AMD Athlon 3000G 2-Core, 4-Thread Unlocked Desktop Processor with Radeon Graphics

This processor is amazing. It's a $45-55 APU (which means it's a CPU with stronger integrated graphics) that runs off of modern hardware, meaning it is wonderful for those looking for a noticeable upgrade path in the future. The support this APU will likely get into the future is wonderful, and if all you do is office work then I don't see any reason to spend more money. The same is true for gaming, as if all you want to play are popular multiplayer games like Fortnite, CS GO, League of Legends, etc., on a limited budget, as long as you are okay with lower settings, you can even do it on the impressive integrated graphics. If you're looking for emulation, too, this is a wonderful processor. It can also perform well in many modern games, if you plan on using a budget GPU like the 1050, 1050ti, 1060, or 1660. Of course, if you plan on playing all the latest games at max settings at 60fps or higher at a 1080p resolution or above, you'll likely need to look elsewhere. It's also great for overclocking, even on the included budget cooler.For my use-case then, which is as a college student who does light last-gen gaming whenever they aren't working on classwork, this APU is wonderful for just that. It being a dual core may cause issues in modern games, but I eventually plan on upgrading it to a Ryzen 5 since it supports the same architecture, saving me the additional money it would have costed me to purchase a Ryzen 3, while I wait to save up the money. The only issues I've really had is with Minecraft, as it is a game that loves cores no matter what GPU you pair it with (so if you plan on playing Minecraft, I'd recommend at least a 4-Core Ryzen 3), and that it runs so cool that the integrated fan might honestly be overkill, but if all I can really say is that it runs too cool, then this is a pretty cool purchase.One last thing I will say, modern Ryzen and Athlon APUs love ram speed, so be sure to pick up the fastest ram speed you can afford, and be sure the ram is running in dual channel mode for extra performance (this means instead of buying one ram stick of a higher capacity, buy two ram sticks at lower capacity that can run in dual channel).

This is a budget APU. It's not meant to be a competitive thing for any particular application, other than being very inexpensive and providing a solid CPU and a fair GPU in one purchase making it simple and affordable. Great for a basic workstation. Great for even basic gaming at lower resolutions like 720p and 1080p with low to medium settings without buying a separate GPU, so fantastic for games for kids or just general gaming that isn't super GPU intensive. It's a dual core, but has 4 hyperthreads so it behaves in most processing as a 4 core in that sense, so it actually is a rather robust CPU for it's price. I compared it up against my aging FX8350 4Ghz 8x Core Bulldozer CPU crunching a 20Gb video data file and it took 19 minutes to perform all routines; this Athlon 3000G APU at 3.5Ghz, 2x Core and 4x Threads did the same processing in 15 minutes, giving me 25% of my time back, making it perform 25% better in general in this particular application (Autostakkert!3, 20Gb SER container with 1,000 RAW frames in it). My poor old Bulldozer limped back to its hole. I installed it into a basic B450 chipset system with an SSD and 16Gb of DDR4 memory and using Win 10 O.S. and the system doesn't feel budget when in use. It's snappy and everything is handled. I would never guess this system was $300 and can handle solid tasking and GPU rendered stuff. Great APU for $50!

Best cpu for the price and wattage.

It's not the fastest processor out there, buts it's very adequate. Also windows 8.1 does not block updates when running on it. After I have my computer to my dad whose 13 year old cad rig finally gave up the ghost I had some parts - ssd, gtx 960 video card , a wraith stealth cpu cooler and some ram. I got a b450 main board and preordered a 3300x since May, but it still hasn't arrived and I pulled the plug and got an athlon 3000g. The main board drives the cpu at 1.277 volts on all auto. When fixing the voltage To the same value the cpu can remain stable at up to 3900mhz , and under the wraith stealth reaches 65C at 28C ambient. 65C is where I draw the line on CPU temperatures anyway, and pushing it more than that (or over 1.3v) is not advisable. I use it as HTPC and for some light games such as Cities:Skylines and Stellaris where FPS is not the goal. It reminds me of the $30 Duron 1300 I got way back in 2003. Same great value, same easy to overclock potential.It is not true that this CPU does not support NVME, it definitely does on a proper B450 board. I have installed 3 drives - a 2.5" SATA SSD, a M.2 B key 2242 SATA drive and an M.2 M key 2280 NVME and all of them are working at full speed, plus the video card. MOBO is Asrock B450M Steel Legend with 2.90, 3.30 and 3.60 bios. Make sure if you use both your SATA and NVME ports that you don't disable your NVME port:* M2_2 and SATA3_3 share lanes. If either one of them is in use, the other one will be disabled.• 1 x Ultra M.2 Socket (M2_1), supports M Key type 2242/2260/2280 M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen3 x4 (32 Gb/s) (with Matisse, Picasso, Summit Ridge, Raven Ridge and Pinnacle Ridge) or Gen3 x2 (16 Gb/s) (with Athlon series APU)**** Supports NVMe SSD as boot disks