Top 5 best CPUs under $100 in 2020

Now that day after day many new games and software are being launched, many people have started to buy a new computer either is that their old computer can't run those stuff or they never had a computer.

As you all know that I publish articles about computer hardware and review them so that it would be helpful for you buy.

This article will have 3 parts which will I upload later (in a week at the most) and in this article I will give you a brief information about CPUs under $100 and will tell you whether buy them or not. I have reviewed most of those CPUs in my previous articles, I will give you the link so you can go and read them after finishing this one.

Today there is a good competition between CPUs in every price range that makes it easier for everyone to buy them. Today is a really good time to buy a CPU for your new computer as there are many options for you but no need to worry as I am here (afterall that's why i am making this article). So lets get started!

1. Athlon 200GE

The Athlon 200GE from AMD is first on this list and it is the cheapest of all the CPUs here on this list.

The Athlon 200GE is dual core APU launched by AMD on September 2018. AMD launched Athlon 200GE was to battle the Intel's entry level Pentium CPU's and at even lower price than it. These APUs were made for those people who wanted to build a computer but had very little budget. Most importantly it came with an integrated graphics (ofcourse it will come afterall it is an APU) which was much powerful than Pentium G4560 (its competitor).

The Athlon 200GE comes with 2 physical cores and 4 logical cores/threads (it has Hyperthreading). It comes with a Base clock of 3.2 GHz and was said to be locked but you can Overclock it upto 3.8 GHz (i don't know exactly as I overclocked it upto 3.7 GHz only:/). So you can say it is Unlocked. It is based on ZEN Microarchitecture and fabricated on 14nm FinFET technology. It has total of 4 MB L3 Cache and 35 W TDP. 

It supports AMD's AM4 Socket and you can pair it with motherboards like A320, B450, B350, etc (you may use any AM4 motherboard, even the cheapest like A320 but you won't be able to overclock the APU).For memory you can use upto 32 GB RAM (RAM size depends on motherboards) which is clocked to 2667 MHz just like the other first Generation ZEN Processors. 

It comes with an integrated graphics which is the Radeon VEGA 3 Graphics. The integrated graphics VEGA 3 has 3 graphical cores and it is locked on 1000 MHz. As it has an integrated graphics so you don't need to pair it with a dedicated graphics card for display.

You are getting really good performance for 50 dollars and with an integrated graphics. You can increase the gaming performance by pairing it a graphics card like GTX 1050 TI and RX 560 so that you will not any kind of bottleneck on 1080p resolution (any thing further will be bottlenecked by your processor).

In the end i will say this APU is pretty good for its price/performance under 50 dollars. You are getting an okay performance from the CPU and a GPU with which you can easily play E-sports titles and some other games at low settings.

2. Ryzen 3 2200G

Here comes the second processor again from AMD and an APU. AMD launched the Ryzen 3 2200G on February 12, 2018. Ryzen 3 2200G was bought by most budget gamers and other people when it was launched.

The Ryzen 3 2200G is a entry level quad core CPU launched by AMD which comes with 4 threads/ no Hyper-Threading. It is fabricated on AMD's 14nm FinFET Technology and made on the first generation ZEN Micro-architecture. Even if it has the word 2000 in its name, it is a first Gen AMD APU. Note that there is another variant of ryzen 3 2200G which has just a higher Clock Speed and will perform little bit better. It comes with a Base Clock of 3.5 GHz and can be overclocked on all 4 cores upto 3.7 GHz. It has a TDP of 65 W and 4 MB of L3 Cache. It supports the AM4 socket and these AM4 socket motherboards can be found for very cheap lately. It can support upto 64 GB 2933 MHz RAM (RAM capacity depends upon the motherboard). 

As it is an APU, so it comes with an integrated graphics which is Radeon Vega 8 Graphics. The Vega 8 graphics have 8 Graphics Cores and Base Clock Frequency of 1.1 GHz which can be overclocked upto 1.6 GHz. Because it is an APU so you do not need to pair another GPU to get the display. The Vega 8 integrated graphics gets a pretty good performance boost after Overclocking.

The Vega 8 Graphics is pretty good for you if want to play games at playable Frames even on lowest settings and you will get 60+ FPS if you lower the resolution to 720p.  you would be able to do low to normal level editing and rendering. More demading softwares won't work that good with it.

You should not think about high level streaming and stuff with it. If you want to do so just get another better CPU.

In the end I will suggest you guys that only if you have budget of $200 to $250 then buy it, it is truly a good APU for its price and will allow you to do normal level gaming and stuff with it. If you want to do further more high end gaming then you can pair a discrete Graphics Card like RX 570 with it. This APU which costs around $80 is still able to play games at playable Frames which I will say no APU does at the price.

3. Core i3 9100F

Yes here comes the core i3 9100F from Intel. Launched on 23rd April,2019 it still is a really good budget CPU from Intel which comes for $80. 

The Core i3 9100f comes with 4 cores and 4 threads upto 4.2 GHz. It has 6 mb l3 cache and 65 w TDP. It is based on 14nm technology just like all other Intel 9th gen Coffee Lake CPU's. It can hold up to 64 gigabytes of DDR4 RAM clocked at 2400 MHz. It can paired on any motherboard which has LGA1151 socket. Some best quality motherboards with LGA1151 socket are H110m, H310m, B360m, etc. An i3 9100f can be paired with a Nvidia GTX 1660 or AMD Radeon RX 580 (at the most). You need to pair it with a dedicated Graphics Card for display as it has no Integrated Graphics.

