AMD Unveils Threadripper 3960X and 3970X, Ryzen 9 3950X Details, and Athlon 3000G

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By Paul Alcorn
last updated

AMD has a fleet of new core-heavy battleships coming this month. And a small little APU, too.

AMD Athlon 3000G Pricing and Specifications

(Image credit: AMD)
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ProcessorCores / ThreadsBase / Boost (GHz)L1 Cache (MB)L3 Cache (MB)GPUGPU CoresGPU Clock (MHz)TDP (W)
Athlon 3000G2 / 43.5 / 3.514Radeon Vega 331,10035
Athlon 200GE2 / 43.2 / 3.214Radeon Vega 331,00035

AMD's Athlon 3000G rounds out AMD's APU stack, slotting in as the budget alternative to the Ryzen 3 3200G and Ryzen 5 3400G. 

The 3000G comes with Radeon Vega graphics paired with the 12nm process and Zen+ architecture for a mere $49. As an iterative update to its existing Athlon 200GE, the Athlon 3000G comes with the same dual-core quad-thread design with 1MB of L2 and 4MB of L3 cache. It also fits within the same 35W TDP envelope and follows the same motherboard support guidelines as its predecessor.

AMD did bump up the clock speeds, increasing the static base frequency to 3.5 GHz (no boost) and increasing the GPU clock speed by 100 Mhz. 

AMD previously provided all of its processors with an unlocked multiplier, meaning they were overclockable but broke that tradition with the Athlon 200GE, which came with a locked multiplier. AMD's motherboard partners allowed overclocking on the budget chips in spite of the restriction, even though that unsanctioned feature was later disabled in newer motherboard firmware revisions. 

Motherboard vendors don't have to break the rules this time around, though, as AMD is providing the processor with a fully unlocked multiplier, meaning overclocking is back on the menu provided you have a B-series motherboard, or better.

AMD Athlon 3000G Gaming Performance

Image 1 of 2
(Image credit: AMD)

As with the Athlon 200GE, AMD aims to enable a 'true playable' 720p gaming experience. This mostly consists of eSports-class games, like Fortnite and Rocket League. AMD provided a few benchmarks to back up those claims, and it goes without saying that these APUs easily beat the competing $73 Pentium G5400 in gaming. 

PAGE 1: AMD Unleashes the Cores

PAGE 2: Threadripper 3960X and 3970X, TRX40 Chipset, sTRX4 Socket

PAGE 3: AMD Athlon 3000G, Unlocking Overclocking on the Low End

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.

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27 Comments Comment from the forums
  • jimmysmitty
    I can't wait to see some third party benchmarks and testing. I am interested in the 3950X mainly in the cooling requirements. I also want to see a more fair power assessment than one from a company. Who knows what exact setup they used to get power readings.

    New board for TR3, sucks for anyone on TR2 wanting to just CPU upgrade. I think its a good idea for AMD. Design the socket, chipset and CPU around each other for optimal performance gains.

    Price also went up, logical since they sell well. AMD might as well make as much as they can.

    But they will have to compete with CL-X which has the price cut in half and until we see reviews I would assume CL-X will still have a clock speed advantage.

    Should be an interesting couple of weeks.
    Reply
  • NightHawkRMX
    Is it bad I am most interested in the 3000g, even though it shouldn't be that interesting since it is just a zen+ dual core with vega 3.

    But, since it is zen+ and unlocked, so I would love to see how far it will overclock. I want to see 4+ghz.
    Reply
  • NightHawkRMX
    jimmysmitty said:
    New board for TR3, sucks for anyone on TR2 wanting to just CPU upgrade. I think its a good idea for AMD. Design the socket, chipset and CPU around each other for optimal performance gains.
    Well, to be fair Intel will only give you 2 generations on a platform normally, so this is not bad
    Reply
  • Exploding PSU
    "That's a notable claim because the -9900K has twice the amount of cores"

    I think you meant the 3950X here instead of the 9900K. Small mistake, I know, but I got a little bit confused reading that part..
    Reply
  • kinggremlin
    AMD provided a few benchmarks that show the Threadripper processors handily dispatching the $1,999 Core i9-9980XE in a series of heavily-threaded benchmarks,

    The formerly $1,999 i9-9980XE. It sells for well below that now.
    Newegg -$1090At $1000, the i9-10980XE will be priced quite competitively vs these new Threadripper CPU's.
    Reply
  • mdd1963
    NightHawkRMX said:
    Is it bad I am most interested in the 3000g, even though it shouldn't be that interesting since it is just a zen+ dual core with vega 3.

    But, since it is zen+ and unlocked, so I would love to see how far it will overclock. I want to see 4+ghz.

    Zero use for 2c/4t systems for use with any games whatsoever....

    I read this is a die-shrink of the 200G, with a 100 MHz boost in clock speed...

    There might be a market for some bargain basement, 'we need a bunch of complete $299 systems with 4 GB of RAM and $50 CPUs ASAP', but, I'm not sure that's a market I'd be searching for, as it sounds more like WalMart's realm/area of specialty...(or maybe Dell with a complete system at $199)
    Reply
  • Darkbreeze
    Actually, that CPU would make a perfectly fine little HTPC. You don't need more than 2/4 for a box that's going to do nothing more than serve up music and movies from some small form factor brick.
    Reply
  • jimmysmitty
    NightHawkRMX said:
    Well, to be fair Intel will only give you 2 generations on a platform normally, so this is not bad

    Yea. I said I think its a good thing. I don't think trying to keep CPUs and old boards compatible is the best way to go. Give it 2 or 3 gens then move on to reap overall system improvements. Could you imagine if people were able to throw a Ryzne 3 CPU into a 990FX board? I mean moneys worth on the board but thats what some people actually want.

    Darkbreeze said:
    Actually, that CPU would make a perfectly fine little HTPC. You don't need more than 2/4 for a box that's going to do nothing more than serve up music and movies from some small form factor brick.

    I would have to test it TBH. My HTPC has a, be it older, quad core AMD CPU (one of the old Athlon 4 core mini boards, and the CPU is a big drag. I also had to recently upgrade the GPU and went nVidia because none of the low profile AMD GPUs supported x265 10bit HEVC encoded videos. But a cheap GT 1030 does so yay.
    Reply
  • logainofhades
    As there was a version, for TR4 motherboard mounting, and it was able to handle those CPU's, I am sure the be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 would handle a 3950x, just fine, for those not wanting an AIO.
    Reply
  • Soaptrail
    Paul has a correction to make:

    However, the 7nm process enables incredible density and does afford power advantages, which AMD says equates to more than twice the performance-per-watt of Intel's Core i9-9900K and -9920X (measured at the wall). AMD also says a Ryzen 9 3950X system pulls 28W less than the Core i9-9900K. That's a notable claim because the -9900K has twice the number of cores. We'll be sure to put those power measurements to the test in our review.

    Should be the 3950X has twice the cores.
    Reply