It has become common practice for AMD and Intel to re-release processors from several generations-old architectures. Japanese news outlet Akiba reports that AMD has relaunched its entry-level dual-core Athlon 3000G with new packaging and a cooler, featuring part number YD3000C6FHSBX. The chip is on sale for ¥5,790, which translates to approximately $40.
The Athlon 3000G is one of the slowest CPUs you can install in an AM4 motherboard. The CPU was released in 2019 as AMD’s entry-level processor, succeeding the Athlon 200GE series that preceded it. The chip has two unlocked Zen CPU cores, four threads, just 4MB of L3 cache, a 35W TDP, and a 3.5 GHz clock speed. For graphics, the 3000G comes with a Vega 3-based iGPU featuring three CUs, 192 cores, and a 1.1GHz clock speed.
AMD launched a second variant of the chip in 2023, featuring a beefier Wraith cooler, new packaging, and a newer die based on the Dali architecture. Dali was an offshoot of Raven Ridge that was cheaper to manufacture, but based on the same 14nm process. As a result, performance is identical between the original and refreshed versions. One interesting tidbit about the Dali die is that it only features two physical cores; by contrast, the original Raven Ridge version of the 3000G had a quad-core die with two disabled cores.
The latest re-release is unsurprisingly based on the newer Dali version of the Athlon 3000G. The aforementioned part number (YD3000C6FHSBX) confirms this. Models with the letters “FH” included signify that they are the newer models; by contrast, part numbers including “FB” represent the original models.
It may seem silly for AMD to release an entry-level CPU that is now six years old, running on an architecture introduced eight years ago. But AMD would not release a CPU like this unless it knew there was still a market for it. The Ryzen 5 5500X3D is an excellent example of this being an “all-new” Ryzen CPU based on the Zen 3 architecture, but it is region-locked to Latin America. The Ryzen 5 5600F and Ryzen 5 7400 are similar, both being locked to the Asian market.
Intel is also no stranger to this strategy; it recently released the Core i5-110, based on its Comet Lake 14nm architecture, an architecture that debuted five years ago in chips such as the Core i9-10900K.
The only caveat owners will need to be aware of is motherboard compatibility for the 3000G. The chip is so old that AMD’s latest iteration of 500-series AM5 motherboards doesn’t support it. Technically, these boards can help, but AMD has released so many AM4 CPUs over the past eight years that there likely isn’t enough room in the firmware memory of 500-series motherboards to accommodate such old chips.
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