We’ve seen what the high-end Ryzen 7 and mid-range Ryzen 5 chips can do, but AMD has taken it’s sweet time letting us have a go at their entry-level CPUs.
Why would we care? After all, most of you reading this are more interested in what the very fastest components can do, rather than the more modest models. A few years ago you might have had a point, but these days with the bottom raised more and more. Entry-level CPU are becoming fast enough so that some professional applications, such as CAD, are entirely possible on them.
So let’s see what the recent release of Ryzen 3 CPUs brings to the table.
Model Citizens There are currently four Ryzen 3 models. The 1200, Pro 1200, Pro 1300 and 1300X.
The lowest core clock is 3.1 Ghz and the fastest 3.5. Turbos ranges from 3.4 to 3.7. There’s a little more clock speed to be squeezed out of them with a little help with AMD’s XFR technology, but not much.
All of the CPUs are quad core and don’t have hyperthreading, but that’s already a step up in the threading stakes After all, Core i3 CPUs have invariably been dual-core systems.
All current models in the Ryzen 3 series come with 8 MB of cache, which should be more than enough for low-end professional tasks.
Performance Measures Just days after the release of these CPUs and already there are benchmarks out in the wild, outside of AMD’s watchful eye.
Hothardware tested the two models that are up for sale at the moment with existing benchmarks. The two models in question are the 1200 and 1300X and in Cinebench they slot neatly between the i3 7350K and the i5 7500. Intel should be very worried that the performance difference between the 1300X and the i5 7500 is so close it makes almost no difference.
Even the fastest i3 is no match for the quad-core Ryzen 3s and the most popular i5 models better watch their backs too.
New Blood It’s clear that the value offering of the Ryzen 3 CPUs is going to continue the trend of Ryzen CPUs making a compelling alternative to Intel’s domination. Either Intel will start cutting low-end i5s or we’ll start seeing more basic workstation built around the quad-core Ryzen 3s.
We’ve seen what the high-end Ryzen 7 and mid-range Ryzen 5 chips can do, but AMD has taken it’s sweet time letting us have a go at their entry-level CPUs.