AMD Budget Overclock: Ryzen 3 3100 Hits 4.5 GHz on All Cores

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By Niels Broekhuijsen
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That's a 15% increase in clock speed over default settings.

(Image credit: Dmitriy Rybin/Shutterstock)

If you're building a PC on a budget, it can be especially helpful to overclock your CPU in order to squeeze every bit of performance out of each dollar spent. In light of that, it's probably nice to hear that the new budget-friendly AMD Ryzen 3 3100 CPU has been overclocked to 4.5 GHz on all four CPU cores at once. The information comes courtesy of @_rogame, who dug up the 3DMark records revealing the accomplishment.

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If you've been following the best CPUs, 4.5 GHz might not impress you, but for a budget-friendly chip it's actually quite the accomplishment. By default, the Ryzen 3 3100 comes with a base clock of 3.8 GHz and will boost up to 3.9 GHz, making this all-core overclock an impressive 600 MHz over stock frequencies and, thus, a 15% boost over standard performance. 

Keep in mind that we don't know which voltages or CPU cooler were used, and it's possible the chip could've been using sub-ambient cooling to hit these speeds. 

However, the data table shows that the user ran the chip on an Asus TUF B450M-Pro Gaming, which isn't expected to be the best motherboard for hitting high overclocks with an AMD CPU (none of the B450 boards are, really). This is exciting for those seeking to recreate this budget overclock. 

Typically, overclockers shooting for records will grab high-end motherboards with elaborate VRM circuitry, but this overclock was achieved on the kind of board you would expect to see the Ryzen 3 3100 installed in, meaning that you too might be able to hit these kind of speeds -- or at least get close to them.

Niels Broekhuijsen
Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

8 Comments Comment from the forums
  • TCA_ChinChin
    Hey, that's pretty good.
    Reply
  • King_V
    Agreed - though I really do wish that the overclocker provided more details as to how it was done, if any extraordinary steps were taken, etc...
    Reply
  • cryoburner
    Considering overclockers typically can't manage a stable 4.5GHz on higher-end Ryzen CPUs using high-end coolers, it seems a bit unlikely that the $100 part using what is likely a bottom-of-the-barrel chiplet that didn't make the grade for those other parts will be capable of that, at least outside of a temporary setup involving liquid nitrogen or an industrial chiller. Best-case scenario, you'll probably be looking at around a 4.2GHz overclock.
    Reply
  • junglist724
    cryoburner said:
    Considering overclockers typically can't manage a stable 4.5GHz on higher-end Ryzen CPUs using high-end coolers, it seems a bit unlikely that the $100 part using what is likely a bottom-of-the-barrel chiplet that didn't make the grade for those other parts will be capable of that, at least outside of a temporary setup involving liquid nitrogen or an industrial chiller. Best-case scenario, you'll probably be looking at around a 4.2GHz overclock.

    Yeah this is meaningless unless we know the temps and voltage. Ryzen 2nd gen and above have safe voltages that are only safe below certain temperatures. On a 2700x 1.375v at 60C is safe, 1.375v at 80C will slowly degrade to become unstable in like 6-18 months depending on how often it's at load.
    Reply
  • alextheblue
    cryoburner said:
    Considering overclockers typically can't manage a stable 4.5GHz on higher-end Ryzen CPUs using high-end coolers, it seems a bit unlikely that the $100 part using what is likely a bottom-of-the-barrel chiplet that didn't make the grade for those other parts will be capable of that, at least outside of a temporary setup involving liquid nitrogen or an industrial chiller. Best-case scenario, you'll probably be looking at around a 4.2GHz overclock.
    I think 4.5 is definitely unrealistic for a normal/stable overclock. But if yields are good (and they seem to be), and they are using the better half of a chiplet, who is to say it isn't about as likely to hit good all-core (again, only 4 cores) overclocks? I wouldn't jump to say the best case is 4.2 just yet.
    Reply
  • Deicidium369
    King_V said:
    Agreed - though I really do wish that the overclocker provided more details as to how it was done, if any extraordinary steps were taken, etc...
    4 cores no SMT. nothing magical.
    Reply
  • King_V
    Deicidium369 said:
    4 cores no SMT. nothing magical.
    Please cite sources.
    Reply
  • jeremyj_83
    Deicidium369 said:
    4 cores no SMT. nothing magical.
    The picture in the article specifically shows 8 logical cores. Here is another article that shows all the core/thread counts for Ryzen 3000 series. https://www.anandtech.com/show/15736/amd-ryzen-3-3300x-and-ryzen-3-3100-new-low-cost-quadcore-zen-2-processors-from-99 All Zen2 based 3000 series, except the 3500X, have SMT.
    Reply