AMD’s $120 Ryzen 3300X can best Intel’s 2017 desktop flagship – That’s the Ryzen Effect

Before AMD released its first generation of Ryzen processors, Intel launched its Kaby Lake-S series, a refined series of Skylake processors which offered users improved integrated graphics chips and higher core clock speeds. At launch, Intel’s Kaby Lake flagship was the i7-7700K, which shipped in the US for $350. 

Move on three years and AMD’s Ryzen series of processors have revolutionized the market, first bringing eight-core/sixteen-thread processors to the desktop market in 2017 and sixteen core/32-thread CPUs to its AM4 socket in 2019. This has forced Intel to reconsider its entire desktop lineup by adding more cores to its latest desktop processors. 

Now, it looks like AMD plans to deliver i7-7700K performance levels for $120 with their upcoming Ryzen 3 3300X processor, at least according to leaked Geekbench 4 results (courtesy of TUM-APISAK on Twitter). This means that in three-years, AMD has reduced Intel’s former desktop flagship to budget-grade status after three years of intense competition. 

Looking at a comparable Intel i7-7700K result, the Geekbench scores of AMD’s Ryzen 3 3300X processor are slightly higher than Intel’s Kaby Lake processor, making AMD’s budget-oriented Ryzen 3 a killer chip for budget gamers.

With the Ryzen 3 3300X, AMD’s offering higher clock speeds, with a boost clock that can reach as high as 4.3GHz. For $120, this chip is designed for mainstream gaming and stellar desktop performance, sitting at the peak of AMD’s Ryzen 3 3000 offerings. 

Both the Ryzen 3 3100 and Ryzen 3 3300X will release in May, though when in May will depend on how things pan out with COVID-19. Deliveries could be delayed and other factors could limit the processor’s launch in some regions, but AMD’s certain that the product will release next month. We will have more information about availability as we approach this product’s launch date. 

Below are the specifications of AMD’s Ryzen 3000 series.