Which is better Intel i3 or AMD Ryzen 3?

Intel has finally unveiled the complete Alder Lake desktop CPU lineup as a part of its CES 2022 announcements. In addition to the non-K versions of the 12600K, 12700K, and 12900K, we also got a bunch of other 65W and 35W CPUs. The Intel Core i3-12300 happens to be one of the low-powered CPUs on the list that's now available to purchase. Intel's Alder Lake family has a bunch of different Core i3 chips. But in this article, we'll only be taking a look at the Intel Core i3-12300 and see how it stacks up against AMD's Ryzen 3 5300G APU.

The AMD Ryzen 3 5300G, for those of you who don't know, is an OEM-only APU. This means, this particular chip is not available to buy in retail and its availability is limited to partner OEMs for their pre-built machines. But the Core i3-12300 vs Ryzen 3 5300G is still a pretty good match-up, one that we think will tell us which is the better entry-level CPU to consider for your next PC.

Navigate this article:

• Specifications
• Performance
• Pricing & Availability

Intel Core i3-12300 vs AMD Ryzen 3 5300G: Specifications

Let's take a quick look at the specifications of each CPU to see what of these units bring to the table:

As we saw with the Intel Core i5-12600 (non-K) variant, this particular low-powered CPU also lacks E-cores. The Intel Core i3-12300 is a quad-core CPU, all of them being performance cores. We're also looking at 8 threads going head-to-head with the similarly specced Ryzen 3 5300G. While the AMD chip has a higher base clock, the Intel Core i3-12300 beats the Ryzen 3 5300G with its higher boost frequency.

Both CPUs also carry integrated graphics chips. We're looking at the Intel UHD 730 in case of the 12300, and the Radeon Graphics RX Vega 6 in the case of the Ryzen 3 5300G. The Corei3-12300 isn't the first CPU to carry this particular iGPU. The Intel UHD Graphics 730 made its first appearance with the Intel Core i5-11400, which happens to be one of the best CPUs of the outgoing generation. That being said, it remains to be seen exactly how it performs when coupled with a new chip on an entirely new platform with other compatible components.

Intel Core i3-12300 vs AMD Ryzen 3 5300G: Performance

The Intel Core i3-12300, just like some of these other 65W and 35W chips in the Alder Lake family, is fresh out of the oven. We're yet to get our hands on the CPU to our standard suite of tests to analyze the performance. That being said, we could see a similar trend to follow here. The Core i3-12300 CPU may benefit from the higher allotted power which the Ryzen 3 5300G is not known to hit. The Core i3-12300 can stretch its wings to use as much as 89W power under load. The Ryzen 3 5300G is known to stay well under its Default TDP value of 65W.

The Core i3-12300 will also take advantage of the new features including PCIe 5.0 and, more importantly, the DDR5 memory support. The Core i3-12300 supports DDR5-4800MT/s and DDR4-3200MT/s. Sure, it's relatively hard to get your hands on one of the newer DDR5 RAM kits, but we could be looking at a significant performance improvement across different workloads.

When it comes to integrated graphics, Radeon RX Vega 6 is known to perform extremely well with reliable numbers on the board. It's also relatively easy to overclock this particular chip, jumping up to 2.3GHz for the iGPU. Intel has done a rather commendable job with the other Alder Lake chips so far, so we won't be surprised to see the 12300 taking over the Ryzen 3 5300G in general performance. We'll add more to the performance section once we get a chance to test the Core i3-12300 CPU.

Pricing & Availability

The Ryzen 3 5300G is an OEM-exclusive CPU that's not available to purchase separately at retail. The only way to get your hands on this particular CPU is by picking up one of the pre-built machines from the partners. The Intel Core i3-12300 is priced at $143, making it quite an affordable CPU to consider for an entry-level productivity build. While the general performance of both CPUs could be on-par with each other, the wider availability of the 12300 makes it a more desirable option, albeit slightly expensive when you consider things like the platform entry cost. You do get the new Laminar RM1 cooler with the Intel chip, there's still a 600 series motherboard, compatible memory, and other things to consider. Lastly, we encourage you to can check out our collection of the best AMD CPUs that are available on the market right now as your options for a new PC build in 2022.