AMD Ryzen 3 5300G Review: Stunning Value APU Performance

Tantalizing but out of reach

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AMD Ryzen 3 5300G Discrete GPU Gaming Performance — The TLDR 

Below you can see the geometric mean of our gaming tests with a discrete GPU at 1080p and 1440p, with each resolution split into its own chart to give us a decent overall view of the current landscape. As usual, we're testing with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 to reduce GPU-imposed bottlenecks as much as possible, and differences between test subjects will shrink with lesser cards or higher resolutions. These are cumulative metrics, so individual wins vary on a per-title basis. You'll find the game-by-game test results further below. Some of these same benchmarks appeared in our integrated GPU testing above, but we used higher quality settings for the tests below. 

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Ryzen 3 5300G
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Discrete GPU Performance Relative to Ryzen 7 5800X - All chips at stock settings.
Row 0 - Cell 0 1920x10802560x1440
Ryzen 7 5800X / 5600X100%100%
Core i7-11700K95.2%98%
Core i5-11600K92.8%96.7%
Core i5-1140089.2%93.5%
Ryzen 7 5700G80.7%86.3%
Ryzen 5 5600G79.5%81.7%
Ryzen 3 3300X74.7%79.7%
Ryzen 7 4750G64.5%71.2%
Ryzen 3 5300G61.5%66.7%
Ryzen 5 3400G51.8%57.5%
Ryzen 3 3200G47%52.9%

Here we can see how the chips stack up using the Ryzen 7 5800X and Ryzen 5 5600X as the baseline (they're nearly identical in gaming with a discrete GPU), but keep in mind that we're running these tests mostly for academic purposes — the Ryzen 3 5300G isn't really intended to be paired with a discrete GPU.

The Ryzen 5 5600G trails the Ryzen 5 5700G by a negligible amount (~2%), showing that the two chips are very evenly matched. We see a much more pronounced difference between the Ryzen 3 5300G and the Ryzen 5 5600G, with the 5300G trailing by 30% at stock settings. We can chalk most of this disparity up to the 3200G's halved L3 cache. The Ryzen 3 5300G responds readily to overclocking, but the 5600G is still 15% faster. 

The 5300G trails the quad-core $120 Ryzen 3 3300X by 21%, which is surprising. The 3300X comes with four cores and eight threads just like the 5300G, but it also comes with the older Zen 2 architecture. As a result, the 5300G is faster than the 3300X in our application testing below. The 5300G's lead applies to both single- and multi-threaded workloads, but the 3300X still takes a convincing lead in the discrete GPU test suite. Again, we can chalk this up to the L3 cache; the 3300X comes with 16MB of L3 compared to the Ryzen 3 5300G's 8MB. 

The Ryzen 3 3300X is a potent chip, but it's still exceedingly rare to find it anywhere near its recommended $120 pricing at retail outlets. Unfortunately you can say the same thing about other competing chips in this price range, too. 

Finally, though the Ryzen 3 5300G trails relatively far behind the more modern AMD chips with hefty amounts of L3 cache, it's worth noting that it easily dispatches the Zen+ Ryzen 5 3400G and the Ryzen 3 3200G. Both of those chips come with the handicap of the multiple-generation-old Zen+ architecture and only 4MB of L3 cache. It's important to bear in mind that those are only available APUs on the market outside of the more expensive Ryzen 5000 models. 

We'll skip the blow-by-blow analysis in the individual game results below because the results are fairly redundant and this certainly isn't the primary target market for the Ryzen 3 5300G.

3D Mark, VRMark, Stockfish Chess Engine on AMD Ryzen 3 5300G

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Ryzen 3 5300G
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Borderlands 3 on AMD Ryzen 3 5300G

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Ryzen 3 5300G
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Far Cry 5 on AMD Ryzen 3 5300G

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Ryzen 3 5300G
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Hitman 2 on AMD Ryzen 3 5300G

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Ryzen 3 5300G
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Project CARS 3 on AMD Ryzen 3 5300G

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Ryzen 3 5300G
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Red Dead Redemption 2 on AMD Ryzen 3 5300G

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Ryzen 3 5300G
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Shadow of the Tomb Raider on AMD Ryzen 3 5300G

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Ryzen 3 5300G
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MORE: Best CPUs for Gaming

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MORE: AMD vs Intel

MORE: All CPUs Content

Paul Alcorn
Paul Alcorn
Managing Editor: News and Emerging Tech

Paul Alcorn is the Managing Editor: News and Emerging Tech for Tom's Hardware US. He also writes news and reviews on CPUs, storage, and enterprise hardware.

11 Comments Comment from the forums
  • hotaru251
    i do question how pci 3.0 is a con on a cpu that is focused on being budget option.
    Reply
  • escksu
    hotaru251 said:
    i do question how pci 3.0 is a con on a cpu that is focused on being budget option.

    ITs a con because all Ryzen APUs are PCIE-3.0, this means 5600G, 5700G all PCI-E3.0.....

    The APU was supposdly to be a great product but AMD "castrated" it by literally halving the cache and using PCIE 3.0. On top of that, they use back Vega instead of RDNA....

    Now, imagine what the APU would be like if AMD had taken a different approach. The use the same Zen3 with PCIE and full cache and drop in RDNA GPU. It would been a monster. I am find if they sell it more than the non-APU verison.
    Reply
  • digitalgriffin
    If it exceeds $150 I seriously doubt the value vs a 3400g.
    Reply
  • Krotow
    escksu said:
    Now, imagine what the APU would be like if AMD had taken a different approach. The use the same Zen3 with PCIE and full cache and drop in RDNA GPU. It would been a monster. I am find if they sell it more than the non-APU verison.

