R3s outcompete i3s, pretty much across the board. They are bested by i5+ for gaming, but not by much. They are competitive with, or beat i5s in productivity.
The top comment on HN for the Anandtech article (at the time of my posting) is about a comparison for a budget machine. They choose an i5-9400, because this includes an iGPU. If you are going for extreme budget, the low-tier Intel chips may win for this reason.