AMD Ryzen 3 1200

AMD continues to dominate the CPU market with their Ryzen processors and the Ryzen 3 lineup is no exception. Intel's Core i3 lineup is all 2C/4T and have a locked multiplier while the Ryzen 3 lineup comes with four cores and a fully unlocked multiplier....

The star of the show at just £105 is the 1200, we dont think the performance you get from the 1300X is worth an extra £20 and would probably rule that one out like we did the 1800x vs the 1700 and just say its irrelevant if you are going to overclock and should only really buy it if you will leave it at stock because then the extra ££ for the clock speed makes sense. The 1200 however if your going to overclock is an absolute blinder for a budget gaming system and well worth the effort of overclocking one too!

Another positive Ryzen product launch from AMD that gives Intel very tough competition against the Core i3 processors. Ryzen 3 is well-balanced with strong computational and gaming performance and decent gains to be had through overclocking. Despite Ryzen 3’s affordable pricing and cost-effective AM4 platform, Intel’s bargain basement Pentium G4560 remains a thorn in AMD’s side.

If you are a processor tweaker (and really that takes like 5 minutes to do so) then the Ryzen 3 1200 is pure gold. I am not saying that all processors will reach 4 GHz, but the chance and likelihood they can is certainly high. With the latest motherboard BIOSes (AGESA 1006) and the right choice in memory, the issues there are gone as well. Combined with a B350 motherboard and SSD that leaves you with a really properly fast enough PC for your everyday workload and gaming experiences. Well done AMD, as both these processors are purely and truly great value.

AMD's Ryzen 3 1200 and Ryzen 3 1300X processors offer significant value, performance, and overclocking without breaking the bank, making them some of the best value buy CPUs on the market.

For the mainstream consumer and market, we now have a complete picture of the Ryzen CPU family from AMD and I am impressed by the performance, capability, and completeness of the lineup. In a matter of just a few months, AMD has gone from irrelevant to revolutionary, rebooting the company in a way that seemed impossible just a few years ago. The Ryzen 3 1300X and 1200 are not rewriting the segment but they are reorganizing the way the sub-$150 processor market will unfold for 2017 and beyond.

At those prices, AMD's Ryzen 3 offering is competitive and undercuts some of the higher-end Intel Core i3s. Pair one of these chips with an inexpensive B350 based motherboard -- many of which are available for under $100 -- and you’d have the foundation of a relatively high-performance, modern, quad-core PC, for right around $200, give or take a few bucks.

One of the hallmarks of Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 processors was their versatility and that story marches on with Ryzen 3. While the 1300X takes the prize in my books, I nonetheless feel both of these CPUs rightly continue AMD’s market shakeup. It may have seemed that bringing great performance to lower price brackets was nothing more than a laudable goal but Ryzen 3 has taken that dream and turned it into a very tempting reality.