The illustrious AMD Ryzen 3 3300X has finally been brought back from the dead, with the CPU appearing back in stock on Newegg and B&H Photo for $140-$150 -- only $20-$30 over MSRP. This is a good sign, demonstrating a strong comeback for the CPU market as a whole.
Note that B&H had the 3300X for $130 a day ago, so we expect prices to fluctuate a bit.
The Ryzen 3 3300X was a beast of a CPU when it launched in 2020. If you could find it in stock, was one of the best CPUs on the market in the entry-level segment. The CPU is based on AMD's Zen 2 architecture with four CPU cores , eight threads , 16MB of L3 cache and clock speeds ranging from a 3.8 GHz to a 4.3 GHz turbo frequency.
A big performance bonus for the 3300X is its unique core configuration that allows for very low inter-core latency, similar to AMD's Zen 3 CPUs. All four cores and their associated 16MB of L3 cache are located in one AMD CPU complex ( CCX) with the other CCX completely disabled. This means the L3 cache can be accessed by all four cores without going through the I/O die, which adds latency and eats up nanoseconds of processing time.
When we tested the Ryzen 3 3300X, it performed spectacular for a quad-core CPU. Gaming performance was almost on par with a heavily overclocked Intel Core i7-7700K , and the Ryzen 5 3600 , a hexa-core CPU. All for a $120 MSRP.
But its launch was short-lived, as stock for the CPU quickly ran dry shortly after launch. If you could find a 3300X at all, prices were inflated as high as $200.
The 3300X's little brother, the Ryzen 3 3100 fared a little better, but eventually succumbed to the same fate as the 3300X and is still out of stock to this day.
The 3300X back in stock for $140-$150 isn't as competitive as it used to be, especially with Intel's Core i3-10100F going for just $109 on Newegg (at the time of this writing). However, the Ryzen 3 3300X is still the cheapest Zen 2 CPU you can buy from AMD and can slot into budget-friendly B450 motherboards, which are traditionally less expensive than Intel's B460 boards.