Recent evaluations of Ryzen 3 3100 and 3300X are available.
Recent evaluations of Ryzen 3 3100 and 3300X are available.
Consensus reached – improved support for the 4600U-1KU model is essential. A budget laptop under $400 with fewer than six Zen 2 cores has no justification.
The cost of those CPUs is impressive, around $100 to $120 for a 4-core, 8-thread setup. With a $1,000 budget, would you choose A) the brand new Ryzen 3, paired with a strong graphics card, or B) a better CPU like the Ryzen 5 3600 and a less powerful GPU? I’d pick B because in 2020 gaming PCs usually have quad-core performance. To balance, I could opt for more affordable components elsewhere—like switching from a Gold to a Bronze power supply—and save about $30 to $40. Other savings might come from a cheaper case, motherboard, or taking advantage of combo deals.
This seems aimed at more affordable projects, not massive budgets. Perfect if you're limited to around $600.
I wasn't prepared for the differences in core configurations between the two models. For personal computing, that would push things toward the 3300X since unified cache makes a big difference. It would be more appealing if they reversed the approach—using 2+2 and a full 32MB cache on a higher-end model. I understand not everyone can afford it; these options seem great for very tight budgets. The overall performance isn't outstanding, but it offers better value compared to what we've seen before. I still believe the 3600 remains the stronger choice at an entry-level price. In fact, I know the 3500 isn't officially available in the West, but I think it would perform better than either of these. It might also cost more. Let's not overlook the newly announced 10th generation Intel CPUs, which provide consistent performance across the board. The i3 series should match Intel's performance, though at a slight premium. I expect it will deliver more than people realize from past Intel models.
The slight overclocking on an Intel 8-core Zen 2 processor brings only modest gains. The performance improvement is even smaller when you look at the difference between an overclocked 10700K and a 3800X. Cooling the i7 becomes significantly more challenging, costs extra, and it’s a tough climb. It’s also frustrating given how long it took Intel to keep up with AMD’s recent releases.
Comet Lake remains based on Skylake, so major IPC changes aren't anticipated. Depending on the situation, improvements could hinge on other system settings. At most, we won't notice significant new features on mainstream Intel desktops until Rocket Lake arrives, which some believe will be a 14nm version of Willow Cove. There won't be any real process leap, but reaching beyond Skylake gives it a better shot against Zen 3.
Celeron G59xx isn't what you're looking for. It's frustrating that Intel is sticking with 14nm for desktop processors after all these years. As someone who's been a fan of Intel for two decades, I'm planning to switch to AMD around 2022. Are we talking about 5nm Zen 4?