AMD Ryzen 3 3300X and Ryzen 3 3100 Review

Manufacturer: AMD

UK price (as reviewed): £99/£119 (inc. VAT)

US price (as reviewed): $99/$120 (exc. tax) 

The AMD 3rd Generation Ryzen chips have done well in the 10 months since launch. Armed with the latest Zen 2 architecture and also benefiting from space- and power-saving 7nm technology, there's a solid processor for all types of machines. Today, AMD brings the same goodness down to budget levels by introducing the Ryzen 3 3300X and Ryzen 3 3100.

Model	Cores/Threads	Base Freq	Boost Freq	Total Cache	TDP (Watts)	Included cooler	SEP (USD)	Availability
Ryzen 9 3950X	16/32	3.5GHz	4.7GHz	72MB	105W	None	$749	November 25, 2019
Ryzen 9 3900X	12/24	3.8GHz	4.6GHz	70MB	105W	Wraith Prism RGB	$499	July 7, 2019
Ryzen 7 3800X	8/16	3.9GHz	4.5GHz	36MB	105W	Wraith Prism RGB	$399	July 7, 2019
Ryzen 7 3700X	8/16	3.6GHz	4.4GHz	36MB	65W	Wraith Prism RGB	$329	July 7, 2019
Ryzen 5 3600X	6/12	3.8GHz	4.4GHz	35MB	95W	Wraith Spire	$249	July 7, 2019
Ryzen 5 3600	6/12	3.6GHz	4.2GHz	35MB	65W	Wraith Stealth	$199	July 7, 2019
Ryzen 3 3300X	4/8	3.8GHz	4.3GHz	18MB	65W	Wraith Stealth	$120	May 7, 2020
Ryzen 3 3100	4/8	3.6GHz	3.9GHz	18MB	65W	Wraith Stealth	$99	May 7, 2020

Both chips use four cores and eight threads, which is a first for the Ryzen 3 line. The 3300X runs with faster frequencies for both base and boost, underscoring its $20 premium. The pair run with a 65W TDP that is configurable down to 45W, albeit with slower frequencies. Retail processors also ship with the Wraith Stealth cooler found on the Ryzen 5 3600.

Bringing Ryzen 3 up to date puts renewed pressure on Intel's Core i3 and Core i5 chips. For present 9th Gen Core that means competition against the i5-9400(F) and i3-9100(F). Intel is also moving the Core goalposts by introducing 10th Gen models with a different number of cores and threads so comparing like for like is going to be problematic in the short term.

Unlike Intel, AMD keeps to a standard DDR4-3200 official speed for all Ryzen 3rd Gen processors. In other differentiation, every Ryzen chip is unlocked, meaning you can easily overclock it if the stock performance is simply not enough. Going by frequencies, the Ryzen 3 3100 is most ripe for some OCing, which is supported on practically every supporting AM4 motherboard.

Ryzen 3 3300X is the better performance bet, of course, but there is more than meets the eye. AMD builds it using a single CCX and consequently houses the four cores and eight threads into it, along with 2MB of L2 cache and 16MB of L3. The Ryzen 3 3100 is built differently as it uses two CCXes each being home to two cores, four threads, 1MB of L2 and 8MB of L3. This is important to know because the 3100 will often need to move information between CCXes, introducing latency that doesn't exist to the same degree for the 3300X. Putting it simply, even if both were running at exactly the same speed, one would expect the 3300X to be faster in gaming and a bit quicker in rendering tasks that stream out to memory more often.

Being non-G parts, the Ryzens need a discrete graphics card in the system. Along with the new B550 chipset, launching later in June, which brings with it PCIe 4.0 compatibility from the CPU, one will be able to build a solid gaming base unit - including a GeForce GTX 1650 or Radeon RX 570 graphics card, for example - for £500 or so.