Today we’ll be taking a look at AMD’s ultra-budget Athlon 3000G, and seeing how well we can push it with an overclock. The Athlon 3000G is a bit of a special product as it’s fully unlocked for overclocking despite a low price point. Right now the 2-core APU is available in the UK for under £45 and in the US for around $55. With a low 3.5GHz stock speed and diminutive “Vega 3” graphics, what can be done to get a good gaming experience on this super-cheap chip?
The aim here isn’t to compare this chip to its competition. Rather we’re comparing before and after overclocking our Athlon 3000G. Overclocking isn’t always the quickest process, and we want to help you decide if it’s right for you. We’ll be looking at 5 CPU benchmarks, 5 synthetic GPU tests, and 5 real-world games.
All the overclocking was done through AMD’s Ryzen Master software, which seems to work well with the Athlon 3000G.
Hardware Setup
| CPU | AMD Athlon 3000G |
|---|---|
| CPU Cooler | AMD Stock “65W near-silent” |
| Memory | 2x8GB OEM Micron “MTA8ATF1G64AZ-2G3B1” DDR4 |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte B450M-S2H |
| BIOS | F41 (AGESA 1.0.0.3AB) |
| GPU | Vega 3 (integrated) |
| Storage | Samsung 860 EVO 250GB SSD |
| Case | Streacom BC1 Open Benchtable |
| OC Software | Ryzen Master |
We’re using a fairly basic setup, with the stock cooler and a cheap motherboard. The memory is also OEM and not known for overclocking. Hopefully this should represent around what most 3000G owners have access to. The open setup may give a cooling advantage, but we’ve stuck with the standard fan curve.
Read on for our overclocking logs (pages 2-4) and our benchmark results (pages 5-7).
<3
I’m amazed by the fact that you got to DDR4 3800 CAS 18 on this combination of RAM CPU and Motherboard. I wonder if even faster RAM (if even possible) would make it go further.
I’m interested in this chip not because I need a cheap PC, but cause I want a fun overclocking rig outside of my main PC.
Although it wouldn’t make much sense monetarily, I was thinking on paring it with a mid range board, mostly for the SOC VRMs which might not be as stable as a 2 phase and would probably get quickly overloaded with higher power targets, also cause I’d like to use it with a Zen 3 APU down the line.
I managed DDR4-4000 CL18 using an MSI B450I GAMING PLUS AC with Crucial Ballistix Sport rated for 3000 CL15 (Micron “E-die”). Normally older gen AMD CPUs top out around 3600 with good memory so I’d be (even more) surprised if it has more in it than that.
It’s a really fun CPU for overclocking and tweaking, but check compatibility carefully – sadly most X570 and B550 boards choose not to support the 3000G. This seems to be because it uses the older Zen 1 cores and is therefore classed as a “first generation” product – despite being numbered in the 3000 series!
Unfortunately this creates a bit of a quandary when it comes to the upgrade path. I’ve written a bit about the compatibility situation at https://play3r.net/news/articles/b450-zen-3-compatibility-amd-bow-to-community-pressure/ but generally, a B450/X470 board fully supporting the 3000G has a lot of caveats when it comes to future processors. Hopefully that doesn’t put you off though, because it really is a fun chip to play around with.
I’m forever grateful to this guide and review! You sir are an amazing tech guru for helping a novice like myself and I wish the best and the best for you.
Setup
ASUS B450M DRAGON 4400MHz(OC)
AMD Athlon 3000G
GSKILL 8GB 3000MHz CL16 DDR4 x2
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AMD Ryzen Master application is used
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CPU Clock Speed: 4.000 MHz
CPU Voltage: 1,3 Volt
APU GFX Clock Speed: 1.650 MHz
APU GFX Voltage: 1.3 Volt
CPU Max Temp: 62°C
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it works stably…
maybe an aio would help?