AMD is on the cusp of refreshing its top-end components with the Zen 4 Ryzen 7000 chips that arrive later this month. However the firm employs its Zen 2 structure for its newest low-end chips, the Ryzen 3 4100 and Ryzen 5 4500, and all indicators level to those chips being the corporate’s finances choices properly into subsequent yr. The $99 quad-core Ryzen 3 4100 and the $129 six-core Ryzen 5 4500 are designed to problem Intel’s potent $122 Core i3-12100 and the $99 graphics-less 12100F which have change into the go-to finances chips for avid gamers. The brand new AMD chips got here as a part of the corporate’s broader launch of seven new Ryzen 5000 fashions that purpose to shore up its rankings in CPU benchmarks and retake its place on the Finest CPUs for gaming record.
The Ryzen 5 4500 and Ryzen 3 4100 are a part of AMD’s new technique of utilizing its monolithic (single-chip) Zen 2-powered ‘Renoir’ APU silicon to deal with the sub-$150 market that Intel has dominated with its Alder Lake processors. AMD’s low-end lineup leverages one full-fledged APU mannequin with lively built-in graphics, the Ryzen 4600G, and two fashions with disabled Vega built-in graphics, the 4500 and 4100.
| Worth Road/MSRP | Design – Arch. | Cores / Threads | Base/Increase (GHz) | TDP | L3 Cache | |
| Ryzen 5 5500 | $159 | Zen 3 – Cezanne | 6 / 12 | 3.6 / 4.2 | 65W | 16MB |
| Ryzen 5 4600G (APU) | $154 | Zen 2 – Renoir (Vega 7) | 6 / 12 | 3.7 / 4.2 | 65W | 8MB |
| Ryzen 5 4500 | $129 | Zen 2 – Renoir | 6 / 12 | 3.6 / 4.1 | 65W | 8MB |
| Ryzen 3 4100 | $99 | Zen 2 – Renoir | 4 / 8 | 3.8 / 4.0 | 65W | 4MB |
The Ryzen 5 4500 and Ryzen 3 4100 nonetheless include the environment friendly 7nm TSMC course of, and their monolithic design permits AMD to hit lower cost factors than attainable with the dearer chiplet-based Ryzen processors. Nevertheless, that ends in some tradeoffs — the chips solely help 20 lanes of the PCIe 3.0 interface and DDR4 reminiscence. In distinction, Intel’s competing Core chips help as much as PCIe 5.0 and both DDR4 or DDR5 reminiscence, giving Intel the connectivity edge. That is to not point out that AMD’s Renoir APUs have the growing old Zen 2 structure that debuted again in 2019.
AMD’s chips include bundled Wraith Stealth coolers and profit from the strong AM4 motherboard ecosystem that is teeming with loads of reasonably priced choices. AMD additionally permits overclocking on these lower-end SKUs, a bonus over Intel’s Core i3.
AMD’s lowest-end chips are lengthy overdue, arriving a yr and a half after the primary wave of Ryzen 5000 chips, however they’re badly wanted. Intel’s Alder Lake launch caught AMD uncharacteristically flat-footed, wresting away AMD’s efficiency and pricing lead. Intel’s aggressive pricing additionally introduced superior worth in each worth vary whereas exploiting AMD’s evident lack of any sub-$250 Zen 3 chips. AMD’s tactic of bringing single-chip Renoir silicon to market serves because the counter, even when it leverages older tech to lower cost factors. This is how the low-end Ryzen chips stack up.
