The AMD Ryzen 5 2600X is a high-end desktop processor with 6 cores (12 threads) that was announced early 2018. It is based on the revised Zen+ cores and at launch the second fastest Ryzen CPU behind the Ryzen 7 2700X. The CPU cores clock at 3.6 GHz base and using Precision Boost 2 up to 4.2 GHz. All 6 cores and 12 threads can clock up to 3.9 GHz. The 6 cores are divided in two cluster (3 cores each with own L3 cache) connected via Infinity Fabric.
Compared to the older first Ryzen generation (e.g., Ryzen 5 1600X), the second generation is manufactured in an improved process (12nm called), offers and improved Precision Boost 2 (especially in partial load of the cores) and faster cache and memory speeds.
The AMD Ryzen 3 3250U is an entry-level, dual-core APU that was announced in 2020. The Ryzen features two Zen cores (SMT is enabled for a total of 4 threads) running at 2.6 GHz to 3.5 GHz and a Radeon RX Vega 3 graphics adapter (3 Compute Units = 192 unified shaders) running at up to 1,200 MHz. The specifications are similar to the older Ryzen 3 3200U, with the lower peak operating temperature of Ryzen 3 3250U (95 °C versus the 105 °C) being the only difference between the two.
AMD Ryzen 3 3250C is a special edition of Ryzen 3 3250U designed for use in Chromebooks. The specifications and performance figures appear to be identical between the two.
Architecture
Unlike the costlier Ryzen 5 3500U, Ryzen 3 3250U is not Zen+ based. It makes use of the ageing Zen architecture and is manufactured on the same 14 nm TSMC process as Ryzen 2000-series laptop-grade processors. This has several repercussions; the limited RAM support is one of them. DDR4-3200, DDR4-2933, DDR4-2666 modules are not supported here. It's just the DDR4-2400, DDR4-2133 and lower on.
The CPU has several PCI-Express 3.0 lanes and is thus compatible with NVMe SSDs (read/write rates will be limited to 3.9 GB/s) as well as discrete graphics cards. Ryzen 3 3250U gets soldered permanently on to the motherboard (FP5 socket interface) and is thus not user-replaceable.
As far as multi-thread benchmark scores are concerned, this Ryzen series chip directly competes with the Core i3-10110U, Core i3-1110G4 and also the Athlon Gold 3150U. While the 3250U is certainly not a powerhouse, mundane tasks such as web browsing and casual gaming pose little problem to it, as of early 2022.
Graphics
The Vega 3 is fairly close to Intel's UHD Graphics 620 as far as performance and capabilities go. The graphics adapter supports UHD 2160p monitors at 60 fps, and it can HW-decode VP9, AVC, HEVC, MPEG-2 and other popular video codecs. The latest AV1 codec is not supported, though. Such a video will have to be decoded via software, with the limited CPU horsepower imposing a hard limit on the resolution that can be played back without stuttering.
The Vega will allow for a bit of light gaming; F1 2021 runs well at 720p / Low, to give you an example. Quality RAM will allow for higher frame rates and the opposite is true as well; please keep in mind that Vega 3 has no VRAM of its own.
Power consumption
Energy efficiency isn't great here. The Ryzen is built with a 14 nm manufacturing process leading to low, as of early 2023, energy efficiency.
The APU has a default TDP, also known as the long-term Power Limit, of 15 W. Laptop makers are free to reduce that value a little, with 12 W being the lower limit, or give it a noticeable bump (up to 25 W are possible). Clock speeds and performance will change accordingly as a result.
While not as power-hungry as the Ryzen 3 3100 or any other desktop chip, the R3 3250U is still not likely to ever feature in a passively cooled laptop, tablet or mini-PC.
- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card - Average benchmark values for this graphics card * Smaller numbers mean a higher performance 1 This benchmark is not used for the average calculation
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