Intel Core i3-8020 vs Intel Core i3-8350K

This processor was launched and subsequently cancelled. It cannot be purchased, reviewed, or used in modern systems.

Best for: There is no scenario where you can or should buy the Intel Core i3-8020. Because the processor was cancelled prior to mass distribution, finding a physical chip is virtually impossible outside of rare engineering samples. If you happen to encounter one, it would likely not function correctly on standard consumer motherboards due to potential microcode restrictions. Furthermore, even if it did work, a fixed 3.7 GHz clock speed on a 4-core, 4-thread architecture is drastically outdated by modern standards. Any current generation Ryzen 3 or Intel Core i3 would completely outclass it in every metric, including efficiency, single-core speed, and multi-core throughput. Do not spend money or time trying to acquire this silicon.

A fun overclocking toy in 2017, but the lack of Hyper-Threading and a high 91W TDP make it a poor value compared to even cheap modern chips.

Best for: You should avoid buying the Intel Core i3-8350K unless you are a dedicated overclocking hobbyist looking for a cheap project chip to practice manual tuning, delidding, or extreme cooling on. If you fall into that niche, buying a used 8350K for $20 and pushing it to 5.0 GHz can be incredibly fun and educational. However, for any practical use case—gaming, work, or productivity—this chip is a poor investment. It requires an expensive Z370 or Z390 motherboard to utilize its only feature (overclocking), yet a locked Ryzen 5 3600 on a cheap B450 board will destroy it in every multi-threaded benchmark while using less power. The lack of Hyper-Threading is a fatal flaw that no amount of frequency can fix. Spend your money on modern hardware.