AMD Q4: 16-core Ryzen 9 3950X, Threadripper Up To 32-Core 3970X, Coming November 25th
by Dr. Ian Cutress on November 7, 2019 9:00 AM ESTAMD Athlon 3000G: Aligning Names and Numbers at $49
The odd-one out from today’s announcement is a processor at the other end of the portfolio. To put it into context, if a user wants to jump on board the 7nm and Zen 2 bandwagon, the entry price point is $199 for the Ryzen 5 3600. Below that we have older hardware based on Zen 1, and AMD’s APU line of processors featuring integrated graphics. The new Athlon 3000G sits firmly in this category, and aims to be a very interesting processor indeed.
The Athlon 3000G is a 35W dual core Zen+ processor with 3 compute units of Vega graphics, built on 12nm and falls in the Picasso family of hardware. It doesn’t have any turbo, but does have a nominal frequency of 3.5 GHz on the CPU and 1100 MHz on the GPU. Supported memory speeds are DDR4-2933 and it can support up to 64 GB. It will come bundled with AMD’s 65W near-silent stock cooler, which is absolutely overkill for this product.
If a dual core Zen+ Picasso APU sounds familiar, it’s because AMD already has a processor that fits the bill: the AMD Athlon 300GE. Following previous convention, I would have expected AMD to call this new processor the 320GE, as it has +100 MHz more on the CPU. However, AMD are changing the naming for two reasons.
First, to align it more with the Ryzen family. With the Ryzen 3000 series starting with the Ryzen 3 3200G for the 65W Zen+ APUs, moving into the Ryzen 5 3600 for the 65 W desktop Zen 2 CPUs, each of these are four digits plus a letter. By moving to 3000G, it allows AMD to equate the two families together (even if there’s still an APU/desktop CPU microarchitecture mismatch).
AMD AM4 APU List | ||||||
AnandTech | Cores Threads |
Base Freq |
Turbo Freq |
Vega CUs |
TDP | Price |
12nm Zen+ - Picasso | ||||||
Ryzen 5 3400G | 4 / 8 | 3700 | 4200 | 11 | 65 W | $149 |
Ryzen 3 3200G | 4 / 4 | 3600 | 4000 | 8 | 65 W | $99 |
Athlon 3000G | 2 / 4 | 3500 | - | 3 | 35 W | $49 |
Athlon Pro 300GE | 2 / 4 | 3400 | - | 3 | 35 W | - |
14nm Zen - Raven Ridge | ||||||
Ryzen 5 2400G | 4 / 8 | 3600 | 3900 | 11 | 65 W | $169 |
Ryzen 5 2400GE | 4 / 8 | 3200 | 3800 | 11 | 35 W | - |
Ryzen 3 2200G | 4 / 4 | 3500 | 3700 | 8 | 65 W | $99 |
Ryzen 3 2200GE | 4 / 4 | 3200 | 3600 | 8 | 35 W | - |
Athlon 240GE | 2 / 4 | 3500 | - | 3 | 35 W | $75 |
Athlon 220GE | 2 / 4 | 3400 | - | 3 | 35 W | $65 |
Athlon 200GE | 2 / 4 | 3200 | - | 3 | 35 W | $55 |
The other aspect is that the Athlon 3000G is also unlocked. AMD touts the 3000G as the first AM4 Athlon that is fully unlocked for overclocking, allowing users to adjust the CPU multiplier as high as their dreams desire (or to the limits of the silicon). As AMD is pairing the CPU with its 65W cooler, that means a lot of users, as long as the motherboard supports overclocking, should be able to push their CPU a bit higher. AMD stated that the +400 MHz in the slide deck for our briefing would represent a ‘typical’ overclock for an end-user, but then clarified they did use a high-end cooler to achieve that value. Nonetheless, an unlocked $49 chip with a cooler than can handle double the TDP could be exciting for users wanting to test their overclocking skills.
The other feather in AMD’s cap for this new chip is that it competes against Intel’s Celeron and Pentium desktop processors. Given the high demand for Intel's high-end 14nm products, the Pentium and Celeron parts have been available in relatively low in volumes as they don’t make as much money, especially when high-end demand is high. In that instance, AMD has the advantage as the company stated that there will be plenty of Athlon silicon to go around.
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evernessince - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link
A slight increase in price doesn't make it Intel. You also have to consider the included features like PCI 4.0 and a monstrous amount of lanes.Compare that to Intel, which increased prices while providing the same core count, feature set, and extremely small IPC increases.
RavenRampkin - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link
So the 3000G is basically a CS:GO cruncher on a budget 👍Also it's good they're taking their time with the 3950X cause imho distant but realistic deadlines > watery "soon™" > short but unfulfilled deadline. Sadly AMD seems to have been thru all 3 stages at this point...
Spoelie - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link
Not so sure about that, I would've probably upgraded to 3950X if it was there on the initial launch day, but now it feels it makes more sense to wait for Ryzen 4000/Zen 3 - it's only another 6 months. I upgraded from 2700X to a 3700X to tie me over in the meantimeSquarePeg - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link
It'll probably be more like 10 months as Ryzen release dates have been slipping back a bit with each new generation. I would expect Ryzen 4000 to be available mid to late Q3 2020.wishgranter - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link
Gigabyte MoBoshttps://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Socket-sTRX4
Marlin1975 - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link
So no news on the B550 chipset? :(haukionkannel - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
Next year... as it was always expected from the x570 release.sor - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link
I’m sort of wishing they announced a full line, even if they are only launching two in November. I have no idea if I want to wait and see what else is coming or buy now.deil - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link
$55 --> $49 with slight performance boost?now can I please get any microitx board to make this most powerful smart tv?
I wonder why we cannot get super small am4 boards for so long?
Targon - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link
There are ITX boards out there for Ryzen, but considering that the processors themselves have tended to be more powerful, putting them into a small system can be problematic. The new 7nm processors solve some of those problems, though I wish AMD would have released 7nm APUs by now.