AMD have two new budget Ryzen 3000 CPUs on the way

After claiming several top spots in my best gaming CPU list last year, AMD have just announced they've got two more Ryzen 3000 CPUs on the way for desktop PCs: the Ryzen 3 3100 and Ryzen 3 3300X. Based on AMD's Zen 2 core architecture, these are set to be AMD's fastest Ryzen 3 processors to date. They're also the first Ryzen 3 CPUs to make use of AMD's simultaneous multi-threading technology for better productivity, too, offering a tangible step-up from AMD's current (and only) Ryzen 3 processor, the Ryzen 3 3200G. That's not all AMD have announced today, either, as they've also unveiled a brand-new motherboard chipset to go with them - the long-awaited AMD B550 series, which is the successor to the popular B450 chipset. Here's everything you need to know.

Arriving this May for $99 and $120 respectively, the Ryzen 3 3100 and Ryzen 3 3300X are both quad-core, eight-thread CPUs with a TDP (or thermal design point) of just 65W, which will be good news for energy-conscious PC builders on a tight budget. To see where they slot into the wider Ryzen 3000 family, have a look at the table below.

AMD haven't revealed much about how they compare to Intel's 9th Gen Coffee Lake CPUs just yet, but one figure they have shared about the Ryzen 3 3100 is that it should offer up to 20% more gaming performance than "the competition" on High quality settings at 1920x1080, which includes their own Ryzen 3 2300X CPU from their previous generation of Ryzen 3 desktop CPUs and Intel's Core i3-9100. The Ryzen 3 3100 will also be one to watch for anyone looking to do more creative tasks on a budget as well, as AMD claim the Ryzen 3 3100 will offer up to 75% more performance than the competition here, which is quite the leap if you're a budding photo or video editor.

Alas, we'll have to wait until closer to their launch next month before we find out more about where the Ryzen 3 3300X stands, but needless to say, it should offer even nippier speeds than its Ryzen 3 3100 sibling, and by extension its Intel competition. Of course, there have been plenty of rumblings around the internet lately that Intel will be launching their new 10th Gen Core desktop CPUs soon (they've already begun with their H-series of mobile Comet Lake CPUs, so a desktop launch can't be massively far behind), so it's possible that AMD's figures won't hold up for very much longer. Still, as budget gaming CPUs go, this new pair of Ryzen processors are certainly worth keeping an eye on for anyone looking to upgrade their PC in the near future.

As for AMD's new B550 motherboard chipset, this is still based on AMD's current AM4 socket, so it should be compatible with all of AMD's current Ryzen 3000 CPUs, not just the two new Ryzen 3 processors - although it's likely that existing Ryzen CPU owners will need to perform a BIS update first before dropping in their existing processor. I'll update with more information on exactly which processors are compatible with the B550 chipset as soon as I can. What's more, just like their high-end X570 chipset, the B550 boards will have built-in support for the super fast PCIe 4.0 standard, which AMD say should offer twice the bandwidth of their existing B450 motherboard chipsets.

Alas, you'll have to wait a bit longer before you can get your hands on one of their B550 motherboards, as these aren't due to arrive until June 16th. However, all the usual suspects should have boards available on that date, with Asus, AsRock, Gigabyte, MSI, Biostar and Colorful all confirmed for its June launch date.