Intel Core i3 Skylake i3-6098P BOX (BX80662I36098P)

Cheap and cheerful

Until the release of AMD Zen, Intel Core i3 processors remain almost no alternative to low-cost quad-cores (albeit half of the cores are virtual) with the possibility of a subsequent upgrade to a more powerful chip (i5 or i7, including the upcoming 7000 series). If you are building a PC without a discrete graphics card, then the Core i3-6100 with a powerful integrated HD 530 graphics accelerator is the best option. But if you still buy a separate graphics card, then it is wiser to choose the cheaper Core i3-6098P.

Temporary replacement

Unlike previous Intel processors with the “P” suffix, which were completely devoid of integrated graphics, the new Core i3-6098P still has it, albeit a low-power HD 510 (borrowed from Pentium and Celeron, twice as weak as the HD 530). This allows you to do without a discrete graphics card for a short time, for example, in the event of a breakdown and subsequent warranty repair.

Self-sufficient in everything

Otherwise, the Core i3-6098P is in no way inferior to the 6100: the core architecture is the same as Skylake, the memory cache is the same 3 MB, DDR4, DDR3L and unofficially DDR3 memory is supported (it works without problems). Only the frequency is 100 MHz lower (3.6 vs. 3.7 GHz), but this is a negligible difference. As a result, due to its moderate cost, it is the 6098P that is currently the best option for a gaming PC with a low-cost (GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, Radeon RX 460) and even a mainstream graphics card (GTX 1060, RX 470 and 480).