    Apparently this will appear, but for double price :p
    Reply
  • Gillerer
    Since TSMC's N7 process is supposed to have great yields, AMD probably doesn't have many APU dies with 3+ faulty cores or 2 faulty CUs to go around.

    That means the only reason this 4-core alternative exists is to use up the few failed dies to satisfy their partners' greed; allowing OEMs to produce low-cost systems they can overcharge for.

    AMD have stated that the 5300G will not be coming to the DYI market. Even if it did, the price would certainly not be anywhere near $150 - somewhere around $189 - $219 would be more likely, to get a similar price hike as all previous Zen 3 products.

    escksu said:
    ITs a con because all Ryzen APUs are PCIE-3.0, this means 5600G, 5700G all PCI-E3.0.....

    The APU was supposedly to be a great product but AMD "castrated" it by literally halving the cache and using PCIE 3.0. On top of that, they use back Vega instead of RDNA....

    Now, imagine what the APU would be like if AMD had taken a different approach. The use the same Zen3 with PCIE and full cache and drop in RDNA GPU. It would been a monster. I am find if they sell it more than the non-APU verison.

    If this had as much L3 cache as the desktop CPUs, PCIe 4 and a RDNA GPU, it certainly would be a monster - in terms of die area, power consumption and cost. No OEM would use it, or alternatively AMD would have to cut their margins severely.

    This is based on what is primarily a laptop APU. Desktop comes as an afterthought, so all design decisions are made with the laptop experience and ease of integration (by OEMs) in mind.
    Reply
  • zodiacfml
    well the 3300x is now overpriced and hard to find and higher end Ryzens increased in price recently. this will fare worse.
    Reply
  • 10tacle
    Well heck. I am planning on building an entry level gaming PC for my 13 year old nephew as a Christmas gift (he knows of the shortages of both GPUs and PS5 consoles and the root causes of why). He'll be inheriting my old GTX 1080 Ti from my 1440p rig finally being put out to pasture, but I want to give him the peace of mind in these impossible GPU times to have a backup option for iGPU gaming should that 1080 Ti go belly up. The Ryzen 3 is right up that alley and a much better performance value than the Intel i3 but this is unfortunate. As zodiacfml said above, now the 3300x is priced into what I'd traditionally consider Ryzen 5 and Intel i5 territory. Amazon and NewEgg have it right now for $239 -- and that's a year and a half old chip originally priced at $120! I guess this is the new normal now. It used to be we could always fall back on consoles for gaming if the PC market got crazy but we don't even have that as an option now.
    Reply
  • logainofhades
    10tacle said:
    Well heck. I am planning on building an entry level gaming PC for my 13 year old nephew as a Christmas gift (he knows of the shortages of both GPUs and PS5 consoles and the root causes of why). He'll be inheriting my old GTX 1080 Ti from my 1440p rig finally being put out to pasture, but I want to give him the peace of mind in these impossible GPU times to have a backup option for iGPU gaming should that 1080 Ti go belly up. The Ryzen 3 is right up that alley and a much better performance value than the Intel i3 but this is unfortunate. As zodiacfml said above, now the 3300x is priced into what I'd traditionally consider Ryzen 5 and Intel i5 territory. Amazon and NewEgg have it right now for $239 -- and that's a year and a half old chip originally priced at $120! I guess this is the new normal now. It used to be we could always fall back on consoles for gaming if the PC market got crazy but we don't even have that as an option now.

    There is always a chance of finding something, on the used market. Personally, for a new gaming rig, I wouldn't go below a 6c/12t chip. Games are becoming more core/thread heavy.
    Reply
  • Gillerer
    logainofhades said:
    There is always a chance of finding something, on the used market. Personally, for a new gaming rig, I wouldn't go below a 6c/12t chip. Games are becoming more core/thread heavy.

    If thinking of "finding something on the used market", it's important to remember that cores are not created equal, and the number of cores is not the be-all and end-all - it's the overall performance of the CPU that counts.

    E.g. for a pure gaming build, I wouldn't pick Ryzen 5 1600, 1600AF or a 2600 (each 6c/12t) over a 10th gen Core i3 (4c/8t).

    *

    @10tacke:
    Overall, the 10th gen Intel Cores are really good value right now (as long as stock lasts... which they might not until Christmas), and something like an i5-10400F or 10400 (depending on whether you need an iGPU) would be a really good gaming CPU paired with the 1080Ti.

    I wouldn't count on any iGPU to be a "backup gaming option". Once you're used to dGPU performance, the most one will offer is a "backup desktop/productivity/debugging option".
    Reply
  • 10tacle
    Gillerer said:
    @10tacke: Overall, the 10th gen Intel Cores are really good value right now (as long as stock lasts... which they might not until Christmas), and something like an i5-10400F or 10400 (depending on whether you need an iGPU) would be a really good gaming CPU paired with the 1080Ti.

    I wouldn't count on any iGPU to be a "backup gaming option". Once you're used to dGPU performance, the most one will offer is a "backup desktop/productivity/debugging option".

    Well again we are in lean meat times. My nephew has grown up watching me PC game and upgrade PC hardware as well as get involved with PS3/4 gaming. He has had nearly a year now to fully understand what is going on with hardware shortages and to expect to be disappointed. If my 1080 Ti craps out next year and we are still in this hardware shortage mess as most analysts predict, he'll at least be informed on why he can't get a new GPU (or PS5). He'll just have to game at 720p. I'm also helping my nephew understand the term "first world problems." Problems as in be happy and make do with what you have like I grew up with and our forefathers did as well.
    Reply