AMD announces Zen 2 Ryzen 3 3100 and Ryzen 3 3300X CPUs for mainstream, risks cannibalizing sales due to Ryzen 5 1600 AF and upcoming Renoir desktop

The AMD Zen 2 Ryzen 3000 lineup is comprised of the Ryzen 9, Ryzen 7, and the Ryzen 5 series. With the Ryzen 5 3600 starting from US$199, system builders on tighter budgets had no option but to go for an Athlon or an Intel Core i3 option. All that changes today as AMD has introduced two new processors, the Ryzen 3 3100 and the Ryzen 3 3300X, in its Ryzen 3000 lineup to fill the void in the US$100 to US$150 segment.

The Ryzen 3 3100 is a 4C/8T 65W part with a base clock of 3.6 GHz and a boost of up to 3.9 GHz. This US$99 processor has a 2 MB L2 cache and a 16 MB L3 cache, and supports up to 24 PCIe Gen 4 lanes. The Ryzen 3 3300X also sports a similar feature set but is clocked at 3.8 GHz base and 4.3 GHz boost. The Ryzen 3 3300X will retail for US$120. 

The Ryzen 3 3300X is a welcome upgrade over the Ryzen 3 2300X. The latter did not support multithreading and had only 10 MB of total cache. Since the Ryzen 3 3300X and the Ryzen 3 3100 sport just four cores, they could probably sport just a single monolithic CCX die as opposed to having two CCXs with four cores each on a chiplet. AdoredTV confirmed from their sources that the Ryzen 3 parts will be using a new Matisse 2 die that is much smaller and is more easy to produce compared to the dual-chiplet dies we have been seeing all along. 

While it is good to see AMD further trickling down Zen 2 features to entry-level price points, these chips face competition not from Intel's upcoming Comet Lake-S but from AMD itself. Remember the Ryzen 5 1600 AF? That 12nm Zen+ chip offers six cores and 12 threads for just US$85. Then there is the upcoming Renoir desktop parts that will offer the same Ryzen 4000 goodness for desktops, now at 65W. Whether they will be priced above or on par with the new Ryzen 3 processors will be known in the days to come. 

Both the Ryzen 3 3100 and Ryzen 3 3300X will be available worldwide starting May 21, 2020. 

B550 motherboards to be available soon

Apart from the new Ryzen 3 processors, AMD also finally announced the much delayed mid-range B550 chipset that will be compatible with all Ryzen 3000 processors. More details about the B550 chipset are still awaited, but AMD has confirmed PCIe Gen 4 support. More than 60 B550 chipset-based motherboards by various vendors are set to launch on June 16.