Overall and Final Verdict
Like I mentioned at the start, each of AMD's Ryzen launches has significantly effected the PC market. Quickly turning the quad-core 8 threads from the high end three years ago to now the low end of the mainstream market. The Ryzen 3 3300X and 3100 launches cement that and even with shortages in other areas they open up the possibilities for high-performance budget builds. Both CPUs have the same 4 core and 8 thread configuration but the Ryzen 3 3300X stood out in my testing due to its higher clock speeds and its CCX configuration which put all four cores together on one CCX where the 3100 was split up between two with a 2+2 configuration. This allows the 3300X to have lower latency core to core and to give all of the cores access to the full L3 cache. Combined with the 4.3 GHz clock speed which isn’t even ultra-high, the 3300X did especially well in single-core and dual-core situations. Putting it up ahead of even some of the mid-range CPUs in that area. Even more impressively, the i7-7700K that was the fastest mainstream CPU on the market when Ryzen came out struggled to keep up with both CPUs in some tests and especially the 3300X. This shows how much things have improved and now makes my wife’s 7700K build look outdated!
I didn’t run into much for cons on either of the Ryzen 3 CPUs. The biggest one would be the thermals which I wouldn’t consider high. But did get warm when put in the extreme AIDA64 FPU stress test. The 3100 also is noticeably slower due to its 2x2 core configuration. It all, of course, comes down to pricing and both Ryzen 3 CPUs do well there.- The Ryzen 3 3100 comes in at $99 including the wraith stealth cooler and the Ryzen 3 3300X isn’t much more even for how much more performance you get at $120 making both a great value. In the end, the 3300X is the direction I would go whenever possible given how good it is across the board. But even if you go with the Ryzen 3 3100 you still end up with performance close to the top of the line from three years ago. Waiting for the B550 launch might be best to keep costs low while still getting PCIe 4.0 for your GPU though.
Live Pricing: HERE
Live Pricing: HERE
