Which is better AMD Ryzen 3 or AMD Ryzen 5?

AMD’s most recently developed third-generation Ryzen 3 and Ryzen 5 CPUs have been seriously improved, and they offer huge performance gains over their predecessors in the second-generation Ryzen range. Check out their specifications below to see what these upgraded processors look like in a side by side comparison.

AMD Ryzen 3 2200G

Good CPU and GPU performance

May bottleneck higher-end GPU upgrades

Will struggle with some modern games

AMD Ryzen 5 3600X

Huge overclocking headspace

Fantastic single thread performance

100+fps across the most popular AAA game titles

The 95W TDP is fairly high, especially when you consider the 3700x is only 65W

Within each family, Ryzen processors are also given a model number to distinguish between them. The general rule is that the higher the number, the more powerful the CPU is going to be. An example of this would be the Ryzen 3 1200, which can’t quite match the Ryzen 5 5600. However, if the model number end with an X, this means the CPU will boost the clock speed under certain conditions.

Clock Speed 

Both the latest Ryzen 3 and 5 CPUs reach the minimum recommended requirements for gaming, which is a base clock speed of 3.5GHz. For the fastest frame rates possible, the Ryzen 5 is the better choice, with the 5 3600X boasting 3.8GHz as a base speed and a max clock speed of 4.4Ghz. As you’ll see below, however, really these are incremental improvements on what the Ryzen 3 has to offer depending which chip you choose. 

Not to be completely outdone, AMD’s Ryzen 3 3100 and 3300X have been developed to be the fastest Ryzen 3 chips available, although of the two, the 3300X model takes the lead with a max boost clock of up to 4.3GHz and a higher base clock of 3.8GHz. Compared to earlier versions like the 3 31200 which has a base clock speed of 3.1GHz, this is a notable improvement.

The faster the clock speed, the quicker your CPU will run. It’s pretty simple in theory, but this is where things can start to get confusing between CPUs within the same family. In gaming, you’ll benefit more from a higher single core clock speed, but the number of cores can also play a part in how well your PC performs. 

Cores

The Ryzen 3 has up to 4 core processors, exceeded by the Ryzen 5 which has up to 6 cores. That doesn’t sound like a huge difference, right? Actually, you’d be wrong to think this, although there’s obviously not quite as much of a quality gap as there is between the Ryzen 3 and the Ryzen 9, which boasts up to 16 cores. 

Ryzen 5 pulls ahead in this respect, as more cores allow for more advanced multitasking which is something to consider if you’re streaming and gaming from the same PC.

Threads 

Every Ryzen 3 CPU has 8 threads, whereas Ryzen 5s have 12. The latter is therefore better at simultaneously processing commands. The boosted performance of multithreading CPUs is highly beneficial for demanding applications like rendering 3D imagery.

Although a larger number of games don’t see large benefits from multithreading, due to their reliance on 1-2 threads. However, demanding titles like Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 will see performance improvements with more cores and threads.

Socket 

Unlike Intel who’ve released their 10th generation CPUs with a new LGA 1200 Socket, AMD have decided to go down the accessibility route and have designed their new generation of Ryzen 3 and Ryzen 5 processors with AM4 sockets.  

If you intend to upgrade your CPU in the near future, it’s likely AMD will support the AM4 socket for multiple iterations. A simple BIOS update will allow your motherboard to support later CPU releases.

Cache

Seeing as this is where common commands are stored so they can be retrieved quickly, faster gameplay can also be achieved by purchasing a CPU that has a larger cache memory size. Within their Ryzen chips the 5 outperforms the 3. 

The most recently released generation of the Ryzen 3, the 3100 and the 3300X both have a total cache of 18MB, compared to the 36MB of the Ryzen 5 3600X. This means it can store more of your frequently used data which can therefore be accessed quicker, resulting in smoother gameplay. 

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