The AMD Ryzen 3 3300X and 3100 CPU Review: A Budget Gaming Bonanza
by Dr. Ian Cutress on May 7, 2020 9:00 AM ESTTest Bed and Setup
As per our processor testing policy, we take a premium category motherboard suitable for the socket, and equip the system with a suitable amount of memory running at the manufacturer's maximum supported frequency. This is also typically run at JEDEC subtimings where possible. It is noted that some users are not keen on this policy, stating that sometimes the maximum supported frequency is quite low, or faster memory is available at a similar price, or that the JEDEC speeds can be prohibitive for performance. While these comments make sense, ultimately very few users apply memory profiles (either XMP or other) as they require interaction with the BIOS, and most users will fall back on JEDEC supported speeds - this includes home users as well as industry who might want to shave off a cent or two from the cost or stay within the margins set by the manufacturer. Where possible, we will extend out testing to include faster memory modules either at the same time as the review or a later date.
| Test Setup | |
| AMD Ryzen 3000 | AMD Ryzen 3 3300X AMD Ryzen 3 3100 |
| Motherboard | GIGABYTE X570 I Aorus Pro (1.12e) |
| CPU Cooler | AMD Wraith |
| DRAM | G.Skill FlareX 2x8 GB DDR4-3200 C14 |
| GPU | Sapphire RX 460 2GB (CPU Tests) MSI GTX 1080 Gaming 8G (Gaming Tests) |
| PSU | Corsair AX860i |
| SSD | Crucial MX500 2TB |
| OS | Windows 10 1909 |
Many thanks to...
We must thank the following companies for kindly providing hardware for our multiple test beds. Some of this hardware is not in this test bed specifically, but is used in other testing.
| Hardware Providers | |||
| Sapphire RX 460 Nitro | MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X OC | Crucial MX200 + MX500 SSDs |
Corsair AX860i + AX1200i PSUs |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| G.Skill RipjawsV, SniperX, FlareX |
Crucial Ballistix DDR4 |
Silverstone Coolers |
Silverstone Fans |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
249 Comments
View All Comments
Spunjji - Monday, May 11, 2020 - link
Those were the days!stardude82 - Thursday, May 7, 2020 - link
What I get from this is my 9 year old Sandy Bridge i7 is probably good enough for modern games when not playing with a $1000 video card.Spunjji - Monday, May 11, 2020 - link
Quite correct, if it's overclocked. There are a few exceptions, though, and there will be more over the next few years. Sandy was a beast.stardude82 - Thursday, May 7, 2020 - link
Hey, Ian, for my edification, what happens if you turned HT/SMT for one of the quad-cores? Do modern games tank?boozed - Thursday, May 7, 2020 - link
It's been a while since I've seen game benchmarks at 800x600!watzupken - Thursday, May 7, 2020 - link
It is impressive that a low end AMD chip soundly beat the ex flagship, 7700K. The 3300X is certainly the better option to go for between the 2 entry level Ryzen.Alexvrb - Thursday, May 7, 2020 - link
I have to chuckle a bit when I see Dwarf Fortress as a "new" benchmark. I doubt it uses any modern processor to its fullest.Ian Cutress - Friday, May 8, 2020 - link
Over the last couple of years it's been requested a few times. I finally got around to sorting out a benchmark for it and adding it into our automated script. Seems to work almost flawlessly on any system I'm testing it on. That big gen test can take 1hr+ though.Deicidium369 - Friday, May 8, 2020 - link
Dwarf Fortress is the gaming equivalent to dentists - pure sadismSpunjji - Monday, May 11, 2020 - link
The results seem to indicate that it prefers clock speed over either threads or IPC.