Ryzen 3 1300X Benchmarked: Here's How It Handles Games

AMD’s new low-level CPU, Ryzen 3, is finally here. It’s an affordable option, which may leave many PC builders wondering: how well does it pair with a GPU for gaming?

Credit: AMD

(Image credit: AMD)

Our colleagues at Tom’s Hardware and Anandtech tested the $129 Ryzen 3 1300 X paired with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 GPU to see how well it handles gaming. They paired it against Intel’s Core i3 CPUs as well as AMD’s Ryzen 5 processors to see how how big the differences are.

For more in-depth, technical breakdowns of Ryzen 3, check out Tom’s Hardware and Anandtech’s reviews.

The Ryzen 3 1300 X and GTX 1080 ran the Hitman benchmark at 1080p and ultra settings at 70.2 frames per second. At 3.9-GHz, the 1300X stepped up to 76.6 fps and overcame both the Core i3-7100 (71.4 fps) and Intel Core i3-7300 (74.9fps), though the base clock was a few frames less than both of Intel’s offerings. The Ryzen 5 1500X was king at 92.2 fps.

Surprisingly, the Ryzen 3 outperformed the  Ryzen 5 on the Rise of the Tomb Raider benchmark (1920 x 1080, very high settings). The 1300X and GTX 1080 ran the game at 130.3 fps (134.2 fps when clocked at 3.9GHz). The Core i3-7300 came out on top (135.5 fps), while the Ryzen 5 1500X ran at 129 fps.

The GTX 1080 and Ryzen 3 ran The Witcher 3 (1920 x 1080, ultra settings) at 85.4 frames per second (85.5 fps at 3.9 GHz). The Pentium G4560 (88.2 fps) and Pentium G4620 (88.8 fps) were both faster, as were the Core i3-7300 (89.8 fps) and Core i3-7100 (89.2 fps).

When running Grand Theft Auto V at 1080p at very high settings, the Ryzen 3 1300X produced 75.1 fps when paired with the GTX 1080. The Ryzen 5 1500X reached a smoother 80.7 fps while Intel's Core i3 CPUs fell below Ryzen's scores.

The Ryzen 3 1300X CPU was the second strongest performer on the Ashes of the Singularity test at 1080p and extreme settings, rendering the game at 46.8 fps (the lesser Ryzen 3 1200 saw a drop to 42.63 fps). Intel's Core i3 CPUs were middling performers on this test, while the Ryzen 5 1500X (58.2 fps) came out on top.

Whether or not Ryzen 3 CPUs are solid gaming CPUs will depend heavily on the GPU you pair it with. These benchmarks with GTX 1080s ensure the CPUs were the only bottlenecks, and the Ryzen 3 1300X performed fairly well for a low-cost chip (the Ryzen 3 1200, less so). For most games, a $60 jump to to Ryzen 5 1500X will squeeze out a bit more performance, but if you're on a very strict budget, the better Ryzen 3 should handle most tasks well enough to get to gaming.

Andrew E. Freedman

Andrew E. Freedman is an editor at Tom's Hardware focusing on laptops, desktops and gaming as well as keeping up with the latest news. He holds a M.S. in Journalism (Digital Media) from Columbia University. A lover of all things gaming and tech, his previous work has shown up in Kotaku, PCMag, Complex, Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag among others.