Jesper Berg 
AMD has now introduced its new B550 chipset that brings PCI Express 4.0 to the entry-level segment. Along with the new chipset, the company also launches two quad-core Ryzen 3 CPUs – the 3100 and 3300X, the latter of which appears to outgun Intel’s formerly high-end Core i7-7700K.
Previously circulated rumors have now been confirmed by AMD, which is now unveiling two new four-core processors based on the Zen 2 architecture – the Ryzen 3 3100 and Ryzen 3 3300X. AMD is also announcing a new B550 chipset that will replace today’s B450 in the affordable motherboard segment.
Ryzen 3 3100 and 3300X – specs and prices
The two new processors are similar in most aspects. This includes four cores, eight threads, 18 MB of cache and 65W TDP values.
| Model | Cores/Threads | TDP (Watts) | Boost/Base freq. (GHz) | Total cache (MB) | Socket | MSRP (USD) | Expected Availability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMD Ryzen™ 3 3300X | 4C/8T | 65 | 4.3/3.8 | 18 | AM4 | 120 | May 2020 |
| AMD Ryzen™ 3 3100 | 4C/8T | 65 | 3.9/3.6 | 18 | AM4 | 99 | May 2020 |
The two new processors are similar in most respects. This includes four cores, eight threads, 18 MB of cache and 65W TDP values.
What sets them apart are the clock frequencies. The Ryzen 3 3100 comes with a base frequency of 3.6 gigahertz (GHz) that can extend up to a maximum 3.9 GHz. The slightly faster Ryzen 3 3300X runs at a base frequency of 3.8 GHz and its maximum boost frequency is 4.3 GHz.
Both are expected to appear on store shelves in May 2020 and are priced at $99 and $120, respectively.
Geekbench entries point to great price/performance
Interestingly, some numbers from the Geekbench 4 benchmark have surfaced (via Twitter user Tum Apisak) that appear to detail how both of the new Ryzen 3 CPUs perform. The Ryzen 3 3300X entry in the Geekbench database claims a single-core score of 5,874 and for multi-core 20,948. For reference, this exceeds Intel’s former high-end Core i7-7700K (single-core: 5,718, multi-core: 19,440).
If these numbers turn out to be accurate, the new Ryzen 3 processors will offer a superb price/performance ratio. Considering the competitive pricing, they’re bound to be included in many entry-level gaming builds in the near future.
B550 motherboards to arrive in June
AMD doesn’t offer much details regarding the B550 chipset other than the fact that it supports PCI Express 4.0. This means that it offers twice the bandwidth of its predecessor the B450, which is an advantage for the latest SSDs (and to a lesser extent PCIe 4.0 GPUs).
Motherboards from AMD’s partner manufacturers based on the B550 chipset are expected to arrive in mid-June. We can expect a range of boards from the usual manufacturers, including Asus, Asrock, Biostar, Gigabyte and MSI.
