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Ryzen 3 3100

4 Best CPU-GPU Combos for Gaming & Workstations

October 23, 2020 by Alex Leave a Comment

Matching a processor and a graphics card may seem easy, but when you want to maximize your performance at a certain budget, there are ideal pairings to be made. For example, a demanding gamer won’t need a high number of cores, but someone working on video editing or 3D content creation might.

We’ve compiled 4 pairings to match most peoples needs and budget, but note that new CPU lineups from AMD are coming (Ryzen 5000 series), along with new GPUs from Nvidia (RTX 3070, RTX 3060) and AMD (Radeon 6000 series). So if you’re not in a hurry, it can be smarter to wait for them, whether it’s for the generational performance boost or the consequential price drop of the current generation.


Best – CPUs/ GPUs combinations our selections

Entry-level Gaming: Ryzen 3 3100 + Radeon RX 5500 XT

Want a desktop PC that doesn’t break the bank and still holds his ground in e-sports titles and other not too demanding games? Pairing a Ryzen 3 3100 ($99) – a 4 cores/8 threads CPU that rivals with Intel’s i3 lineup—with a RX 5500XT will give you great performance for 1080p gaming

Why not Intel’s own i3-10100 or i3-9100f you ask? While they have similar performance and can often be found for less money, going with AMD Ryzen gives you access to a more future-proof platform: the AM4 socket will support Ryzen 5000 CPUs and an upgrade to those will be more beneficial than Intel’s offerings.

I would have ideally recommended a Ryzen 3 3300X, more powerful for only $20-30 more, but it’s often out of stock and impossible to find at the moment. If you ever find one though, it is totally worth the price increase.

The Radeon RX 5500XT ($199), while not as known as Nvidia GPUs, dominates the low-end like AMD usually do. It offers awesome performance for 1080p gaming, only matched at this price point by the usually more expensive GTX 1660. Be sure to get a 8GB VRAM model though, as games are becoming more and more demanding on memory.

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Mid-range Gaming: Ryzen 5 3600 -RTX 2070 Super

AMD Ryzen 5 3600

A pairing that can satisfy most gamers: the Ryzen 5 3600 is simply the best value CPU out there, offering great gaming performance and even 6 cores/12 threads to please streamers and content creators. For a while gamers wanting to maximize performance had to get CPUs over $400 to max their GPU, but now this $199 value-king won’t limit yourself even at 1440p 144Hz, so that’s more money to put towards a better GPU.

Want more? It only has a TDP of 65W, and includes a Wraith Stealth aircooler, good enough to match most $30 coolers on the market. It’s not the most silent, but unlike Intel’s default cooler it’s actually good.

User considering heavy content creation can opt for the Ryzen 7 3700X ($329). With 8 cores/16 threads, it won’t offer more gaming performance until games get optimized for more cores, but multi-thread workloads will run faster, and its TDP is still 65W.

With a price around $400, the RTX 2070 Super still holds the crown of best mid-range GPUs. For 1080p 144Hz gaming, it’s simple, you don’t need more than that at the moment. If you’re tempted to play at 1440p 144Hz, you might want to upgrade to a RX 5700XT or a RTX 2080 , or wait for the upcoming series from Nvidia and AMD. But with a bit of compromise, a 2060 Super can get you running even at that resolution.

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High-end Gaming: i5-10600k + RTX 3080

Users playing e-sports titles at more than 200Hz or heavy AAA titles might be the only ones limited by Ryzen’s current lineup, but Intel has them covered: the i5-10600k ($262) will offer them more single thread performance than a R5-3600, which is enough not to limit the beefiest graphics cards on the market and squeeze every frame out of them.

Intel sadly don’t provide a CPU cooler with this one, so you have to get your own. Make sure it’s good enough to handle its 125W TDP or you could find yourself in throttle territory.

