By Robin Owens 2 days ago, Hardware
Affordable and high-quality AMD CPUs.
Over the past few years, the best AMD CPU has become a sought-after component for many PC-building enthusiasts and gamers. If you wish to boost the gaming experience, an excellent CPU won’t be enough. You will also need a decent graphics card since a weak or outdated GPU will only make things worse.
Many customers choose AMD processors over, for instance, Intel ones due to the combination of top-notch efficiency and inexpensive prices. Even those who don’t have any budget restrictions often stick with AMD processors.
If you aren’t familiar with the CPU world, you may get lost in a rich selection of AMD processors. Fortunately, we have created this guide to help you find out which one is the best AMD CPU for novices, which one is a better option in the mid-range category, and which one offers maximum power.
Cores: 8 | Threads: 16 | Base clook: 3.6 GHz | Boost clock: 4.4 GHz
AMD Ryzen 7 3700X has met almost all the expectations, and even more. The processor has seriously increased both single-threaded and multi-threaded performance, and has become noticeably more economical. The 3700X offers an excellent price / performance ratio. Zen 2 Gen has virtually eliminated the gap to the competition.
With no doubt, the Ryzen 7 3700X's multi-core performance is better than any of Intel's current consumer CPUs. The test processor surprised us with good gaming results and reduced power consumption. AMD has made significant improvements in the Zen 2 architecture - the Ryzen 7 3700X comes close to the Core i7 in single-core performance.
Cores: 6 | Threads: 12 | Base clook: 3.6 GHz | Boost clock: 4.2 GHz
The Zen 2 microarchitecture has enabled AMD to dramatically improve the consumer experience of its current offerings. But the six-core AMD Ryzen 5 3600 processors turned out to be especially advantageous in the Ryzen 3000 lineup. In their price range, they are able to offer the best combination of price and performance. When working with digital content, the Ryzen 5 3600 is ahead of any CPU of the Core i5 family and shows the performance level of the Core i7.
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 is compatible with many older Socket AM4 boards and delivers performance at least as good as the flagship Ryzen 1800X, even in multi-threaded, resource-intensive apps. You don't have to use expensive motherboards with AMD processors. When there are no strict restrictions on the cost of the system, we would recommend that you first think about buying a Ryzen 5 3600.
Cores: 12 | Threads: 24 | Base clook: 3.8 GHz | Boost clock: 4.6 GHz
AMD has made the new Ryzen 9 3900X processors quite successful overall. Continuous work on microarchitecture optimization has finally brought a successful result: AMD processors have significantly reduced the single-core performance gap from Intel. The Ryzen 9 3900X almost reaches the Core i9-9900K in single-threaded tests and significantly outperforms it in multi-threaded tests.
We recommend choosing the Ryzen 9 3900X if you are streaming, video rendering, or are into digital content creation. In addition, this 12-core processor is still not very power-hungry.
Cores: 32 | Threads: 64 | Base clook: 3.7 GHz | Boost clock: 4.5 GHz
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X is powered by TRX40 platform. This is the most productive and functional solution in 2021, suitable for creating personal computers. The platform does a great job when playing games. 32 processor cores provide high power to support 64 threads simultaneously.
88 PCIe Gen4 lanes allow you to connect more graphics cards and NVMe drives. Up to 144 MB combo cache provides fast access to large data. 4-channel DDR4 ECC memory guarantees reliable bandwidth.
Cores: 4 | Threads: 4 | Base clook: 3.6 GHz | Boost clock: 4.0 GHz
The main feature of the AMD Ryzen 3 3200G is the increased performance of cores and graphics by improving the technical process. The 3200G features TurboBoost technology that boosts the highest performing core to 4 GHz. The processor also has a L3 cache of 4 MB and a heat dissipation of 65 W. The boxed version of the Ryzen 3 3200G comes with Wraith Stealt cooling. An OEM kit is also available.
Vega 8 is used as a video processor. AMD is positioning the graphics core not only as an option for office tasks, but also as a solution for undemanding gamers. These characteristics are in line with today's budget desktop graphics cards.
| IMAGE | NAME | FEATURES | |
|---|---|---|---|
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AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
Our Choice
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CHECK PRICE → | |
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AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Stable
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CHECK PRICE → | |
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AMD Ryzen 9 3900X
For gaming
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CHECK PRICE → |
Don’t want to put in your time and effort fiddling with settings in order to enhance gaming performance? Then we suggest that you invest $20-$60 more and get a chip of a premium category, instead of having to purchase a top-grade cooler as well.
It is indeed hard to compare AMD or Intel because these two boast awesome price-quality ratio and superb overall CPU efficiency. But if gaming is your priority, Intel’s chips will help you improve performance a bit (while consuming greater amounts of power), especially in combination with a graphics card. As for AMD’s Raven Ridge models, for instance, the AMD Ryzen 3 2200G, excel at providing gaming-capable performance at moderate settings and resolution. A graphics card isn’t required in this case.
The speed at which a CPU can carry out instructions is referred to as clock speed and is measured in hertz. A processor with a 3.7 GHz clock speed is capable of processing 3.7 billion instructions per second. The gaming performance and workload functions greatly depend on clock speed.
Socket type determines how a CPU interacts with the socket on a motherboard. The LGA one is used on Intel sockets with the pins being part of the socket. The pins of AMD’s AM4 solution, PGA, are found on the processor and fit into holes on the socket. AMD’s Threadripper CPUs use LGA sockets as well. As for BGA sockets, the processor is fused to the motherboard for good. That’s the typical case for laptops.
