The performance reviews of AMD's cheapest Zen 2 based Ryzen CPU, the Ryzen 3 3100, went live yesterday. The reviews showed that the chip is a decent performer and comes fairly close to the once flagship Core i7-7700K from Intel back when they were still releasing quad cores as flagship parts. Renowned overclocker, TSAIK, has pushed the Ryzen 3 3100 to its limit, clocking the chip just under 6 GHz on LN2 cooling.
AMD Ryzen 3 3100 $99 US CPU Hits Almost 6 GHz Across All Cores on MSI's X570 Tomahawk Motherboard With The Help of LN2 Cooling
The overclocking session from TSAIK yielded the highest frequency for AMD's Ryzen 3 3100 CPU which was reported at 5.923 GHz. The ranking currently holds the top spot in the 'CPU Frequency Score' category for the AMD Ryzen 3 3100 CPU.
TSAIK performed the overclock on an MSI X570 Tomahawk motherboard. The MSI Tomahawk AM4 series are fan favorites, offering a good mix of features at a reasonable price point. The AMD Ryzen 3 3100 was supplied with 1.45 Volts which is not a standard operating voltage and requires lots of cooling such as LN2 to keep the processor under control. You can find the validation of the Ryzen 3 3100 5.9 GHz overclock at HWbot in the screenshot below (submission link):
The 5.92 GHz overclock is also just a few MHz shy of the fastest Zen 2 based Ryzen CPU overclock which the Ryzen 9 3950X holds the record for. The AMD Ryzen 9 3950X was overclocked to 6.041 GHz, also By TSAIK, on an MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE motherboard.
AMD Ryzen 3 3100 CPU Specifications
The AMD Ryzen 3 3100 features 4 core and 8 thread Zen 2 based design. Cache and TDP remain the same with a total of 18 MB and a 65W TDP. The chip features a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 3.90 GHz. The Core i3-10100 which will be its primary competitor will offer a base clock of 3.6 GHz, a single-core boost clock of 4.3 GHz, and an all-core boost clock of 4.1 GHz. The Intel Core i3-10100 CPU will retail at a higher price of $122 US while the Ryzen 3 3100 will hit retail at just $99 US.
AMD Ryzen 3000 Series Desktop CPU Lineup
| CPU Name | Cores/Threads | Base Clock | Boost Clock | Cache (L2+L3) | PCIe Lanes (Gen 4 CPU+PCH) | TDP | Launch Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryzen 9 3950X | 16/32 | 3.5 GHz | 4.7 GHz | 72 MB | 40 | 105W | $749 US |
| Ryzen 9 3900XT | 12/24 | 3.8 GHz | 4.7 GHz | 70 MB | 40 | 105W | $499 US |
| Ryzen 9 3900X | 12/24 | 3.8 GHz | 4.6 GHz | 70 MB | 40 | 105W | $499 US |
| Ryzen 7 3800XT | 8/16 | 3.9 GHz | 4.7 GHz | 36 MB | 40 | 105W | $399 US |
| Ryzen 7 3800X | 8/16 | 3.9 GHz | 4.5 GHz | 36 MB | 40 | 105W | $399 US |
| Ryzen 7 3700X | 8/16 | 3.6 GHz | 4.4 GHz | 36 MB | 40 | 65W | $329 US |
| Ryzen 5 3600XT | 6/12 | 3.8 GHz | 4.5 GHz | 36 MB | 40 | 95W | $249 US |
| Ryzen 5 3600X | 6/12 | 3.8 GHz | 4.4 GHz | 35 MB | 40 | 95W | $249 US |
| Ryzen 5 3600 | 6/12 | 3.6 GHz | 4.2 GHz | 35 MB | 40 | 65W | $199 US |
| Ryzen 5 3500X (China Only) | 6/6 | 3.6 GHz | 4.1 GHz | 35 MB | 40 | 65W | $159 US |
| Ryzen 3 3300X | 4/8 | 3.8 GHz | 4.3 GHz | 18 MB | TBD | 65W | $120 |
| Ryzen 3 3100 | 4/8 | 3.6 GHz | 3.9 GHz | 18 MB | TBD | 65W | $99 |
Overall, we have seen the Ryzen 3 3100, even without LN2 cooling, to be a decent overclocker and for just $99 US which is the most impressive thing about this quad-core part. For those interested in the Ryzen 3 3100, the processor is available for pre-order with retail availability planned out for the 21st of May.
About the author: A Software Engineer by training and a PC enthusiast by passion, Hassan Mujtaba serves as Wccftech's Senior Editor for hardware section. With years of experience in the industry, he specializes in deep-dive technical analysis of next-generation CPU and GPU architectures, motherboards, and cooling solutions. His work involves not only breaking news on upcoming technologies but also extensive hands-on reviews and benchmarking.
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