Review on 💪 Powerful Performance: AMD Ryzen 3 1200 Desktop Processor with Wraith Stealth Cooler by Paul Rosemark

PROS: - 4 cores, 4 threads for $100 - Great heatsink fan kit - Unlocked processor with big chance in "Silicon Lottery"; *all* should easily hit 3.7 or 3.8GHz on the stock cooler, and some will be able to hit 3.9-4.1GHz with a combination of luck/tweaking/aftermarket cooling. A great upgrade option with the AM4 and B350 chipset at a reasonable price. VS the board: - IPC performance is inferior to comparable Intel offerings. CONCLUSION: From a value for money standpoint, these processors are undeniable, especially when Revain and others recently priced them at just $99. With Zen+/Zen2 just around the corner, you can expect prices for these Summit Ridge treatments to drop even further in 2018. Now we really have entry-level 4C/4T! DETAILS: The packaging is typical of what you would expect. The installation instructions are spartan, but sufficient. Thermal paste is already applied. You must be careful when removing the plastic mold of the fan radiator case from the box as small pieces of cardboard from the box can get into the thermal paste. In this case, fine tweezers are sufficient to remove such particles. Others recommend removing the pre-applied paste and applying your own, but I don't think that's necessary. I've been using the Prok with paste preinstalled for a little less than a month, thermals are excellent: 26-28 at full idle; 30-32 for small tasks at a desk or in a warm room; 45-47 with long game; never went past 60 in 45 minutes. processor stress test; Conductivity is excellent, with the temperature returning from maximum to idle within a few minutes after such applications have ended. Remember, when you first build a system, there is a "warm-up" period after the first CPU install: when you first start your machine, the idle temperature looks pretty high, like in the 40's. but that's only because the paste "hardens". A few hours after launching a few apps, the idle temp stabilizes at the normal 20 or 30 and runs at those temps from then on. Complete fan with heatsink, Wraith Stealth is a great fit for the stock part. and will definitely allow for overclocking. I've been riding at 1.3 volts and 3.80 with the above clocks for just under a month. The Wraith Stealth provides just enough cooling for the Ryzen3 to allow for an additional clock speed "boost" when temperatures allow: During intense gaming, my Ryzen 3 was automatically overclocked from 3799 to 3834, as reported by the CPUID "Hardware Monitor" app recorded. All Ryzen processes are unlocked. , so overclocking can be easily done through the BIOS by simply entering a new multiplier. For example, entering "38" returns 3800 MHz. The tension is also easily adjustable. Remember that you need B350 or higher motherboards to overclock. Nobody really needs to buy a Ryzen 3 1300X when the Ryzen 3 1200 overclocks so well. All Ryzen processors these days tend to max out at around 4.0GHz, so it just doesn't make sense to shell out an extra $20 for 1300x in hopes of getting a "better basket". The bottom line is that both the 1200 and 1300X max out at 3.9-4.0 on the Wraith Stealth, allowing you to save $20 and get $1200, and the money saved can be spent on an aftermarket Heatsink fans are spent if you tend to. . Or just leave the default Wraith Stealth and without fuss set the percentage to 3.8 and you're good to go ;) incorrect access to their kernels in various applications, inaccurate temperature reports, etc. From what I've seen these issues have been fixed. I had no problems running MSI's latest BIOS/chipset version (20th September release) on a Mate B350 PC with Win 7 64-bit. So some advice to new system builders: please make sure your chipset drivers are properly updated! Major motherboard manufacturers, MSI, Gigabyte, Asus, etc. have Win 7 patches, USB drivers, etc. to ensure your Ryzen board works properly with Win 7 if you are concerned. Numerous verified testers on YouTube and it will show that IPC performance is usually inferior to Intel's offerings. However, you don't buy these kinds of procs to get "cutting edge" performance with something like the 1080 Ti. Enthusiast performance tests have clearly shown that Ryzen 3 will run a 6GB GTX 1060 up to and including the card bottleneck, which is good news