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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Total Meltdowner - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link
I've done it like twice. That's pretty good, though. May do it again here with the 3700x if the price drops a bit. Will replace my 1800x.proflogic - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link
That moving line for HEDT is kind of lame. Now it costs even more to get more memory channels and/or PCIe lanes.Are core counts increasing to nonsense levels on AM4? Can they even be served well with the amount of I/O and memory throughput available to them?
Spunjji - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
Not really. A little more, but not a lot more.The answer to your question can be found on this site. The short answer is: yes.
The long answer is: some tasks benefit from more memory bandwidth, but only if they're bound by that limitation in the first place. They're the sort of tasks you'd only do on a HEDT platform in the first place.
WaltC - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link
Nice write up! It's interesting to watch Intel drop further and further behind. 2020 should be a blowout year for AMD. Surprising that anyone is still buying Intel's old, massively security-hole-punched architectures, made on the old 14nm process, to boot. Processing performance, not MHz, has been the name-of-the-game since 1999. Hard to believe that in 2019 there are people who still don't understand what that means...;) I always thought it was rather elementary.imaheadcase - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link
Umm, considering holes was fixed, and 14nm process means nothing to end users they are doing good. Intel is still a great CPU, it makes sense for lots of people. Upgrade path to AMD is not exactly cheap if you already have intel cpu..you got to get new mobo/ram as added cost to going amd.Mhz is still king for flat game performance as well.
Sounds like you are just a uninformed on how things actually work in the real world.
Korguz - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link
" Mhz is still king for flat game performance as well. " not really.. ipc is also just as important.and right now, clock for clock, amd wins there. for the most part, ryzen is pretty close to intel even with the clock speed disadvantage... imagine if ryzen were at the same clocks as intel...milkywayer - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link
Yup because we should all cpu buying decisions based on what cpu offers an extra frame or two when most games on almost all mod tier cpus can do 75 to 100fps.14nm is ancient and Intel is milking it thanks to fangirls who were happily buying dual core i7s on mobile until AMD came in and kicked them in the rear and finally made 6 core cpus the new low tier norm.
Count Rushmore - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link
Don't be harsh... according to them, human eyes can only see 4 cores & PC is for gaming only. All Those multi-billions $ games apparently developed exclusively on i7 procskgardas - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link
"Umm, considering holes was fixed," -- are you sure? To me it looks like Intel still sell more CPUs with holes not fixed (in silicon) than those fixed. Honestly Intel message about this is all big mess...haukionkannel - Friday, November 8, 2019 - link
It is all about pricing! Intel has huge r&d and their cpus Are really good, if the price is ok!