AMD Ryzen 3 3100 Review

Meet the Ryzen 3 3100! This Desktop processor is a standout in AMD's entry-level lineup. Unveiled in 2020, it comes with 4 cores and 8 threads. It operates at a base clock speed of 3.6GHz, can ramp up to 3.9GHz, and has a power draw of 65W, ready to take your gaming experience to the next level. The Ryzen 3 3100 is crafted using the formidable Matisse 7nm process and is a part of the prestigious Ryzen 3 series.

And guess what? The Ryzen 3 3100 is the ultimate successor to AMD's previous-gen gaming champion, the Ryzen 3 2300X. The Ryzen 3 2300X was based on the legendary Zen and 14nm process, and it made its grand entrance into the gaming scene back in 2018. But now, it's time for the Ryzen 3 3100 to take the throne and conquer the gaming world!

The best CPUs are the ones that slay frames at a price that won't make you ragequit. The Ryzen 3 3100 totally wins this game.

This CPU packs 4 cores and 8 threads, the first time this many come in a mainstream package! Plus, it costs about the same as the Core i3-9100F, which only has 4 cores and 4 threads. Talk about a total noob!

Can the AMD Ryzen 3 3100 finally dethrone the king of mainstream CPUs, the Core i3-9100F? It's a maybe. The Ryzen 3 3100 doesn't quite reach the same single-core performance as its rival, but more games are starting to use all those threads, so who cares!

The AMD Ryzen 3 3rd Generation boasts the Zen 2 architecture, which brings 7nm processors to the mainstream for the first time. But there's more to this story than just a smaller size. Get ready for some serious performance upgrades!

So, the switch to 7nm silicon is pretty epic! This lets AMD cram a ton more cache into the CPU. We're talking a combined L2 and L3 cache of 6 x 512 kB and 16. Since the cores are on separate chiplets, they were able to fit way more in – a whopping 6 x 512 kB and 16! This means much faster performance, especially when you're chasing those sweet high FPS in 1080p games. You'll especially notice the difference in classics like Counter Strike: Global Offensive. Git gud noobs!

AMD just unleashed its Zen 2 architecture, raising the stakes in the high-stakes battle for desktop PC dominance against Intel. This new lineup of chips pushes core counts and raw power to crazy high levels, threatening Intel's reign for the first time in a decade. Buckle up, it's about to get intense!

The Ryzen 3 3100 takes the best parts of the Zen 2 architecture, which gives you 15% more instructions processed per cycle (IPC) on average, and shrinks it down to a 7nm process. This creates a super powerful chip that performs awesome in all our tests, especially considering the competitive price, compatibility with most existing AM4 motherboards, ability to overclock, and included cooler. Basically, it's a win-win!

The $99 Ryzen 3 3100 sits right between the expensive $143 Core i3-9300 and the cheaper $74 Core i3-9100F. The Core i3-9100F is the natural competitor for the Ryzen 3 3100, but while they both have 4 cores, the Intel chip lacks Hyper-Threading, giving the Ryzen 3 3100 more threads to play with.

Alright, listen up. When it comes to pure gaming performance, Intel still holds the crown. If squeezing out every last frame per second is your top priority, then a Intel CPU might be the better choice. But here's the thing: that advantage shrinks at higher resolutions or if you pair the CPU with a less powerful graphics card. mattersToo

But for most gamers who also do other stuff on their PC besides gaming, the Ryzen 3 3100 is a better overall choice. It offers double the threads compared to the similarly priced Core i3-9100F, and those extra threads come in handy for tasks like editing and encoding videos. The Ryzen 3 chips have always been great for these workloads, and AMD's recent improvements to AVX performance are super impressive.

Things get interesting when you compare the Ryzen 3 3100 to its main rival, the Intel Core i3-9100F. The Core i3-9100F costs $74 and has 4 cores, but no HyperThreading. That means the Ryzen 3 3100 gives you double the processing threads for less money! Sure, Intel still holds the crown for single-core performance, but when it comes to using all the cores at once (multi-core), the AMD Ryzen 3 3100 is the king.

