AMD’s Ryzen 5 2500X and Ryzen 3 2300X could lead to more affordable gaming PCs

Right around a month ago, Lenovo spilled the beans on a couple of unannounced Ryzen processor SKUs, the Ryzen 5 2500X and Ryzen 3 2300X, both of which temporarily appeared as CPU options for its ThinkCenter M725 line of small form factor (SFF) desktop PCs. Those new processors are in fact real, and now official.

AMD sent us a note today announcing the "immediate availability" of both new chips, though you can't head over to Amazon or Newegg and grab one. That's because AMD is making them exclusively available to its OEM partners and system integrators (SIs) "to develop their own unique and attractive systems that target consumers who want an off-the-shelf gaming, family, or SFF desktop PC."

More on that in a moment, but first let's go over the specs. The Ryzen 5 2500X is a 4-core/8-thread processor clocked at 3.6-4.0GHz, with 10MB of Smart Prefetch cache and a 65W TDP. The Ryzen 3 2300X, meanwhile, is a 4-core/4-thread CPU clocked at 3.5-4.0GHz, also with 10MB of total cache and a 65W TDP.

Here's how they compare to the first generation Ryzen processors they're intended to replace:

  • Ryzen 5 2500X: 4C8T, 3.6GHz to 4GHz, 10MB L1+L2 cache, DDR4-2933 support
  • Ryzen 5 1500X: 4C8T, 3.5GHz to 3.7GHz, 18MB L1+L2 cache, DDR4-2667 support
  • Ryzen 3 2300X: 4C4T, 3.5GHz to 4GHz, 10MB L1+L2 cache, DDR4-2933 support
  • Ryzen 3 1300X: 4C4T, 3.5GHz to 3.7GHZ, 10MB L1+L2 cache, DDR4-2667 support

These are interesting additions that should make it easier for OEM system builders to offer sub-$1,000 gaming PCs. In fact, we can already see this. AMD pointed us to Acer's Nitro N50-100, one of the first desktop systems to utilize the Ryzen 5 2500X. It's paired with 8GB of DDR4-2666 RAM, a Radeon RX 580 graphics card, and 1TB hard drive (7,200 rpm), and is now shipping for $899.99. That's not a bad setup for the money.

We expect to see more systems like this, along with the usual crop of general purpose PCs. Without pricing information, it's tough to say where these land compared to AMD's Ryzen 3 2200G and Ryzen 5 2400G APUs. They're clocked a bit faster and have more L3 cache, so they should be a modest step up in performance, though we still prefer the 6-core/12-thread Ryzen 5 2600 and 2600X.

Some online stores give us a small cut if you buy something through one of our links. Read our affiliate policy for more info.

Paul Lilly

Paul has been playing PC games and raking his knuckles on computer hardware since the Commodore 64. He does not have any tattoos, but thinks it would be cool to get one that reads LOAD"*",8,1. In his off time, he rides motorcycles and wrestles alligators (only one of those is true).

Latest in Processors
A chip being held up in an Intel fab
Intel is reportedly 'working to finalize commitments from Nvidia' as a foundry partner, suggesting gaming potential for the 18A node
AMD Strix Point APU chip, held in a hand, with the reflected light showing the various processing blocks in the chip die
AMD's next-gen 'Gorgon Point' APU outted and seemingly sticks with RDNA 3.5 graphics which is disappointing for handheld gaming PCs if accurate
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivering pancakes and sausages to pre-GTC show hosts and guests, wearing an apron
'There might be a party. I wasn't invited,' says Jensen Huang of the rumoured TSMC proposal to join forces and run Intel's chip fabs
Nvidia Feynman GPU
While we despair of RTX 50-series supplies and wait on next-gen Rubin, Nvidia reveals its next-next GPU architecture will be known as Feynman and is due in 2028
Nvidia Vera CPU
Nvidia reveals Vera, a new CPU with 'custom' cores which could be very exciting for its upcoming premium PC processor
Machinery tools and equipment,Rolls of galvanized steel for production metal pipes and tubes for industrial ventilation systems in factory.
New super-thin '2D' metal sheets could enable ultra-low power chips and can you guess how they're made? Yup, by squishing stuff really hard
Latest in News
An Enshrouded player in a recreation of Erebor from The Lord of the Rings
Kings under the Mountain! 33 Enshrouded players spent 10,000 hours to recreate this iconic location from The Lord of the Rings
A mech awakens.
Mecha Break developer is considering unlocking all mechs following open beta feedback
Lara Croft Unified Art
Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics lays off 17 employees 'to better align our current business needs and the studio's future success'
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again
Image of Ronaldo from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves trailer
It doesn't really make sense that soccer star Ronaldo is now a Fatal Fury character, but if you follow the money you can see how it happened