If one were critiquing AMD’s current line of Zen 2 processors, one of the things to note is that the cheapest option is $199, for the six-core Ryzen 5 3600. This puts the latest hardware from AMD out of reach for anyone building a gaming $900 system or below. In order to redress this balance, AMD is set to launch two new quad core designs in May, starting at $99. The new Ryzen 3 hardware will each feature one Zen 2 core chiplet, run at up to 4.3 GHz, and offer PCIe 4.0 connectivity.

A few years ago, the quad core processor was at the top of the market, and you would need $500 for one. When AMD started launching its quad core parts for as little as $99, the market became interested in what would become the new normal. These new Ryzen 3 parts from AMD, the new low-end quad cores, are helping define that normal, especially with high frequencies and taking advantage of the latest features such as high-speed DDR4, Zen 2 levels of IPC at high frequencies, and PCIe 4.0.

AMD 'Matisse' Ryzen 3000 Series CPUs
AnandTech Cores
Threads
Base
Freq
Boost
Freq
L2
Cache
L3
Cache
PCIe
4.0
Chiplets
IO+CPU
TDP Price
(SEP)
Ryzen 9 3950X 16C 32T 3.5 4.7 8 MB 64 MB 16+4+4 1+2 105W $749
Ryzen 9 3900X 12C 24T 3.8 4.6 6 MB 64 MB 16+4+4 1+2 105W $499
Ryzen 9 3900 12C 24T 3.1 4.3 6 MB 64 MB 16+4+4 1+2 65W OEM
Ryzen 7 3800X 8C 16T 3.9 4.5 4 MB 32 MB 16+4+4 1+1 105W $399
Ryzen 7 3700X 8C 16T 3.6 4.4 4 MB 32 MB 16+4+4 1+1 65W $329
Ryzen 5 3600X 6C 12T 3.8 4.4 3 MB 32 MB 16+4+4 1+1 95W $249
Ryzen 5 3600 6C 12T 3.6 4.2 3 MB 32 MB 16+4+4 1+1 65W $199
Ryzen 5 3500X 6C 6T 3.6 4.1 3 MB 32 MB 16+4+4 1+1 65W OEM
Ryzen 3 3300X 4C 8T 3.8 4.3 2 MB 16 MB 16+4+4 1+1 65W $120
Ryzen 3 3100 4C 8T 3.6 3.9 2 MB 16 MB 16+4+4 1+1 65W $99

This is all well and good, and AMD has plenty of options at these price points to compete against Intel, however AMD’s biggest competition is going to be with itself. At these prices, $105 and $120, there are a number of AMD processors from the previous generations on offer that might be more appealing. For example, the 12nm+ version of the Ryzen 5 1600, called the ‘AF’ because the processor descriptor ends in AF, has slightly lower frequencies and IPC but has six cores and is only $85. Users will have to decide between more cores for throughput with the 1600AF, or more frequency/IPC with the 3100 for $15.

Not only this, but we are also awaiting the launch of AMD’s new APUs, called Renoir, for the desktop space. The performance of these parts at 15 W, a quad-core Zen 2 up to 4.3 GHz with Vega8 graphics (and no extra latency due to the chiplet) is going to be a compelling option when it moves to 65 W on the desktop. As a result, we might see the Renoir processors priced above the Ryzen 3, in that $125-$190 area that AMD currently doesn’t have any Zen 2 processors in.

For the rest of the year it seems there’s going to be some interesting competition in this low cost space. Intel also has Comet Lake-S on the horizon we believe, taking another crack at 14nm, and these new Ryzen 3 products might result in some interesting line-ups due to price.

We're expecting to get these CPUs in for testing sometime soon. They are set to be launched in May.

B550 Launch Coming Soon

One of the often talked topics, since January, is when AMD is going to launch its more mid-range B550 motherboards for the Ryzen 3000 processors. Today AMD is announcing that B550 is coming on June 16th this year, with all the main motherboard manufacturers coming out with a variety of models, up to 60 for launch. AMD is also confirming that B550 will offer PCIe 4.0 connectivity. More details to come at a later date.

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  • not_anton - Wednesday, April 22, 2020 - link

    BL3 player with Ryzen 3600, getting stable 90-120 FPS depending on the scene on Bada$$ graphic settings (except volumetric fog). CPU usage about 60-70%.

    A quad-core Ryzen would be more than enough, and it's a saviour for people who will get an extra $100 to bump GTX 1650 to GTX 1660 Super in their new computer.
  • flyingpants265 - Monday, May 4, 2020 - link

    Ryzen pricing is really amazing. So is RX570 for budget gamers.
  • callmebob - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link

    Average Joes want blinkenlight disco, and lack any insight in anything whatsoever. Which is why they are damned to perpetually fall for the shtick of the salesmen. BL3 plays just fine on a 4C/8T CPU from eight years ago or so, assuming you have a decent CPU going along with it.
  • R3MF - Tuesday, April 21, 2020 - link

    B550 hard launch on June 16th?

    Dear god I hope so - as my haswell htpc is starting to reset itself far too often!
  • Schmich - Tuesday, April 21, 2020 - link

    Why would you pick a CPU without iGPU for an HTPC? APUs are the dream for HTPCs. Low power and dead-silent whilst watching movies or streaming games from your PC.
  • brucethemoose - Tuesday, April 21, 2020 - link

    In that case, why not just use a Shield or some Android box? Its cheaper, and streaming services on Windows can be kinda finicky, especially if you're trying to stream HDR.
  • R3MF - Tuesday, April 21, 2020 - link

    i haven't mentioned cpu's in any capacity at all, i talk only of the B550.

    to repeat: i want one, so i hope this is a hard launch!
  • rocky12345 - Tuesday, April 21, 2020 - link

    They said B550 hard launch on June 16? I did not see where they said they wanted to buy one of these CPU's for the B550 setup but just that hey were looking forward to the B550 setuip. I am sure if they are smart and don't want to go with a dGPU card they would just pick up one of AMD's recently released desktop APU's.
  • Operandi - Tuesday, April 21, 2020 - link

    Is this a new chip design or just half a (I forget the chip name) 3700X with half of it disabled?
  • Dragonstongue - Tuesday, April 21, 2020 - link

    take any of the 8c16t parts chop in half, you get 4c/8t as well 1/2 the 4mb L2 to get the 2mb L2 in these.. likely is a "binned" chip .. much like the 3600 is the 3900 (though I have read, in 3600 case was actually opposite, where the "best" became the higher parts instead of the "worst" became lower end "binned")

    I digress though, makes perfect sense to me, 3800/3700 "fail" on something or other, they get binned to become these 2 "new" chips

    would have been truly @#$ excellent if we could have had the super high clock rates of the mobile parts for desktop, that is, 15w instead of the 65/105w stuff .. imagine the world wide power savings :O

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