Conclusion
In this review, we took a look at CPU specific performance of the AMD Athlon 3000G APU. The AMD Athlon 3000G was released in November of 2019 as the best value from AMD in the entry-level market. This is a $49 CPU that contains an integrated GPU in the form of AMD Radeon Vega 3 Graphics and is also unlocked with the ability to overclock. It is based on AMD’s Zen+ microarchitecture at 12nm and is a 2 core/4 thread APU. This APU is widely available for purchase.
Today’s first review focused on the CPU performance and overclocking of the CPU. We also threw in a little GPGPU as well. In our follow-up review, we will focus on the AMD Radeon Vega 3 Graphics inside this APU. We will look at gaming performance and also overclock the graphics as well.
AMD Athlon 3000G CPU Performance
Simply to have something to compare with, we included a Ryzen 5 3500U from a mobile laptop that can also be considered close to entry-level with the Lenovo IdeaPad S145-15API from July of 2019. The Ryzen 5 3500U is based on the same Zen+ architecture as the Athlon 3000G, though the Ryzen 5 3500U has the advantage of being a 4 core/8 thread APU. Both are nearly clocked the same, with the 3500U having a 200MHz advantage. Both have Vega Graphics, though the 3500U has Vega 8 instead of Vega 3. However, the Ryzen 5 3500U is constrained by the laptops cooling and the lower 15W TDP. You see, the Athlon 3000G has a 35W TDP which lets it stretch its legs a bit more.
The performance comparison was interesting between these two APUs of the same architecture. In anything multi-threaded, the Ryzen 5 3500U was naturally going to have the advantage. The trick was to see by how much though, and in some cases, the performance was closer than we thought.
For example, in PCMark 10’s Application Test the AMD Ryzen 5 3500U wasn’t much faster than the AMD Athlon 3000G. This is because the workloads presented, using MS Office, relied more on things like single-thread performance and frequency. In this case, the AMD Athlon 3000G held up very well. When we overclocked it performance well exceeded the Ryzen 5 3500U. Other single-threaded tests like Geekbench 5’s single-thread test backed this same result up.
It seems when operating applications that are not very attuned to multi-threading, the AMD Athlon 3000G can hold its own quite well. Many workloads don’t require heavy multi-threading, like office type of applications. Therefore, in a business environment, as a standard no-frills office computer, the Athlon 3000G should do just fine.
It’s only when introduced to heavy multi-threaded workloads that it slumps quite far. It just can’t hold a candle to a 4 core/8 thread APU even if that APU is TDP constrained to 15W. In all the multi-threading applications and rendering applications, the Athlon 3000G suffered hard. This just isn’t the APU for rendering 3D or exporting video. It will take you an agonizing amount of time waiting for those things to render out. Even if you do overclock it, the frequency cannot make up for it only having 2 cores/4 threads.
The comparison we made today was interesting. For the most part the AMD Athlon 3000G 35W TDP APU was slower than a Ryzen 5 3500U 15W TDP from a laptop. But there were some scenarios where that wasn’t a detrimental impact. There are some useful scenarios for this APU and it does earn its place as an entry-level experience.
Overclocking
We are absolutely thrilled with our CPU overclocking experience with the AMD Athlon 3000G. Pair this APU up with a good motherboard that has options, plus good RAM, and good cooling, and you don’t have to settle for its default 3.5GHz performance. We were able to crank this APU up from 3.5GHz to a very stable 4GHz with some bump in the voltage. It was just that easy, and it worked all day long rendering Blender.
This does increase the temperatures a bit, about 10 degrees on our cooler, so we suggest a good cooler. Technically the Athlon 3000G comes with a cooler from AMD that is rated at 65W for thermal loads. This should technically be enough to achieve this overclock of 4GHz, so you don’t necessarily have to buy a beefier cooler. However, if you opted to, it would help just that much more.
What we were most impressed by were the performance results from overclocking. PCMark 10 Application Test shot way up and surpassed the Ryzen 5 3500U. The performance was also up in Cinebench R20 single-thread exceeding Ryzen 5 3500U. Rendering times in 3D and video were reduced. It seemed to help both single-thread and multi-thread performance by overclocking. Running this APU overclocked is certainly the way to go to get the best from this $50 APU.
ASUS ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING
We also want to thank ASUS for sending the ASUS ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING B450 based motherboard for testing. We only wish we could have reviewed it sooner when the Athlon 3000G was released. The B450 chipset isn’t that bad at all. This motherboard is the perfect pair-up with the Athlon 3000G, and now because of the B550 happenings the only support for Athlon APUs with Radeon Vega Graphics.
The ASUS ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING will give your entry-level PC a ton of features for such a PC, you won’t have to sacrifice USB support, LAN support, NVMe support, and SATA support. You’ve also got a motherboard with well cooled VRMs and a high level of control over overclocking. Plus, you can crank the RAM up on the Athlon 3000G to get the most from its gaming performance with Radeon Vega 3 Graphics. You may have an entry-level performance with the Athlon 3000G, but you don’t have to settle for entry-level features.
Final Thoughts
Here’s what it boils down to, you have a $50 APU that comes with a cooler, saving you cost and has built-in AMD Radeon Vega 3 Graphics, also saving you cost. Those are two components you just don’t have to buy. In addition, the APU is overclockable with an unlocked multiplier. This is just simply unheard of for a CPU of any kind at this price point. We have proven that it can be overclocked and that it does overclock very well. We showed how overclocking it can improve performance.
Its weak point is the 2 core/4 thread nature. However, more cores aren’t always needed. There are applications that this will be plenty for. The entry-level office space for example, or a simple entry-level Internet machine. It’s perfect for these use cases because of the low-cost, the fact it has a built-in GPU and if you need a little extra oomph, overclocking is there. It’s not a bad little bundle there. From a CPU perspective, this might be all you need.
Even though AMD has announced Renoir, you cannot buy it on the shelf. This APU, you can, and it’s so cheap. For all these reasons right now, from the CPU nature of it, we highly respect what this APU offers. Stay tuned to see how the Vega 3 Graphics hold up, and if this can maybe also be an entry-level gaming APU.