AMD have finally filled out the Ryzen 3000 lineup, with a duo of quad core Zen 2 CPUs. The Ryzen 3 3300X and Ryzen 3 3100 are both 4-core, 8-thread 65W CPUs. Priced alongside the 3000-series APUs, these new SKUs bring extra grunt to builders that don’t need integrated graphics.
With AMD’s “Renoir” Zen 2 laptop chips having launched recently, some people might wonder if these are desktop Renoir. We’re confident in saying that they’re not. The “Renoir” laptop chips only have 8MB of L3 cache, to make room for the integrated graphics and on-die IO. These are almost certainly a cut down version of “Matisse”, as seen in the Ryzen 5 3600 and above.
One thing we’re not sure of is CCX configuration. A single Matisse “chiplet” contains a total of 8 cores, across two identical CCX units. Each CCX has 4 cores and 16MB of L3 cache shared across the 4. A 4-core chip with 16MB of cache could therefore be made either from one complete CCX, or two half-disabled CCXs. A single CCX would make it much faster for data to jump between cores, but two CCXs would mean a fuller set of connections between the core chiplet and the I/O die – this could impact memory performance. We’ve reached out to AMD to ask about this, and will update the article if they’re able to tell us.
Meet The Quad Core Zen 2: Ryzen 3 3300X and 3100 Specs
| Model | Cores / Threads | Base Clock | Max Boost Clock | Core Arch | L3 Cache | Memory | iGPU | TDP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryzen 9 3950X | 16/32 | 3.5GHz | 4.7GHz | Zen 2 | 64MB | DDR4-3200 | none | 105W |
| Ryzen 9 3900X | 12/24 | 3.8GHz | 4.6GHz | Zen 2 | 64MB | DDR4-3200 | none | 105W |
| Ryzen 7 3800X | 8/16 | 3.9GHz | 4.5GHz | Zen 2 | 32MB | DDR4-3200 | none | 105W |
| Ryzen 7 3700X | 8/16 | 3.6GHz | 4.4GHz | Zen 2 | 32MB | DDR4-3200 | none | 65W |
| Ryzen 5 3600X | 6/12 | 3.8GHz | 4.4GHz | Zen 2 | 32MB | DDR4-3200 | none | 95W |
| Ryzen 5 3600 | 6/12 | 3.6GHz | 4.2GHz | Zen 2 | 32MB | DDR4-3200 | none | 65W |
| Ryzen 5 3400G | 4/8 | 3.7GHz | 4.2GHz | Zen+ | 4MB | DDR4-2933 | Vega 11 | 65W |
| Ryzen 3 3300X | 4/8 | 3.8GHz | 4.3GHz | Zen 2 | 16MB | DDR4-3200 | none | 65W |
| Ryzen 3 3200G | 4/4 | 3.6GHz | 4.0GHz | Zen+ | 4MB | DDR4-2933 | Vega 8 | 65W |
| Ryzen 3 3100 | 4/8 | 3.6GHz | 3.9GHz | Zen 2 | 16MB | DDR4-3200 | none | 65W |
The new Zen 2 chips slot in at the bottom of the range by numbering, alongside their quad core APU counterparts. Interestingly, these new parts are numbered below their theoretically slower 12nm siblings. This can be attributed to two things. Firstly, the “3500” number is already in use by some chips exclusive to the eastern market. Secondly, the reason we call the 3200G and 3400G APUs rather than CPUs: the integrated graphics. Not everyone uses integrated graphics, but for some they’re very useful. An application that takes full advantage of the 11 Vega cores in a Ryzen 5 3400G might well run faster than on a Ryzen 3 3300X. Games with a discrete GPU, however, will almost certainly prefer the Zen 2 architecture and large cache on the new quad cores.
The $100-120 price point is interesting, because there’s now a scrap not just between Intel and AMD, but between AMD and past AMD. The Ryzen 5 1600 has seen a resurgence in popularity with the new “AF” variant that features a 12nm die – essentially a slower 2600 – and more overclocking headroom. This is available at retail for just $99 US from the right seller, and is an interesting option for more thread-happy workloads. Take care though, as the 1600 isn’t supported by all X570 motherboards.
Pricing and Availability
AMD are slating these chips for retail availability on Thursday the 21st of May. Some etailers already have listings up for these chips in a bid to be the first, but pre-orders aren’t being taken at time of writing.
The suggested prices are $99 US for the 3100 and $120 for the 3300X, excluding sales tax. Tech pricing tends to make the jump across the pond without the actual number changing, so we’re expecting £99 and £120 respectively, including VAT.
