A couple of weeks ago AMD revealed its new lineup of Ryzen 3 processors with the Zen 2 architecture. AMD has compared the Ryzen 3 3300X with the Intel Core i5-9400F in their announcement, and the 3100 with the Core i3-9100, but the arrival of the 10th-gen Intel Comet Lake chips shakes things up. The immense price difference between all the chips is quite interesting and shakes up the comparison table even further.
Ryzen 3 3300X vs Intel Core i5
Whereas the 9400F is a 6 core CPU with no hyperthreading, the 10400F takes things further with hyperthreading and thermal velocity boost. Here’s a look at all 3 processors:
| Ryzen 3 3300X | Intel Core i5-9400F | Intel Core i5-10400F | |
| Cores/Threads | 4/8 | 6/6 | 6/12 |
| Base Clock | 3.8 GHz | 2.9 GHz | 2.9 GHz |
| Boost Clock | 4.3 Ghz | 4.10 GHz | 4.3 GHz |
| TDP | 65W | 65W | 65W |
| Price | $120 | Under $150 | $157 |
AMD claims that the 3300X had a lead of up to 25% on the 9400F in synthetic benchmarks, with similar gains in other areas like content creation and gaming. That is quite impressive and shows just how far the Zen 2 architecture has come where a 4 core CPU is beating a 6 core one, although it does have higher clock speeds.
The 10400F, on the other hand, does have some tricks up its sleeve. While its base clock is a low 2.9 GHz, the same as the 9400F, it has Intel’s Thermal Velocity Boost and hyperthreading. However, the funny thing is the Ryzen 3 3300X is closer in price to the Core i3-10100, a 4 core/8 thread processor with similar clock speeds, & the existence of the even cheaper R3 3100 can get a little confusing for buyers.
Ryzen 3 3100 vs 3300X vs Core i3-10100
Now let’s talk about the humble Ryzen 3 3100. AMD claims that the lower end Zen 2 chip performs better against the Core i3-9100. But now, the 9100 is also going to be replaced by the hyperthreaded i3-10100. I’m interested to see how the Ryzen 3100 performs against that.
Here’s the spec sheet comparision:
| Ryzen 3 3100 | Ryzen 3 3300X | Intel Core i3-10100 | |
| Cores/Threads | 4/8 | 4/8 | 4/8 |
| Base Clock | 3.6 GHz | 3.8 GHz | 3.6 GHz |
| Boost Clock | 3.9 GHz | 4.3 GHz | 4.3 GHz |
| TDP | 65W | 65W | 65W |
| Price | $99 | $120 | $122 |
It’s immediately clear how Intel’s comet lake stacks up against Zen 2 now. The introduction of hyperthreading across the lineup is an interesting move, something we alluded to during the Comet Lake 10th Gen announcement.
While we haven’t seen any real-world performance tests with any of these processors, it sure will be interesting once they do come out. The entire AMD vs Intel was just got more interesting, with both companies’ recent product reveals and announcements targeting gamers being a hot topic for discussion.
On the one hand, you’ve got the budget Zen 2 CPUs which also support AM4, an already existing platform so gamers can upgrade to easily. On team blue’s side, Comet Lake-S desktop comes with a new LGA 1200 socket on Z490 motherboards. But at least we’re past the “4 cores for enthusiasts” stage, right?
Either way, it’s going to be interesting seeing as how AMD still has their Zen 3 CPUs that’ll launch sometime around Q3 this year.