What’s the Difference AMD Ryzen 3 3100 vs 3300X: It’s More than Just the Frequency and Cache!

AMD just launched the latest products of the Matisse family in the form of the Ryzen 3 3100 and the 3300X. In terms of the specs, the difference between the two seems minimal at best, and yet there’s a notable performance delta. So, what gives? Let me explain. The difference between the two chips is more than just about the frequency and L3 cache size. The Ryzen 3 3100 and 3300X have entirely different topologies. That means the two chips have different cores enabled across the two CCXs. Have a look:

The Ryzen 3 3100 has two cores enabled across two CCXs, with each featuring 8MB of L3 cache resulting in the total 16MB. The 3300X, on the other hand, features a single CCX with all four cores enabled while the other one is disabled. This means that in case of the latter, all the cores on the same CCX, and essentially “closer” to one another, resulting in better core-to-core latency which is very important in gaming. AnandTech made a nice table comparing the latencies of the two chips against Intel’s Core i7-7700K:

As you can see, the core to core latency for the 3300X is much more consistent while the 3100 is all over the place.

In comparison, the Core i7s monolithic structure means that the c-c latencies are better than both the Ryzen 3 parts, but the 3300X isn’t that far off.



Back to top button