CHEAP CHIPS Has AMD made budget SEXY ?
The new budget champions?
Remember that time just a couple of years back when a quad core CPU was regarded as high end? How far things have come! The new Ryzen 3 3100 and 3300X bring 4-core/8-thread computing to the masses. Along with 10th Generation 4c/8t i3’s, serious multi-threading power will now be found in all but the very cheapest PCs. The bar has been raised.
Zen 2-based Ryzen 3000 processors launched in July 2019, with the range slowly filling out over the following months. Curiously, AMD hadn’t address the low end of the market until now, with discounted Ryzen 2000 series and the Zen+ APUs filling this market segment. That’s all changed with the release of the $175 Ryzen 3 3100 and $205 Ryzen 3 3300X. Straight up, they offer a stunning blend of price and performance.
Introducing the Ryzen 3 3100 and Ryzen 3 3300x
The Ryzen 3 3100 is for now the entry level Zen 2-based model. This means all of the architectural benefits and features from Ryzen CPUs all the way up to the 3950X have trickled down, along with the benefits of the 7nm manufacturing process. The 3100 is a 4-core/8thread CPU that comes with a 3.6GHz base clock and a 3.9GHz boost clock. Its four cores and 16 MB of L3 cache are divided over two core complexes which together make up a single die. It has a 65 W TDP, and also ships with a capable, if not earth shattering Wraith Stealth cooler. It will handle the 65 W 3100 just fine, but won’t give you much in the way of OC headroom. Speaking of overclocking, like all the other Zen 2 processors, it’s got an unlocked multiplier so you’re free to OC with ease, as long as you keep it cool.
The Ryzen 3 3300x is clocked a little higher with a 3.8GHz base clock and a 4.3GHz boost clock. These clocks alone mean the $205 3300X can get very close to the higher end models when presented with lightly threaded loads. It differs from the 3100 in one important way under the hood though. Where the 3100 uses a 2+2 topology (two cores per core complex, or CCX), the 3300X packs all of its cores into one CCX, or 4+0. This means that inter core and cache communication is inherently faster with the 3300X, meaning lower latency and better clock-for-clock performance compared to the 3100. This, along with its higher clocks, means the 3300X should have a decent lead over the 3100, particularly when presented with latency sensitive applications like gaming.
Performance that resets the budget CPU marketplace
The performance on offer from the 3100 and 3300X is nothing short of excellent in this price range. With multi-threaded workloads, the efficiency of the Zen 2 architecture comes to the fore, with both Ryzen 3 models going to toe-to-toe with 8th and 9th generation i5 processors.
When presented with lighter loads, both are still competitive and only fall behind the higher clocked Intel processors, which are
“The Ryzen 3 3300x is clocked a little higher with a 3.8GHz base clock and a 4.3GHz boost clock. These clocks alone mean the $205 3300X can go very close to the higher end models when presented with lightly threaded loads.”
typically much more expensive. Gaming remains a strength of Intel, but at this price you’re not likely to be using a $1,000+ GPU, meaning gaming performance will be GPU-limited, the 3100X and 3300X will not hold you back at all when using an appropriate graphics card.
We also note the 3300X manages to pull ahead of the 3100 by quite some margin in many of our tests. While the higher clock speed explains some of this, it also points to the greater efficiency of the 3300X topology, with its latency advantages coming to the fore.
Power consumption is also very good, with an all core peak of just 61 W for the 3100 and 73W for the 3300X. Not bad at all. Temperatures too were pretty good, but not fantastic given our relatively strong 240mm AIO cooler, with a peak of 69c for the 3100 and 72c for the 3300X. A 3300X under heavy AVX load will stress the Wraith Stealth.
Ideally we’d like to have tested the 10th Generation i3 processors against the Ryzen 3 models, but we weren’t able to source one. Given the recycling of the Skylake architecture though, by testing the 4c/8t Core i7 6700K, we know what kind of performance to expect from the mostly similar i3-10300.
Suprisingly overclockable
We usually don’t gain much when overclocking Ryzen processors and tend to recommend leaving them at stock. The 3300X surprised us though. Our sample was able to hold an all core bench stable overclock at 4.4GHz with 1.3v. Pushing higher than this voltage resulted in instability. Perhaps we’d see better results on a different board with more power options available.
The 3100 was only a little lower than this, with 4.375GHz possible with all cores loaded. Given that the 3100‘s Turbo clock is 3.9GHz, getting close to 4.4 is very nice indeed and represents the biggest all core percentage overclock we have seen with any Ryzen processor to date. We’re excited to see what AMD can do with its Zen 3 processors now that it seems the 7nm process is maturing.
What’s not to like?
Both the Ryzen 3 3100 and 3300X redefine the budget CPU market. The combination of great performance, low price and power efficiency make them easy to recommend, though we’d recommend going for the slightly more expensive 3300X for most users, and particularly for gamers. The only downside is that we’d like to see integrated graphics in this price range, but you’ll have the option for that with the upcoming Zen 2 APUs. Stay tuned for them.
Other than losing out on the core count compared to the more expensive models, the Ryzen 3 models don’t really omit much else. You still get all the I/O features including 24 PCie 4.0 lanes, DDR4-3200 memory support and an unlocked multiplier. Wouldn’t it be nice if Intel gave us an unlocked i3!
They’re a perfect match with a B450 or a B550 motherboard (if you must have PCIe 4.0 support), both of which support overclocking. Speaking of which, finally we can recommend having a go at overclocking a Ryzen CPU. It’s finally worth it! If you are going to tinker with OC though, you may want to invest in better cooling. The Wraith Stealth can best be described as adequate. Even a mid-range air cooler will be vastly superior.
Intel’s i3 CPUs provide competition, but they’re also priced significantly higher. For now the 3100 and particularly the 3300X are the new budget CPU kings.
CHRIS SZEWCZYK
“We usually don’t gain much when overclocking Ryzen processors and tend to recommend leaving them at stock. The 3300X surprised us though. Our sample was able to hold an all core bench stable overclock at 4.4GHz with 1.3v.”
The 3300X and to a lesser extent the 3100 offer tremendous performance that redefines the budget CPU market.