Review: AMD Ryzen 3 3300X and Ryzen 3 3100

Conclusion

The Ryzen 3 3300X and 3100 complete the desktop Zen 2-powered stack by bringing the latest technologies to the crucial $100-$120 price point. Using the same building blocks as a raft of performance CPUs launched in the last year, AMD augments this pair's abilities by, for the first time, enabling SMT this far down the pecking order.

That means fours cores and eight threads on the cheapest Ryzens, translating to decent performance across a swathe of benchmarks. Costing $20 more, out-the-box 3300X is the one to go for as it harnesses comfortably higher speeds and a cleaner internal layout via a single CCX. Its numbers are comparable to a Core i5-9400F processor which costs a bit more, though do understand Intel's stack has just moved to 10th Gen Core, making buying advice nebulous until we get them on the testbench.

Ryzen 3 3100, meanwhile, reduces frequency enough for it not to be a great out-the-box deal at $100, which is particularly evident when gaming with a decent GPU, so buy with a modicum of caution if you're not willing to overclock.

But wouldn't it be nice to have a G-series Zen 2 part with RDNA-based integrated graphics for those that don't want the additional expense of a discrete card? Something for AMD to think about this summer.

In concert with the also-new B550 chipset, the upgraded Ryzen 3 CPUs provide a solid foundation on which to build a thoroughly reasonable PC without breaking the bank. We'd stretch to the Ryzen 3 3300X every time.

AMD Ryzen 3 3300X

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TBC.

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