AMD Ryzen 3 Summit Ridge 1200 BOX 12 nm (YD1200BBAFBOX)

Flying below the radar

You know, if you open at least one top low-cost processor, you are unlikely to find a Ryzen 3 1200 there. And this is not surprising, because two very successful generations of processors from AMD have already come out since then, and an even more advanced Zen 3 architecture looms on the horizon. We have some compelling arguments to prove that the Ryzen 3 1200 is still good. At least on a low-cost build.

Nearly half the price of the Ryzen 3 2200G

Let's start with the price-performance ratio. Yes, the Ryzen 3 1200 is far from the most powerful chip we've seen. But it's too early to write it down, in most benchmarks it lags behind the newer Ryzen 3 2200G by 10 – 15%. In some benchmarks like Cinebench and Winrar tests, the gap reaches 30%. In games, the difference is hardly noticeable at all, since the graphics card makes almost all the difference. At the same time, the Ryzen 3 2200G will cost you almost twice as much. The second nuance is the socket. If you're broke, but you need to build a computer bloody from the nose, such a chip will successfully cope with the role of a fairly performant temporary plug. Take not the cheapest motherboard decently on the B450 chip, then in the future you can easily plug in some 12-thread Ryzen 3600 into it and life will sparkle with new colours.

14nm vs 12nm process technology

If you decide to take just such a processor, then we strongly recommend that you look for the 12-nm version with the AF index on the market, which is based on a newer crystal, costs literally three kopecks more than the usual Ryzen 3 1200, and is almost one-to-one in terms of power like Ryzen 3 2200G. Plus, the 12nm version overclocks perfectly, on a standard cooler you can get stable 3.9 – 4 GHz on all four cores. The regular Ryzen 3 1200 isn't as sharp, but the unlocked multiplier lets you tweak the frequencies a bit.