AMD Ryzen 3 3100 and 3300X processor review

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Conclusion

Final Words 

Right, a reality check first. I was not expecting to test a 64-core processor a few months ago in the year 2020, neither was I expecting to test a quad-core processor in the year 2020. Both are the extremes at their respective other end of the processor spectrum. Also, both sides of that spectrum are a big hard to defend and justify. That's said though, there certainly is a place in the market for these quad cores, as quite honestly you reap the benefits from ZEN2 as a platform, not just the processor. Four cores and eight threads allow you to play games decently at these clock frequencies, the added benefit of the ZEN2 architecture is that the overall IPC performance is good as well, you receive four fast cores and during my testing, Windows 10 remained fast and responsive at all times. That's also thanks to the B450/B550/ X570 platform of course as Ryzen 3 can utilize fast DDR4 memory and offers broad support for very fast M2 NVMe storage solutions. Frankly speaking, as work or web-PC Ryzen 3 is plenty fast. That said, I do have a preference for the 3300X over 3100. I mean AMD deliberately neutered the 3100 a little bit, as the 3300X has fewer latency drag it shows off a bit better with that 4:0 CCX setup. So for 20 bucks more, yes it will have my preference. 

Now I have been thinking about it a lot but I did feel the Ryzen 3 3100 / 310oX is missing something. I mean face it, they are offering awesome value if you use it in combo with a B450 motherboard. But here's the thing, you'll still need to purchase a dedicated graphics solution as this is not an APU, and that's where Intel wins time after time with an integrated IGP. Ryzen 3 series 3000 processors could use a bit of IGP Vega/Navi TLC, would it have had that, it would have been a processor with a golden lining, opposed to what I now deem to be silver. Remark aside, yeah the rest is pretty darn terrific.

Platforms then, do be aware of the fact that if you do not care about PCIe Gen4 M.2. or stull like AX WIFI (WIFI6), then you should probably pair this processor series with a compatible series B450 or even X470 motherboard, you will get the very same gaming and application firepower coming at you. The memory support also will be the same as that is handled at CPU level and sure, your motherboard BIOS, you do need to latest compatible firmware flashed into the motherboard for the proc to be recognized. There will be no performance differences and, since the memory controllers reside on the CPU, the memory frequency and compatibility will be the same as well.  

Gaming performance

Combined with the respective platform, ZEN2 offers far more oomph compared to the previous two generations AMD Zen/Zen+ processors. As far as gaming goes, the pure raw wins are mostly for Intel, but everything is relative. Let's have a peek here at the chart below. That's a 1920x1080 (Full HD) chart showing games we tested against the 500 USD Intel Core i9 9900K, and since we want to remain GPU bottleneck free, here a GeForce RTX 2080 Ti is used:


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So Ryzen 3 3100 = 99 USD and that 3300X 120 USD. Paired with a GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, you can see what point I am trying to make. Yes, the 500 USD Intel processor will win each and any time, yes AMD is also a small notch slower in games with that 329 USD 3800X and then .. the two Ryzen 3 processors at that sub 120 USD marker. Relativity: For a fraction of the price you can still game pretty darn well, even with that GeForce  RTX 2080 Ti, and let's be honest 90% of you guys have a far more GPU limited graphics card. So while I am absolutely not provocating or recommending four cores for gaming these days, the reality absolutely and unequivocally is that you can game pretty darn well on them at low cost as honestly, what you see above is not bad, not bad at all. 


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DDR4 Memory

Memory compatibility should not and likely will not be an issue as long as you stick to recently released DIMMs. I'll keep saying this but there are some really good Ryzen optimized kits out there. With Ryzen Generation 3 you can go higher in DDR4 clock frequency if you want to. We advise up-to 3600 MHz and CL18, after that frequency value 2:1 divider kicks in, and that can have an effect on the Infinity Fabric bandwidth, inter-core CCX bandwidth. We see no reason for faster DDR4 memory anyways, it's expensive and does not bring in added perf, much like what you see on Intel platforms as well. For optimal memory compatibility, please do install the latest BIOS available for your motherboard.

Energy efficiency

With these processors fabbed at 7nm, you may see some interesting energy efficiency. Our test results show a nominal increase in power consumption, at IDLE (with an extremely well-equipped motherboard) we sit close to the 70 Watts range. The same system 100% stressed on the processors eats roughly 130~140 Watts for the 3100 and 3300X respectively, that's just fine really. So again, yeah I just can't complain. 




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The conclusion

Yes, even with four cores the 3100 and 3100X leave a decent impression, all thanks towards ZEN2 as architecture and the series 400/500 motherboard chipset architecture. AMD did make the clever choice of giving these processors hyper-threading/SMT. It will bring them a bit more bite. The 3100 I would advise for a simple web and work PC. And if you plan to game on your Ryzen 3 PC, then the 3300X is unequivocally the better choice thanks to its 4:0 CCX configuration that gives it direct access towards 1x16 MB L3 cache as opposed to the 2:2 configuration and 2x8MB L3 on the 3100. Latency matters most for gaming, and with one full CCX there is not inter-core latency to address otherwise either. 

The price level of 99 and 120 USD for both processors is fine really, though admittedly I would have like to see these processors with an integrated graphics solution. Especially if you build a web of work PC, you'll save on the B450/B550 motherboard and processors, but get the added cost of a dedicated graphics card, and that's the one gripe I have for this series really. The performance of ZEN2, even with 4 cores, will bring you a splendid Windows 10 experience that is as fast and responsive as 8 cores, it's just that your multi-threaded workloads will be slower due to the sheer number of processor cores. Gaming wise, hey pop in a mainstream graphics card and you will get very decent numbers returned rewarded as your framerates. The industry, however, is moving away from four core designs, more games are getting better support for more threads these days, something that AMD actually initiated with all the many-core processors. But yes you can play games really decently with Ryzen 3 3300X. Looking at this product series long term and if you are a more demanding PC gamer, I would advise 6 or 8-cores in the year 2020. There is some room left for tweaking, you can reach 4.3~4.4 GHz on auto voltage on all cores which can bump up your game perf another notch, should you require it. 

And with that said I'll conclude this article, the 3100 is a perfectly fine web/work PC processor. The 3300X has my preference if you plan to game as well (with a more mainstream graphics card). Ryzen Series 3 3000 as a whole will benefit from a fast and responsive processor core design based upon a solid infrastructure. So for your everyday work PC and a bit of gaming, heck we cannot complain at all really. You just need to keep your cost of ownership low, e.g. that motherboard needs to be at or under the 100 USD marker for this to really make proper sense and value.

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