for budget builders. If you are planning to use a graphics card higher than this level, then yes, an i7 or similar would be better for you. Use a graphics card in the GTX 1060 range or lower, and for that these Ryzen 3 processors are a great option if value for money is very important to you. In real-world benchmarks, the overclocked Ryzen 3 1200 lags a few percentage points behind a previous generation i5 like the i5 2500K by 3.9, so that's something to consider. In other words, don't get bogged down in the idea that these Ryzen 3s are just the "i3" equivalent: no, you actually get the competitive pre-CoffeeLake i5 equivalent for around $100. It's just amazing, definitely choose to cut it. Which brings us to another point: upgrade paths. The Pentium G4560-4620 is still touted as the "budget king" at $80-$97, but while the Pentium Kaby Lake are truly excellent (especially in terms of IPC), they are dual-core CMT Crisps. Ryzen 3 is a true 4-core, 4-thread processor. Also, Kaby Lake chipsets are a dead end in terms of upgrade path. Of course, in 2018 you can replace your Pentium with an old Kaby Lake i5 or i7. Prices enter the region of declining yields. Closer to 2020, games will become multi-threaded and multi-core. In recent years, single-threading and IPC have remained dominant, mainly because of the Intel i5. But now that Intel is using 4 cores in its i3 line, not to mention DX12, the market will indeed support multi-core and multi-threaded design for games and applications. This is a very good reason not to burden yourself with Sky Lake or Kaby Lake just yet. The AMD AM4 platform, on the other hand, is said to be supported by 2020 and we now have confirmation that Zen+/Zen 2 will indeed use this platform. all that is required is a simple BIOS flash. This means that in 2018 or 2019 you can easily replace your Ryzen 3 with AMD's latest offering on your existing motherboard/system if you find you need more cores and/or threads for future games and applications. It also means you can easily use future, off-the-shelf, off-the-shelf parts rather than searching eBay or the Amazon Marketplace for used parts, such as the Kaby Lake line. The competition will offer some great options for 2018-2020. As Zen+/Zen2 processors become available, genuine AMD Summit Ridge parts will become cheaper. The Ryzen 5 1600 was already available for around $190 at the time of writing; Further price reductions are expected in 2018 when Zen+/Zen2 become available. This is great for the budget conscious. You can now build a Ryzen 3 rig and then replace it with something like the R5 1600, new in the box, probably only $130, on the same motherboard. To sum it up, if you're considering Ryzen 3 as a possible choice, it's most likely because you're on a tight budget or are very budget conscious and want to get the best bang for your buck. Value for money. In these cases, Ryzen 3 and the AM4 platform in general excel, especially if you put the least amount of effort into overclocking your Ryzen 3. To write recommend low-end Coffee Lake parts for budget or mid-range builds, and this is just plain ridiculous in my opinion, at least for the reason that you just can't buy Coffee Lake Pros. Not to mention Intel's very nonsensical approach to its line of motherboards. In addition, sites like Tom's continue to promote Kaby Lake Pentiums as the budget setup of choice: that, too, strikes me as utterly ridiculous. Why would anyone go for a dual-core processor and a completely dead motherboard/chipset line when they could go for a new 2020 range of chipsets with a true 4C/4T base process just to (maybe) To save about $15 money and get 5-10% more frames in the old single threaded games from 2014-2016, I'm totally beyond my abilities. The B350 board and the Ryzen 3 1200 are very, very hard to beat, especially given the Coffe Lake shortage issues. Ryzen, Ryzen is just a more efficient and forward-thinking choice. So when faced with the choice of whether to go with the Ryzen 3 1200, 1300X, or 1400, the 1200 is the clear value for money winner. , especially if you spend a few minutes going into the BIOS and overclocking. If you're willing to spend more money on or 1400, you're better off going all the way and spending the extra money on 1500X or even better Ryzen 5 1600. At $100-$140, however, you should go for Ryzen 3.1200.