Ryzen 3 1200 CPU by AMD Review

Intro

After launching Ryzen 7 (high-end) and Ryzen 5 (mainstream) lineups, AMD released last week the Ryzen 3 entry CPUs. There are two new models: the Ryzen 3 1300X (3.5 GHz base clock, 3.7 GHz turbo clock) and the Ryzen 3 1200 (3.1 GHz base clock, 3.4 GHz turbo clock.) Both of them have four cores and four threads, so they differ from the Ryzen 5 models only on the lack of SMT (simultaneous multi-threading), which simulates one more logical cores for each physical one.
Ryzen CPUs are manufactured under 14 nm “FinFET” technology. These CPUs are build with “Core Complex” (CCX) modules, and each CCX has four cores. Each core has 128 kiB L1 cache and 512 kiB L2 cache, and each CCX has an 8 MiB or 4 MiB L3 cache.
The Ryzen 3 1200 has two CCXs, with two disabled cores each, so its configuration is called 2+2. Its base clock is 3.1 GHz, and it can uses a core boost clock up to 3.4 GHz. There is also another clock rate named XFR, of 3.45 GHz, which is used when only one core is being used, under good refrigeration.
Ryzen CPUs have unlocked clock multiplier, which allows the user to overclocking it simply by changing the settings on the motherboard setup, if it uses one of the chipsets compatible with this feature (B350 e X370).
The Ryzen 3 1200 comes with the Wraith Stealth cooler.
By its price, the direct competitor of the Ryzen 3 1200 is the Intel Core i3-7100, which costs ten dollars more. So, we compared these two CPUs, and also included in the comparison the Ryzen 5 1400, the Ryzen 5 1600, the Ryzen 5 1500X, the Ryzen 5 1600X, the Core i3-7350K, and the Core i5-7400.
Figure 1 shows the box of the Ryzen 3 1200.

Figure 1: the Ryzen 3 1200 box

Figure 2 shows box contents: the Wraith Stealth cooler, the CPU itself, a case sticker, and a small manual (inside the small black box.)

Figure 2: box contents

The Wraith Stealth cooler is presented in Figure 3. Notice that it has not a copper base like the Wraith Spire model.

Figure 3: the Wraith Stealth cooler

Figure 1 shows the Ryzen 3 1200 CPU.

Figure 3: the Ryzen 3 1200 CPU

As the Ryzen CPUs come with no integrated video, we used a GeForce GTX 1080 video card on all tests.
Let’s compare the main specs of the reviewed CPUs in the next page.