AMD Ryzen 3 4100 and Ryzen 5 4500 Specs and Pricing
| Worth – Road/MSRP | Design – Arch. | Cores / Threads | Base/Increase (GHz) | TDP / PBP / MTP | Reminiscence Help | L3 Cache | |
| Ryzen 5 5500 | $159 | Zen 3 – Cezanne | 6 / 12 | 3.6 / 4.2 | 65W | DDR4-3200 | 16MB |
| Ryzen 5 4600G (APU) | $154 | Zen 2 – Renoir | 6 / 12 | 3.7 / 4.2 | 65W | DDR4-3200 | 8MB |
| Ryzen 5 4500 | $129 | Zen 2 – Renoir | 6 / 12 | 3.6 / 4.1 | 65W | DDR4-3200 | 8MB |
| Core i3-12100 / F | $122 – $99 (F) | Alder Lake | 4 / 8 (4P+0E) | 3.3 / 4.3 | 60W / 89W | DDR4/5-3200/4800 | 12MB |
| Ryzen 3 4100 | $99 | Zen 2 – Renoir | 4 / 8 | 3.8 / 4.0 | 65W | DDR4-3200 | 4MB |
The Ryzen 3 4100 and Ryzen 5 4500 are practically an identical to the graphics-armed Ryzen 4000G fashions that AMD delivered to marketplace for OEMs and SIs again in 2020. Nevertheless, these fashions include a disabled iGPU, so you may want a discrete graphics card.
The $99 Ryzen 3 4100 is a Renoir mannequin that slots in with 4 Zen 2 cores and eight threads that function at 3.8 / 4.0 GHz base/increase clocks. The 65W chip comes with 4MB of L3 cache and has a disabled Vega graphics engine, positioning it to compete with Intel’s graphics-less Core i3-12100F. In lots of respects, the quad-core 4100 primarily replaces the Ryzen 3 3100 that was by no means actually out there at retail attributable to shortages in the course of the pandemic.
The $129 Ryzen 5 4500 has six Zen 2 cores and 12 threads that function at a 3.6 / 4.1 GHz base/increase frequency. Just like the 4100, this chip has a 65W TDP however comes with 8MB of L3 cache. Though it does not have an lively iGPU of its personal, pricing dictates that the 4500 competes with the full-fledged $125 Core i3-12100 that comes with an iGPU. The 4500 successfully replaces the Ryzen 3 3300X that wasn’t ever extensively out there at retail.
Apart from the disabled iGPU, these chips have the identical Renoir design because the OEM-only Ryzen 7 4750G (hit the hyperlink for the total architectural particulars), together with help for PCIe 3.0 as a substitute of PCIe 4.0. Consequently, this chip will make an incredible pairing for older, lower-end AM4 motherboards (you undoubtedly do not need to pay for performance you do not want by pairing it with a PCIe 4.0-supporting motherboard).
The Ryzen 5 4500 and Ryzen 3 4100 include a bundled Wraith Stealth cooler ample for inventory operation and helps as much as DDR4-3200 reminiscence. As well as, these chips are totally unlocked for overclocking the CPU cores, reminiscence, and cloth. In distinction, Intel’s non-Okay fashions solely help reminiscence overclocking, although Intel’s nonsensical choice to maintain sure voltages locked nonetheless restricts reminiscence overclocking headroom.
Check Setup
We examined with Home windows 11 on an X570 motherboard to keep up a comparable take a look at surroundings with the remainder of the processors within the take a look at pool. In fact, you would not pair this chip with this class of motherboard, however even lower-end 300-series motherboards ought to present sufficient juice for full operation. We additionally examined with safe boot, virtualization help, and fTPM/PTT lively to mirror a correctly configured Home windows 11 set up. Now we have a breakdown of the take a look at system configurations on the finish of the article.
Our overclocks have been relatively easy — we enabled the auto-overclocking Precision Increase Overdrive (PBO) characteristic with ‘superior motherboard’ settings and adjusted the scalar setting to 10X. Moreover, as outlined within the desk under, we matched our reminiscence overclocks with a 1:1 FCLK/reminiscence clock ratio to maintain latency low, which video games love. We examined the Ryzen 5 4500 and Ryzen 3 4100 in two completely different configurations every:
- Ryzen 5 4500: Corsair H115i 280mm water cooler, PBO Disabled, DDR4-3200
- Ryzen 5 4500 PBO: Corsair H115i 280mm water cooler, PBO Enabled, Scalar 10X, DDR4-3800, FCLK 1900 MHz (1:1 Ratio)
- Ryzen 3 4100: Corsair H115i 280mm water cooler, PBO Disabled, DDR4-3200
- Ryzen 3 4100 PBO: Corsair H115i 280mm water cooler, PBO Enabled, Scalar 10X, DDR4-3800, FCLK 1900 MHz (1:1 Ratio)
AMD Ryzen 3 4100 and Ryzen 5 4500 Gaming Benchmarks — The TLDR
As common, we’re testing with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 to cut back GPU-imposed bottlenecks as a lot as attainable, and variations between take a look at topics will shrink with lesser playing cards or increased resolutions. You’ll by no means see these low-end chips paired with an RTX 3090, however this permits us to focus on unrestrained chip efficiency.
