
Graphics frequency	Upto 1650 MHz
Graphical cores	3
Current price	$49

The CPU is really good as most of the better CPUs are unavailable currently. The 2 cores are just okay to handle normal games and some AAA titles and as we are going to pair it with a discrete GPU then just disable the Vega 3 graphics. Yes, you can do some light video editing, streaming, etc. 

Buying Link: AMD Athlon 3000G 2-Core, 4-Thread Unlocked Desktop Processor with Radeon Graphics

3. Intel Pentium G6400 

At third here comes the dual core $64 Pentium G6400 from Intel. It is dual core CPU with HT which is based on the 10th generation Comet Lake microarchitecture and fabricated on 14nm lithography process.

It has a Clock Speed of 4.0 GHz with no turbo or boost frequency and a TDP of 55W. It has a 4MB L3 cache and supports the LGA1200 socket. It supports 128 GB 2666 MHz memory with maximum memory bandwidth of 41.6 GB/s.

PROCESSOR	Pentium g6400
CORES	2
THREADS	4
HT	YES
BASE CLOCK	4.00 GHz
UNLOCKED	NO
MICROARCHITECTURE	Comet Lake
LITHOGRAPHY PROCESS	14nm
TDP	58W
L3 CACHE	4MB
SOCKET	LGA1200
BUS SPEED	8 GT/s
PCIE SUPPORT	Upto 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes
MEMORY	Upto 128GB
MEMORY SPEED	Upto 2666 MHz
MEMORY BANDWIDTH	41.6 GB/s
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS	Intel HD 610
GRAPHICS BASE CLOCK	305 MHz
DYNAMIC GRAPHICS FREQUENCY	1.05 GHz
LAUNCH DATE	February, 2020
LAUNCH PRICE	$64

 It performs somewhat more than Athlon 3000G but also costs more, even though it is a locked CPU at 4.0 GHz, it can still handle most of the daily tasks and even some of the current generation AAA titles. 

Buying Link: Intel Pentium Gold G-6400 Desktop Processor 2 Cores 4.0 GHz LGA1200

4. Ryzen 3 3200G

This list can not be complete without a quad core budget APU, so here is our $99 Ryzen 3 3200G from AMD.

This APU is very familiar to the Ryzen 3 2200G which is unavailable, it is very different from Ryzen 3 2200G as it has better microarchitecture, frequency, etc.

It is a quad core APU with has frequency of upto 4.0 GHz, 4MB L3 cache and 65W TDP. It is based on the ZEN+ microarchitecture and fabricated on 12nm lithography process. It suports upto 8 PCIe 3.0 lanes and AM4 socket motherboards.

PROCESSOR	Ryzen 3 3200G
CORES	4
THREADS	4
HT	NO
BASE CLOCK	3.60 GHz
TURBO BOOST CLOCK	4.0 GHz
UNLOCKED	YES
MICROARCHITECTURE	ZEN+
LITHOGRAPHY PROCESS	12nm
TDP	65W
L3 CACHE	6MB
SOCKET	AM4
PCIE SUPPORT	Upto 8 PCIe 3.0 lanes
MEMORY	Upto 32GB
MEMORY SPEED	Upto 2933 MHz
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS	Radeon Vega 8
GRAPHICS BASE CLOCK	1250 MHz
Boost GRAPHICS FREQUENCY	1750 MHz
LAUNCH DATE	July, 2019
LAUNCH PRICE	$99

 As it is an APU it has integrated Radeon Vega 8 Graphics with frequency of upto 1750 MHz which has 8 graphical cores and can lay almost every game on low settings. You can even play AAA titles on it, games like CSGO, GTA5, etc can also be played on high settings. It can also stream thus its a great APU.

Buying Link: AMD Ryzen 3 3200G 4-Core Unlocked Desktop Processor with Radeon Graphics

5. Core i3 10100

At last here comes the $99 Core i3 10100 from Intel. It is the most powerful CPU mentioned on this list. I actually didn't liked it when it came but now when the prices have fallen its a good choice for budget gamers and productivity taskers.

It comes with 4 cores and HT and has a Turbo Boost Frequency of 4.30 GHz. It is based on the 10h generation Comet Lake microarchitecture and processed on 14nm process. It has 65W TDP and 6MB L3 cache. It supports LGA1200 socket.

PROCESSOR	Core i3 10100
CORES	4
THREADS	8
HT	YES
BASE CLOCK	3.60 GHz
TURBO BOOST CLOCK	4.30 GHz
UNLOCKED	NO
MICROARCHITECTURE	Comet Lake
LITHOGRAPHY PROCESS	14nm
TDP	65W
L3 CACHE	6MB
SOCKET	LGA1200
PCIE SUPPORT	Upto 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes
MEMORY	Upto 128 GB
MEMORY SPEED	Upto 2666 MHz
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS	Intel UHD 630
GRAPHICS BASE CLOCK	350 MHz
DYNAMIC GRAPHICS FREQUENCY	1.1 GHz
LAUNCH DATE	February, 2020
LAUNCH PRICE	$122

 This CPU performs very similar (a little bit better) to Ryzen 3 3100 in gaming. It can handle even a RTX 2060 SUPER easily at 1080p resolution and can stream too.

It is a great choice for anyone under $100.

Buying Link: 

Intel Core i3-10100 Desktop Processor 4 Cores up to 4.3 GHz  LGA1200