AMD Athlon 3000G
No one calls Christian Guyton cheap, but he is cheap and thus loves this chip!
No one calls Christian Guyton cheap, but he is cheap and thus loves this CPU, the latest budget-priced processor with capable integrated graphics.
Forty five pounds for an unlocked Zenarchitecture processor with integrated graphics? We wondered if AMD was joking when it announced the Athlon 3000G, but no – here it is, in all its super-affordable glory. Releasing a dual-core processor in the year 2020 feels like an odd move, but when it’s as cheap as heck, it’s certainly hard to argue with AMD’S logic.
Team Red has long been the king of budget APUS, with the excellent 3400G and 3200G launching its Ryzen line in 2019 to some success. The Athlon 3000G isn’t so much a step forward as it is a nimble leap sideways, filling a space in the market with a budget APU that sits alongside the likes of the Athlon 200GE, but is now even cheaper.
While this chip is 3.5GHZ dual-core, it uses simultaneous multithreading tech to provide four threads, improving performance in some areas.
It’s also got three GPU cores (AMD’S Radeon Vega 3 integrated graphics), and a low (for desktop) 35W thermal power design. Cpu-savvy readers might recognize these specs as matching the older Athlon 240GE, and you’d be right. This is essentially the same chip, but unlocked for overclocking.
Basic computing tasks
On paper, it’s a huge improvement. It’s a simple, affordable APU, ideal for low-powered systems that won’t be doing much more than word processing and web browsing. The low TDP and dinky included cooler also serve this ideal; this isn’t a CPU to pair with highend components. Only eight PCIE lanes means using a GPU is far from ideal, and performance is guaranteed to suffer compared to chips with more lanes. The low price means that pairing the 3000G with a GPU doesn’t make much sense anyway, unless you have an old card lying around. Cheaper B450 and X470 motherboards with graphical outputs are the best companion to this chip.
The Vega 3 graphics are, well, fine. Running general desktop tasks on integrated saw little to no slowdown at 1,440p and below, but running at 4K was choppy and the available resolutions were oddly limited. AMD was keen to market this as a budget chip ideal for running esports games at 720p, but in practice it’s barely capable of that. Two-dimensional indie titles should run fine, and we did manage to squeeze 30fps on 720p at low settings for less-demanding games, but the 3000G definitely isn’t the poster child for gaming on integrated graphics.
Just two cores means that the 3000G isn’t equipped to handle rendering tasks, either, despite SMT doubling the thread count. Overclocking does help, with a stable overclock of 4.1GHZ achievable. 4.2GHZ will be an option for some chips, but you’re beholden to the silicon lottery.
At the time of writing, the 3000G is selling fast. While the RRP is £55, you can find it on sale for under £45. The 3000G effectively replaces the 240GE in the Athlon hierarchy; it’s the new dream chip for budget and lowpower rigs, ideal for entry-level builders and experienced overclockers looking to build a PC for peanuts.