The quad-core Zen 2-powered Ryzen 3 4100 is definitely the slowest chip within the take a look at pool. However that is not too stunning given its tame 4.0 GHz increase clock and scant 4MB of L3 cache. The six-core Ryzen 5 4500 solely boosts to 4.1 GHz, however the doubled L3 cache and further cores weigh in because it delivers 13% extra efficiency at inventory settings than the 4100.
The Core i3-12100 prices $122 for the full-fledged model with an iGPU, competing with the Ryzen 5 4500, and in addition comes because the graphics-less Core i3-12100F for $99, competing with the Ryzen 5 4100. Each of those fashions present an identical efficiency. The Intel Core i3-12100’s Golden Cove P-cores give even the Zen 3-powered Ryzen 5000G chips a stiff problem, so it is no shock that the Zen 2 Renoir struggles mightily compared.
For comparable or barely decrease pricing, the Core i3-12100/F is a whopping 49% sooner than the Ryzen 3 4100 and 21.7% sooner than the Ryzen 5 4500 in 1080p gaming, making it clear that finances avid gamers ought to go for Intel’s chip over the Ryzen competitors.
Intel nonetheless restricts Core i3 overclocking to the reminiscence, limiting features to some share factors. In distinction, AMD permits full overclocking of each Ryzen 4000 fashions, nevertheless it is not too helpful. The overclocked Ryzen 3 4100 is a mere 3% sooner than the inventory config, whereas the tuned 4500 is about 6% sooner than the inventory setup.
As an attention-grabbing comparability level, we additionally included the Ryzen 5 4600G within the take a look at pool. Nevertheless, it is a full-fledged Renoir APU with a working RX Vega 7 built-in graphics engine, so it is not meant for use with a discrete GPU. Look to those pages for a full evaluation quickly with iGPU efficiency benchmarks.
Total the Core i3-12100/F underlines its standing as the very best finances gaming CPU available on the market — the Zen 2-powered Ryzen 4 4500 and Ryzen 3 4100 cannot compete.
| Tom’s {Hardware} | 1080p Recreation Benchmarks – fps %age |
| Core i5-12400 | 100% |
| Ryzen 5 5600 | 97.4% |
| Core i3-12100 | 88.4% |
| Ryzen 5 5500 | 82.3% |
| Ryzen 5 4500 | 67.1% |
| Ryzen 3 4100 | 59.4% |
Shifting over to 1440p brings a GPU bottleneck into the equation, so the efficiency deltas between the chips shrink tremendously. Remember that enormous efficiency deltas in just a few of the sport titles can closely affect most of these total measurements. It is all the time finest to make an knowledgeable choice primarily based on the forms of titles you regularly play, so make sure you try the person recreation benchmarks under. That mentioned, we do not see a lot variance within the outcomes under — the Ryzen 5 4500 and Ryzen 3 4100 get crushed by the Core i3-12100 throughout the board. As such, we’ll skip the commentary within the particular person titles under.
3DMark, VRMark, Chess Engines on AMD Ryzen 3 4100 and Ryzen 5 4500
Artificial benchmarks do not are inclined to translate properly to real-world gaming, however they do present us the uncooked quantity of compute energy uncovered to recreation engines. It is too unhealthy most video games do not totally exploit it. That tendency is obvious right here as we see the Ryzen 5 4500 beat the Core i3-12100 by important margins in each the DX11 and DX12 artificial CPU checks, nevertheless it does not win in a single real-world gaming benchmark under.
