Ryzen 3, the King of Budget Gaming CPUs
The Ryzen 3 1200 and Ryzen 3 1300X launched on July 27.
Since their release, they’ve dominated the budget gaming CPU market and have
rendered Intel’s i3 lineup useless. For quite a long time, Intel CPUs were the
way to go. Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 changed the game, beating just about all of team
blue’s competitors.
Ryzen 3 is no different, bringing incredible performance at
a great price.
Prior to the launch of the Ryzen 3 line, the Pentium G4560
was a popular choice for gamers on a budget. It was really the only good budget
gaming CPU on the market, as the new Pentium’s hyperthreading blurred the lines
between Pentium and the core i3 line.
Intel’s Pentium CPUs were rocking two physical cores without
hyperthreading prior to the Pentium G4560’s release. The 7th
generation of Intel CPUs was a first step in the right direction, as the
Pentium line finally featured hyperthreading.
Each core can process two threads
at once; in other words, the CPU has two physical cores and two theoretical
cores.
Ryzen 3 goes a step further. Both the Ryzen 3 1200 and 1300X
have four physical cores, not just two physical and two imaginary cores. This
allows the Ryzen 3 1200 and 1300X to simultaneously process different tasks or
threads.
It is quite possible that Intel saw Ryzen 3 coming, and decided to
implement hyperthreading with their Pentium CPUs so that they wouldn’t be left
behind.
We’re primarily going to focus on the Ryzen 3 1200, as ithas
the most bang for your buck and makes the most sense if you’re strictly gaming.The
Ryzen 3 1200 can even be overclocked past the 1300X’s core clock, rendering it
an incredible value.
Right out of the box, Ryzen’s stock coolers are far superior
to Intel’s stock coolers. This is important because it provides an easy route
to overclocking without having to spend any extra money. Speaking of
overclocking, Ryzen 3 CPUs are extremely good at it.
This is one of Ryzen 3’s biggest advantages over Intel CPUs.
Aside from the fact that they have four true cores, Ryzen 3 is easily
overclockable.
All of Intel’s closest offerings are locked, and their true
potential is unable to be utilized. Ryzen 3 performs similarly to the G4560 in
terms of gaming, at least until you overclock it. Once overclocked, the Ryzen 3
1200 significantly outperforms the Pentium G4560.
Instead of looking at the Pentium, let’s take the closest
priced Intel offering. The Intel Core i3-7100 comes in at $115. When compared
to the Ryzen 3 1200, it still falls behind. If overclocking potential is
accounted for, the Ryzen 3 1200 wins again and again in terms of gaming
performance. Don’t forget about all the other added bonuses that Ryzen 3 offers,
including better multitasking, streaming, editing, rendering, etc. The Ryzen 3
1200 pretty much outperforms all of Intel’s similar offerings. This is mainly
due to Ryzen’s four physical cores, as opposed to Intel’s offerings which only
have two cores with hyperthreading.
The Pentium G4560 still has a place as a budget gaming CPU.
This CPU is below $80, and is still a viable option if you’re on an extreme
budget. However, at this point in time, i3 CPUs are practically useless from a
gaming standpoint.Buying an i3 just doesn’t make sense. If Intel wants to maintain
sales of their i3 CPUs, they’re going to have to lower the price.
Naturally after the release of Ryzen 3, the web was flooded
with budget gaming PC builds. While Ryzen 3 boasts excellent gaming
performance, it’s also great at other workstation tasks. This CPU can edit
videos, photos, render videos, stream, record, etc.
It would be easy to mistake
the CPU for a higher end model if you didn’t know what was inside the PC. If
you’re looking to build a streaming rig, Ryzen 3 offers a better overall experience
than anything team blue offers at this level.
As mentioned previously, Ryzen 3 does not feature
simultaneous multithreading, but instead is a full on quad core CPU. This CPU
is made up of two of AMD’s CCXs or Core Complexes.
This means that Ryzen 3
shares all the same features that Ryzen 5 and 7 provide. This includes SenseMI,
Precision Boost, and XFR. LinusTechTips concluded that in nearly every area
tested that doesn’t include purely single threaded performance, Ryzen 3
outperforms the best that Intel has to offer.
Whether you’re team red or team blue, you have to give AMD
credit for sticking it to Intel and providing such stiff competition. It’s
caused prices to drop across the board!
Author Biography
My name is Jacob, and I am the founder of Easy PC. I grew up
playing video games, and as I got older I became interested in PC gaming. I
spent lots of time researching, and eventually I decided to build my first
gaming PC. From that moment on, I was in love.
I remember how hard it was for me as a beginner to learn
everything I needed to get started. I wanted a place where I could find all the
information I needed in one place. That is the goal of my website. I aim to
provide all the information new builders need to get started with PC gaming.
Great post!
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