If you’re targeting 4K gaming, even a Ryzen 5 3600 ($199) might actually do the trick. That resolution put less stress on the CPU, and every CPU on the market ends up having similar performance. However if you play on 1440p or 1080p, the gap increases on single-core performance, so Intel’s current lineup is best fitted until we see some Ryzen 5000 CPUs on the market.

The RTX 3080 ($599), if you can get your hands on one, is THE best GPU on the market right now, and will easily handle every game you throw at it at 1440p or 4K with high refresh rates and even provide a decent RayTracing experience (finally) if you’re into that. It has given gamers a once-in-a-decade performance increase over previous generation and makes every previous high-end GPUs irrelevant.

Its 10 GB VRAM are enough for every games on the market in 2020, and there’s a good chance it will be for a long time. It however has a 320W power draw, so make sure your PSU can handle that.

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High-end Gaming Workstation: Intel i9-10900kf + RTX 3080

Intel Core i9-10900k

If you want a no compromise machine that allows you to both edit 4K videos and play at high refresh rates, look no further. The Intel i9-10900kf ($472) is a 10 core, 20 threads CPU, or should I say a workstation beast, that will not flinch on the most demanding workloads. While it’s overkill for gaming, it offers a significant gain in most content creation software like the Adobe CS suite or Solidworks.

Intel’s 14nm process, while not as efficient as AMD’s 7nm, is refined to near excellency and provide an appreciated gaming performance boost over AMD’s Ryzen 3900X. It’s hard to cool down though, so make sure you have a proper aircooler or AIO cooler to match.

I however highly recommend waiting for the Ryzen 9 5900X or 5950X, which should release on November 5, to maximize your performance especially if you deal with heavy multi-threaded workloads. But if you need a PC right now that’s extremely powerful in gaming AND content creation, the i9-10900kf is your best bet.

As for the GPU, we again find the RTX 3080 ($599), which has no real competition at the moment. For gaming it has unmatched performance, and for work it outperforms both the Titan RTX and 2080Ti on every rendering benchmark there is. Only the RTX 3090 is more powerful, with roughly a 15 to 20% overhead on rendering (and 140% more VRAM with 24GB), but its price is significantly higher and gaming performance between the two is similar.

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Filed Under: CPU, Graphics Cards, Guides, RTX 3080, Ryzen 3 3100, Ryzen 5 3600

3 Best B450 motherboards for Ryzen 3300X & 3100

May 21, 2020 by BuildPicker Leave a Comment

best-motherboards-for-ryzen-3-3300x-3100

The AMD Ryzen series of CPUs is well known for its incredible versatility, able to be combined with just about any other hardware and work without any kind of serious complication whatsoever.

However, now that we have the latest and greatest iterations of the Ryzen 3300X, it only makes sense to start optimizing. While you certainly could plug your brand new Ryzen 3300X into any old motherboard, why not get yourself a motherboard that was designed specifically for your CPU.

While the B450 chipset motherboards are known far and wide as the very best hardware to pair with your new Ryzen CPU, how are you supposed to know which one to get?

Here is a brief list of the best three B450 motherboards, so you can make a reliable decision on what to pair with your new Ryzen 3 3300X or 3100 processor.

You can instead opt for a B550 motherboard if you wanted to take advantage of the new PCIe 4.0 standard (but we wouldn’t expect it for this level of build).


Best Motherboards for Ryzen 3300X & 3100 – Our Recommended

Best Budget B450 Motherboard for Ryzen 3300X / 3100

ASRock B450M Steel Legend

If you don’t want to give too much attention or money to your motherboard, you can always consider a more budget-friendly option for your Ryzen 3300X or 3100 pairing. For those that want to remain budget-conscious, the ASRock B450M Steel Legend is an excellent pick.

While it is quite cheap, this micro-ATX motherboard still packs sufficient capability to work well with your new Ryzen CPU. For starters, it is extremely attractive as far as ascetics go, with a beautiful matte silver coating on everything, including the VRM and M.2 slot. This is a great choice for those with a glass side panel on their PC case, as you will just want to look at it endlessly.’