Far Cry 6 on AMD Ryzen 3 4100 and Ryzen 5 4500
F1 2021 on AMD Ryzen 3 4100 and Ryzen 5 4500
Hitman 3 on AMD Ryzen 3 4100 and Ryzen 5 4500
Horizon Zero Daybreak on AMD Ryzen 3 4100 and Ryzen 5 4500
Pink Useless Redemption 2 on AMD Ryzen 3 4100 and Ryzen 5 4500
Watch Canine Legion on AMD Ryzen 3 4100 and Ryzen 5 4500
AMD Ryzen 3 4100 and Ryzen 5 4500 Utility Benchmarks — The TLDR
We are able to boil down productiveness software efficiency into two broad classes: single- and multi-threaded. These slides present the geometric imply of efficiency in a number of of our most vital checks in every class, however make sure you have a look at the expanded benchmark outcomes additional under.
The Core i3-12100 simply dispatched the Ryzen 4000 duo in our gaming checks, and whereas the Ryzen 5 4500 is a little more aggressive within the software testing, the Ryzen 3 4100 does little to rectify its poor exhibiting.
The Core i3-12100 is 44% sooner than the Ryzen 3 4100 and 34% sooner than the Ryzen 5 4500 in our cumulative measure of single-threaded efficiency. In different phrases, the single-threaded contest is not a contest in any respect.
Shifting over to threaded work, the quad-core 12100 is 40% sooner than the quad-core Ryzen 3 4100, leaving no motive to buy it over Intel’s Core i3.
Nevertheless, the six-core Ryzen 5 4500 is 3% sooner than the 12100 in threaded work. That relatively slim delta is a win for the Zen 2 chip towards the Alder Lake Core i3, and we see a number of bigger wins for the Ryzen 5 4500 in our extra expansive multi-threaded benchmarks under. As you’d think about given its benefit of getting two extra cores, the 4500 is quicker in some threaded rendering and encoding purposes than the Core i3-12100.
Nevertheless, given the massive disparities in single-threaded efficiency and gaming, to not point out connectivity choices, the Core i3-12100’s higher mix of efficiency and options is extra engaging even for the productivity-minded (notably when you plan to make use of a PCIe 4.0 SSD).
| Tom’s {Hardware} – Utility Benchmarks | Single-Threaded | Multi-Threaded |
| Core i5-12400 | 100% | 100% |
| Core i3-12100 | 98.1% | 74.8% |
| Ryzen 5 5600 | 87.2% | 97.3% |
| Ryzen 5 5500 | 82.4% | 89.6% |
| Ryzen 5 4500 | 73.4% | 77.2% |
| Ryzen 3 4100 | 67.8% | 53.5% |
Rendering Benchmarks on AMD Ryzen 3 4100 and Ryzen 5 4500
The Core i3-12100 is spectacular in single-threaded rendering work, main all competing Ryzen chips in each Cinebench and POV-Ray benchmarks. Nevertheless, its quad-core design is not as properly suited because the Ryzen 5 4500 for a number of the heavily-parallelized rendering workloads you may see in the actual world. For instance, the Ryzen 5 4500 is 11%, 5%, and 25% sooner within the threaded Cinebench, Corona, and C-Ray renderers, respectively.
Encoding Benchmarks on AMD Ryzen 3 4100 and Ryzen 5 4500
Encoders are typically both closely threaded or nearly completely single-threaded. The Ryzen 3 4100 is not aggressive in any of those benchmarks, however whereas the Ryzen 5 4500 is not an element within the lightly-threaded checks, it’s extra competent in heavily-threaded duties.
The Core i3-12100 dominates the lightly-threaded LAME, FLAC, and WebP encoding checks. Flipping over to threaded purposes, the Ryzen 5 4500 excels in HandBrake, SVT-HEVC, and the SVT-AV1 encoding duties.