Even after you can't pair a 10th gen or above CPU on the LGA1151 socket, this CPU would be a good choice for your pc build at a budget. Yes you would not be able to stream and edit smoothly but it does gaming perfectly when paired with a GPU.

4. Ryzen 5 1600AF

The Ryzen 5 1600 AF is a 12 nm remake of the old 1st gen Ryzen 5 1600 AE which is fabricated on 14nm process. The Ryzen 5 1600AF performs equal to a Ryzen 5 1600AF and comes at a lower $90 price which makes it extremely good to buy.

The Ryzen 5 1600AF is second generation AMD Ryzen Processor which is based on ZEN+ Micro-Architecture which is 6/hexa Core CPU which comes with the support of Hyper-Threading so it has 12 Cores. It comes with the Base Clock Frequency of 3.4 GHz and can be overclocked upto 3.9 GHz. It comes with 16 MB l3 Cache and is built on 12 nm FinFET Technology. It has the TDP of 65 W and can be paired with any AM4 Socket Mother-Board like B350, A320, B450, etc. It can support up to 64 GigaBytes of dual channel 2933 MHz RAM ( the RAM capacity differes from Motherboards to Motherboards ). It requires a Discrete Graphics Card because it does not have any Integrated Graphics Card. 

The Ryzen 5 1600AF was launched about 2 and a half years ago but the specifications are pretty good even for today's purposes. Even though Ryzen 5 3600 and some Intel CPU's have been launched which provide more performance for some more money, this CPU is still a beast.

From this anyone would have an idea whether it is good or bad and according to me, in whose country the prices of 3rd gen Ryzen CPU's has reached sky it is amazing. First of all it comes in budget, then it is all rounder CPU unlike Intel and third if you are going to do normal gaming and streaming then this is a TRUE BEAST. 

5. Ryzen 3 3100

AMD recently launched the Ryzen 3 3100 on April 21, 2020 and this CPU was loved by everyone for its ultra performance. The original price at launched is $100.

The Ryzen 3 3100 is a quad core CPU which has Hyper-Threading in it and comes with a Base Clock Frequency of 3.6 GHz which can be overclocked up to 3.9 GHz on all cores. It is an unlocked Processor It is a third Generation Processor so is it based on ZEN 2 Micro-architecture and Manufactured on 7nm FinFET Technology. Along with 16 MB of L3 cache, it has a TDP of 65 W. It supports the AM4 socket and can be paired with any good AM4 socket Mother-Board like B450 tomahawk, B450 motar, x470, x570,etc. It supports a Maximum of 64 GB DDR4 RAM clocked at 3200 MHz in dual channel. It does not have any integrated graphics so you need to pair it with a dedicated Graphic Card.

The Ryzen 3 3300x is better than this one because it has more Clock Speed Frequency for more price. This is a quad Core CPU like all desktop Ryzen 3 CPUs but has the support of Hyper-Threading ( Threads double the number of cores ). These are the first ryzen 3 CPUs to be based on ZEN 2 Micro-Architecture and processed on 7 nm technology. Both of them have higher Clock Speed compared to rest of the Ryzen 3 lineup.

Now at the end I will say this Processor is a really good CPU for its price and if you are gamer and need a Bang For Buck level CPU then its for you, I have used it for over 3 months and its amazing. it can handle heavy Photoshop work easily. If you are getting it for $100 then go get it.

Integrated Graphics

If you are building a gaming computer then it is common that you will pair your CPU with a GPU but if you have very less budget and cannot afford a GPU, then you have to game on integrated graphics.

Many CPUs come with an integrated Graphics but their integrated Graphics is so weak that you cannot game even on the lowest settings. The CPUs which i recommended mostly didn't had any integrated Graphics, so you have to pair them with a GPU to get a display but at the first I mentioned 2 APUs - Ryzen 3 2200G and Athlon 200GE.

These 2 APUs come with good integrated graphics (not the strongest but better than any of Intel's) for their price. You can game Esports titles easily on above 60 FPS on them. The costlier Ryzen 3 2200G has vega 8 IGPU in it which can game at mediun settings on 720p reolution.

These APUs would be best if you don't have much budget but want to game old games and Esports titles along with normal editing, etc.

Conclusion

Now at the end all these CPUs are BANG FOR BUCK, mostly Ryzen 5 1600AF and Ryzen 3 3100 make the day as they perform the best and will not bottleneck even a RTX 2060. The cheaper Ryzen 5 1600AF performs better than Ryzen 3 3100 in multi-core taks but the Ryzen 3 3100 shreds it in gaming.

The Core i3 9100F is the only CPU from Intel on this list and performs nothing compared to Ryzen 5 1600AF and Ryzen 3 3100 in gaming and multi-core tasks but even today it is a good budget CPU which will do your gaming easily on Ultra settings 1080p when paired with a good GPU.

The Ryzen 3 2200G and Athlon 200GE performs worse than all of these in gaming and R3 2200G is slightly better than i3 9100F in editing and stuff but these both are APUs. The main motive of these APUs is to provide good integrated graphics for people with very low budget so they can do normal gaming.

If you want to play games at medium settings then a Ryzen 3 2200G would support you for some time and after that you can pair it with a GPU like RX 570 and game on ultra settings.

The Athlon 200GE is the weakest in all the Processors in every things but don't forget that it comes at just $50 price and still will play games like CS GO, GTA 5 and valorant easily.

That was my opinion, people's opinion can differ. What are your opinions, write them in the comment section.

Click here to buy Ryzen 5 1600AF

Click here to buy Ryzen 3 3100