AMD Ryzen 3 1200 and 1300X 2020 Latest Updated Review

AMD Ryzen 3 1200 and 1300X 2020 Latest Updated  Review

AMD’s range of Ryzen processors have proved game-changing, but there’s no denying that the excellent Ryzen 7 parts can be a tad expensive

This allows Ryzen CPUs to provide an extra boost to a single core. X-suffix chips can improve a single core by 100MHz, while processors without that branding receive a 50MHz bump.a

Ryzen 3 1300X & 1200

The quad-core 1300X is AMD’s first Ryzen processor that doesn’t feature simultaneous multi-threading, so it only schedules four threads at a time, like Core i5.

Still, when it’s up against Intel’s two Hyper-Threaded cores, the 1300X boasts a notable resource advantage.

AMD arms Ryzen 3 1300X with a 3.4 GHz base frequency that jumps as high as 3.9 GHz under lightly-threaded tasks.

The -1300X also offers a 3.6 GHz clock rate with all cores active. Meanwhile, Intel keeps its Core i3-7300 operating at a static 4.0 GHz clock rate.

The quad-core Ryzen 3 1200 has a 3.1 GHz base frequency that scales to 3.45 GHz via XFR. It does battle against the Core i3-7100’s static 3.9 GHz.

Ryzen 3’s unlocked multipliers play a key role in overcoming Core i3’s higher clock rates. You’ll need a capable cooler to push these chips hard, though. Both AMD and Intel bundle their lower-end CPUs with heat sink/fan combos.

Whats more

The Ryzen 3 1300X runs between 3.5GHz and 3.7GHz, though the X in its name signifies support for XFR, or eXtended Frequency Range.

There’s an additional 200MHz of headroom within which the chip can push itself if it determines that the thermal solution you’re using can handle it.

On the other hand, the Ryzen 3 1200 runs between 3.1 and 3.4GHz – XFR is still supported, but with a far less generous 50MHz ceiling.

Both Ryzen 3 chips have 8MB of L3 cache memory and both have a 65W TDP rating.

Both also ship with AMD’s Wraith Stealth cooler, which is pretty small and unobtrusive.

It also doesn’t have the LED ring that its bigger siblings, the Wraith Spire and Wraith Max do.

Overclocking and heat

Even without touching the AMD Ryzen Master software, our processor easily reached a 3.89GHz frequency during testing.

Further overclocking the part will give you the extra performance you need for processor intensive tasks.

However, we never really felt like we needed it outside of giving Ashes of the Singularity a more playable frame rate.

In terms of temperatures, the Ryzen 3 1300X runs a little hotter than we would like. The processor sits at 41 to 69 degrees Celsius when stressed in our testing

That’s still not hot enough to cause thermal-throttling issues, but you’ll likely want to invest in a good air or liquid cooler to replace the included Wraith Stealth CPU fan.

Performance

The Ryzen 3 1300X performs exactly as we expected it would up against the Intel Core i3-3750K, but we still came away a little disappointed.

AMD’s processor has double the cores over Intel’s chip, but each die isn’t nearly as quick.

As we can see from the Cinebench and Geekbench results, this translates to weaker single-core performance, but as a whole the processor scores higher.

Features and chipset

Like AMD’s Ryzen 5 platform, Ryzen 3 comes built on a 14nm FinFET architecture and optimized for its current AM4 platform.

Users going for this budget CPU would likely go for a budget-friendly B350 chipset motherboard that supports six lanes of PCIe Gen 2 for solid-state drives (SSDs), two USB 3.1 Gen2, but lacking support for multiple graphics cards.

More price-conscious builders can also opt for the even lower-priced A320 chipset, but you’ll need to bear in mind that this choice comes with some considerable trade-offs.

Namely, overclocking is locked off, plus you’ll only have one USB port with a throughput of 10Gbps and two fewer PCIe lanes for SSDs.

Pros

• Four physical cores for much less than competing Intel Core i5 chips.
• Gaming performance on par with similar Intel chips.

Cons

• Lacks thread-doubling SMT tech of pricier Ryzen chips.
• Better-performing, higher-clocked Ryzen 3 1300X costs just $20 more.

Performance Testing

For our test setup, we dropped the Ryzen 3 1300X into the same Gigabyte AB350-Gaming 3 motherboard we used to test the Ryzen 5 line, along with 16GB of GEIL EVO X DDR4 memory running at 3,200MHz.

An AMD Radeon RX 480 video card handled display output for our CPU-specific tests, and a Toshiba OCZ Vector 150 was the SATA-interface boot drive.

We could have used a faster PCI Express/NVMe drive, but as we tested previous chips from Intel and AMD using SATA SSDs, we didn’t want to drop in a speed demon and give the Ryzen 3 chip an unfair advantage.

SATA SSDs are still very respectable.

Its Compatibility

Buying a new CPU isn’t as simple as slapping it into your existing motherboard.

You’ll have to buy one that was specifically produced for Ryzen. Additionally, the features that your motherboard can support are set by the technologies that Ryzen supports.

Fortunately, these chips are on the cutting edge.

They support 10 GBPS USB 3.1 gen 2 as well as NVMe storage. Ryzen uses DDR4 memory.

Although it’s cutting edge, it is a little pricier than DDR3, so be prepare to make the upgrade – older RAM isn’t supported on any Ryzen motherboards.