Adobe Premiere Professional, Photoshop, and Lightroom on AMD Ryzen 3 4100 and Ryzen 5 4500
We have built-in the UL Benchmarks Procyon checks into our suite to switch the growing old PCMark 10. This new benchmark runs advanced Adobe Premiere Professional, Photoshop, and Lightroom workflows with the precise software program, making for an incredible real-world take a look at suite.
These multi-phase benchmarks have combined workload profiles, with some sections of every benchmark relying extra upon single-threaded prowess whereas different parts of the workflow depend on sheer threaded horsepower. This mixed-use sort of software is frequent, and right here we will see that the Core i3-12100’s superior mixture of overwhelmingly sooner single-threaded efficiency and greater than ample threaded heft given its worth level mix to take the lead in each benchmark.
Net Shopping, Workplace and Productiveness on AMD Ryzen 3 4100 and Ryzen 5 4500
The ever-present net browser is without doubt one of the most regularly used purposes. These checks have a tendency to be calmly threaded, so a quick response time is vital. Right here we see the Core i3-12100 take a commanding lead in each the net looking and light-weight workplace benchmarks.
Compilation, Compression, AVX Benchmarks on AMD Ryzen 3 4100 and Ryzen 5 4500
This part features a various set of workloads, together with exceedingly branchy code within the LLVM compilation workload and the massively parallel molecular dynamics simulation code in NAMD. Frankly, most of most of these workloads on this part aren’t well-suited for this class of chip, however we embrace them as a reference.
The Core i3-12100 is not as aggressive because the Ryzen 5 4500 in these heavily-threaded purposes. AMD additionally advantages within the SHA3, AES, and HASH benchmarks from its cryptographic optimizations.
AMD Ryzen 3 4100 and Ryzen 5 4500 Energy Consumption and Effectivity
The Intel Alder Lake chips nonetheless suck extra energy than AMD’s Zen 3-powered Ryzen 5000 sequence chips, however pairing the Intel 7 course of with the hybrid structure brings huge enhancements, notably in threaded work. Nevertheless, Intel’s choice to dial up the facility limits because it pushes for efficiency supremacy ends in increased peak energy consumption and fewer effectivity.
The quad-core Ryzen 3 4100 attracts a stunningly-low quantity of energy in the course of the heavy HandBrake and y-cruncher energy measurements, however that ends in the slowest efficiency of our take a look at pool. Nevertheless, that additionally ends in superior total effectivity, as we will see within the renders-per-day-per-watt metrics.
In the meantime, the six-core Ryzen 5 4500 unsurprisingly pulls extra peak energy than the quad-core Ryzen 3 4100, however its sooner efficiency ends in higher effectivity profile than the Core i3-12100 in some situations.
Right here we take a barely completely different have a look at energy consumption by calculating the cumulative power required to carry out x264 and x265 HandBrake workloads, respectively. We plot this ‘activity power’ worth in Kilojoules on the left aspect of the chart.
These workloads are comprised of a hard and fast quantity of labor, so we will plot the duty power towards the time required to complete the job (backside axis), thus producing a extremely helpful energy chart.
Keep in mind that sooner compute instances, and decrease activity power necessities, are supreme. Meaning processors that fall the closest to the underside left nook of the chart are finest.
Alder Lake Core i3 Stays the Chief
AMD’s new tactic of repurposing APU silicon for the lowest-end finances chips elevated the corporate’s potential to ship low-priced silicon in the course of the shortages. Nevertheless, the Zen 2 structure is exhibiting its age, leaving Intel with a transparent lead within the sub-$125 chip section.
Under, we’ve got the geometric imply of our gaming take a look at suite at 1080p and 1440p and a cumulative measure of efficiency in single- and multi-threaded purposes. We performed our gaming checks with an RTX 3090, so efficiency deltas will shrink with lesser playing cards and better decision and constancy settings.