You get a total of four DDR4 DIMM slots, allowing you to get up to 64 GB, which is more than enough RAM for all your gaming needs. The RAM slot design of this board is also really excellent, as they are affixed with closed locks, making removal really easy even with your GPU still installed.

The audio codec used on this board is the Realtek ALC892, just like with ASRock’s other B450 motherboards, giving the whole board an excellent sound quality for such a cheap price point. 

Utilizing a six phase power design and 60A power chokes, this motherboard comes with plenty of silver lined heat sinks that mean that heat control is not going to be a problem with this motherboard.

One strange quality is that the six SATA 6GB/s ports on this board are stacked in a straight line, which is pretty atypical as far as motherboard design goes. Instead of the standard stacked, slightly rectangular shape, we would expect, they sit in this cute ordered system, making it a bit finicky to try and find space in your case for their access.

Additionally, keep in mind that this B450 motherboard is really only designed for a single GPU, so don’t expect to get two cards on this relatively smaller sized motherboard.

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Best Mini ITX B450 Motherboard for Ryzen 3 3300 / 3100 SFF Builds

MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC

Just because you want to use a powerful CPU like the Ryzen 3300X doesn’t mean necessarily have a massive case. For those with a smaller ITX build, what kind of specialized motherboard should you look at?

Choosing a good ITX B450 motherboard is all about making sure it still has an effective VRM solution considering both its price and its size limitations. This is why the MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC is one of the best ITX options for AMD users.

With eight VRM phases and an Infineon IR32201 PWM Controller, this motherboard offers potent VRM solutions, allowing for incredible overclocking potential of your CPU.

While the MSI B450I is still limited in its hardware accessories due to its size, it makes up for it in ensuring that those few accessories get as much as they need. You might only be able to fit in two slots of RAM up to 32 GB; you can support speeds up to 3466 MHz, making it one of the faster and more powerful options available.

Even though it has just one PCIe 3.0 slot and one a single M.2 slot on the back, this ITX motherboard still adamantly feels like a regular sized motherboard when it comes to its technical aspects. It has the standard Realtek ALC 8887 chipset, but also boasts MSI’s Audio Boost 4 for HD audio processing.

Additionally, this motherboard is extremely decently priced, considering its VRM potency and what you get for such little money. For those with a smaller case, whether through budgetary needs or just because it fits on your desk better, this is the motherboard you want.

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Best Overall B450 Motherboard for 3300X / 3100

MSI-B450-Gaming-Pro-Carbon-AC-Motherboard

There is a huge variety of different B450 motherboards available out there, all of them competing for the title of the best overall. However, it is difficult to imagine any of them are better than MSI’s B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC.

With a six phase PWM controller running on Richtek RT 8894A and two virtual phase doublers, this motherboard an actual VRM count of 10 phases.

This motherboard’s main strength is its capability for overclocking, as well as its insane number of heat sinks. An extended PWM heat sink on the IO, and more around the CPU, as well as extras dotted throughout. While it would be helpful to make sure that your PC case is well aired, this motherboard is incredibly effective at handling excess heat.

With two PCI slots and four RAM slots up to 64 GB of a maximum of 3466 MHz, this motherboard lets you get the most out of your hardware.

It even manages to boast a sufficient number of USB slots, something a lot of B450 motherboards fail to do, even coming with a single Type C USB 3.1 alongside its regular Type A, and some normal USB 3.0s, alongside the standard two USB 2.0s.

With all the same great MSI technologies, like the Audio Boost 4 in its audio chipset, this motherboard is the best candidate not only for supreme overclocking but also general use and effectiveness. While it is a little bit pricier than many of the other options, it is still the best overall choice for those looking for a B450 motherboard.

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Filed Under: Guides, Motherboards, Ryzen 3 3100, Ryzen 3 3300X

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