AMD recently announced the Ryzen 3 3100, a $99 quad-core CPU based on the latest generation Zen 2 architecture and targeted at lower-end builders. This CPU is an attractive addition to the Zen 2 lineup, and if all-core overclocking to 4.6 GHz is common, it may find a wider audience than expected.

Whether it will or not remains to be seen, but the Geekbench 5 benchmark shared by @_rogame (via TechRadar) shows this affordable chip sprinting at that speed.

This is one of several benchmark leaks that have appeared for the 3100 ahead of its retail debut. This is typical of newly released processors (or GPUs) that are not yet available for purchase, but it is not always typical to see the kind of overclocking performance that the 3100 clearly has in a budget part.

For reference, the 4-core/8-thread chip has a base clock of 3.6 GHz and a maximum clock of 3.9 GHz when boosted. It also features 16MB of L3 cache, a 65W TDP, the same architecture as other Zen 2 processors, and PCIe 4.0 support when paired with an X570 or soon-to-be B550 motherboard.

The combination of a 3100 and an X570 motherboard is a somewhat odd combination, as most X570 boards cost $200 or more. Only if you envision having a faster Ryzen CPU in your system in the future does it make sense to go this route.

Nevertheless, if your motherboard is good at overclocking, the combination of a 3100 CPU for about $99 and a cheap B550 motherboard is attractive. Such is expected to be the case.

As related to the Geekbench 5 entry, this list shows that 4.6GHz OC was achieved with the ASRock X570 Pro4 motherboard. However, @_rogame also recently found a 3DMark database entry showing the 3100 running at 4.5GHz on an Asus TUF B450M-Pro Gaming motherboard.

We will have to see for ourselves what happens when we actually use this chip, but these initial leaks are certainly promising.