As a reminder, the $122 Intel Core i3-12100 and $99 12100F supply an identical efficiency, however the latter comes with the iGPU disabled. The Core i3-12100 is an insurmountable 49% sooner than the $99 Ryzen 3 4100 and 21.7% sooner than the $129 Ryzen 5 4500 in 1080p gaming, making the Core i3 the clear alternative for finances avid gamers.
The Core i3-12100 additionally dominates in single-threaded purposes, being 44% sooner than the Ryzen 3 4100 and 34% sooner than the Ryzen 5 4500 in our total measurement. In threaded work, the Core i3-12100 is 40% sooner than the quad-core Ryzen 3 4100, leaving no justification for the 4100 for brand new builds.
The six-core Ryzen 5 4500 is 3% sooner than the 12100 in our total measurement of efficiency in threaded workloads, however bear in mind that we see considerably bigger benefits within the 4500’s favor in some rendering workloads. That may make the 4500 engaging when you’re solely in productiveness work or in search of an improve for a Zen 1 system.
Nevertheless, the Ryzen 5 4500’s few benefits in threaded workloads include extreme tradeoffs in gaming and single-threaded purposes. As we regularly see, mixed-use forms of purposes are frequent. Our Adobe checks are a very good instance — the 12100’s superior mixture of overwhelmingly sooner single-threaded efficiency and greater than ample threaded heft typically takes the lead in these forms of workloads.
The Ryzen 5 4500 can be restricted to PCIe 3.0 connectivity, a drawback in comparison with Intel’s help for PCIe 5.0 — notably for the productivity-minded, who may respect the sooner throughput of a PCIe 4.0 SSD. The Core i3-12100 additionally helps DDR4 or DDR5 reminiscence, whereas the Ryzen 5 4500 is restricted to DDR4. That does not think about a lot as a result of DDR5’s premium pricing is not a very good match for this class of chips.
The Core i3-12100 and the Ryzen fashions include bundled coolers, however AMD gives totally unrestrained overclocking, whereas Intel limits you to reminiscence overclocking solely. That is not an excessive amount of of an element, both, as we noticed restricted features with all of those finances chips.
The Core i3-12100 and 12100F stay the hands-down winners for finances gaming builds. Most finances builders are in search of the very best all-rounder chip they will purchase, and right here the Core i3-12100 and 12100F unquestionably supply the very best mix of efficiency in gaming, single- and multi-threaded work, together with extra fashionable connectivity choices.
The Ryzen 3 4100 does not make a lot sense at its $99 worth level, even for upgrades. The Ryzen 5 4500 would make a good improve for an present finances AM4 construct if you’ll find it at under MSRP, however bear in mind that the Zen 3-powered Ryzen 5 5500 is a greater improve, and you’ll typically discover it on sale for under ~$15 greater than the 4500. For brand spanking new builds, the Intel Core i3-12100 stays the champion of the finances area.
| Intel Socket 1700 DDR4 (Z690) | Core i3-12100, Core i5-12400 |
| MSI Z690A WiFi DDR4 | |
| 2x 8GB Trident Z Royal DDR4-3600 – Inventory: DDR4-3200 14-14-14-36 / OC: DDR4-3800 | |
| AMD Socket AM4 (X570) | Ryzen 5 4150, 5600, 5500, 4600G, 4500, 3600, Ryzen 3 4100, 3300X |
| MSI MEG X570 Godlike | |
| 2x 8GB Trident Z Royal DDR4-3600 – Inventory: DDR4-3200 14-14-14-36 | OC/PBO: DDR4-3800 (5600X, 5600), DDR-4000 (5500), DDR4-4400 (5600G),Second-gen DDR4-3600 | |
| All Programs | Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3090 Eagle – Gaming and ProViz purposes |
| Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti FE – Utility checks | |
| 2TB Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus | |
| Silverstone ST1100-TI | |
| Open Benchtable | |
| Arctic MX-4 TIM | |
| Home windows 11 Professional | |
| Cooling | Corsair H115i, Customized loop |
| Overclocking observe | All configurations with overclocked reminiscence even have tuned core frequencies and/or lifted energy limits. |