The AMD Ryzen 3 3100, like all the other CPUs in AMD's Matisse family, is built on a tiny 7nm manufacturing process – the smallest you can find right now. This means it uses less power and runs much faster than previous CPUs.

The high number of threads (over 7!) in the AMD Ryzen 3 3100 makes it a monster for tasks that use all the cores at once (multi-threaded workloads), especially for the price. If you edit a lot of videos or work with giant spreadsheets, the Ryzen 3 3100 will give you a noticeable performance boost.

Heads up! If you already have a Ryzen 3 2300X, this new generation doesn't offer a huge jump in performance. You might be better off waiting a year to upgrade or spending more on a higher-end CPU.

The AMD has disabled the graphics on the Ryzen 3 3100, so it doesn't have any integrated graphics - just like the Core i3-9100F. This makes the Ryzen 3 3100 cheaper than the Ryzen 3 2300X, even though the price difference might not be obvious at first glance. You can find the Ryzen 3 3100 for $99 while the Ryzen 3 2300X is still $141. That's a whopping 42% discount for the newer CPU! It's also cheaper than the Core i3-9100F which costs $74.

For gamers, both the Core i3-9100F and Ryzen 3 3100 are great choices. They're neck and neck, with a slight edge to the Intel CPU if you don't overclock it. The Ryzen 3 3100's base performance can be achieved with cheaper RAM (around $90), whereas the Core i3-9100F needs faster RAM ($110-$120) to hit the frame rates we showed. The price difference is small though, and with anything less than an RTX 2070 or Vega 64 graphics card, your GPU will bottleneck your performance anyway. BottleneckAtPlay

Today's review is on the AMD Ryzen 3 3100, a 4-core desktop processor launched in May 2020. AMD sells the Ryzen 3 3100 without integrated graphics, making it perfect for systems with a dedicated graphics card. It costs $99 and is a great option for those who already have a GPU.

One of the best things about the AMD Ryzen 3 3100 is that it comes with a free CPU cooler! You can grab the Ryzen 3 3100 for $99 without having to spend extra on cooling.

The AMD Ryzen 3 3100 comes with a basic heatsink cooler, nothing fancy. But it gets the job done for this low-power CPU (TDP of 65W). You won't need a fancy aftermarket cooler unless you want to overclock it.

Don't let the 4 cores fool you, the AMD Ryzen 3 3100 is a surprisingly capable processor! It held its own and felt snappy in our tests. While it fell behind on heavily threaded tasks due to the lower core count, it actually beat some pricier siblings in lightly threaded tasks thanks to its high clock speeds.

The AMD Ryzen 3 3100 might not get a lot of hype, but it's a solid entry-level option that delivers a good experience for casual users.

However, the AMD Ryzen 3 3100 falls a bit behind in clock speeds. The Core i3-9300 can reach 3.7GHz base clock and boost up to 4.3GHz.

Looking at the competition, Intel's current 4-core processor, the Core i3-9300, is much more expensive at $143. Even going back a generation to Coffee Lake, the 4-core Intel Core i3-8300 isn't much cheaper at $138.

Can you game on AMD's Ryzen 3 CPU? Absolutely! We got a solid 85% score in our gaming benchmarks.

The Ryzen 3 3100 boosts up to the advertised 3.9 GHz, and with AMD's software you can push one core even higher to 3.9+0.1 GHz. But don't expect much beyond that without a serious cooler upgrade and manual voltage tweaks.

Looking for an affordable powerhouse CPU for work and play? Look no further than the Ryzen 3 3100!

Building on the success of mainstream Ryzen 3 CPUs, AMD is now attacking the entry-level market with the Ryzen 3 3100 processors, available since May 2020.

The included cooler with the Ryzen 3 3100 is rated for 65W and doesn't have fancy features like a copper base or LED lights. But it keeps the CPU cool enough to reach its XFR-boosted speeds, which is an extra 200 MHz! We were even able to overclock it to 3.9 GHz + 0.2 GHz without overheating. The cooler fan also blows down onto the motherboard, providing extra cooling around the CPU socket. If you want more RGB bling, you can buy a separate LED cooler from AMD.