Review: AMD Ryzen 5 2400G and Ryzen 3 2200G

Conclusion

AMD today expands its desktop Ryzen ecosystem with the introduction of the Ryzen 5 2400G and Ryzen 3 2200G. These two chips offer broadly similar CPU performance as select Ryzen chips from last year but augment the value offering by including integrated graphics based on the latest Vega GPU architecture.

The Ryzen 5 2400G, priced at $169, uses a four-core, eight-thread design that's largely an imitation of the Ryzen 5 1500X. Pragmatically, this means single-thread performance that is somewhat slower than a rival Core i3-8350K, discrete gaming performance that's broadly on par, and multi-threaded performance that's around 20 per cent better. Building on last year's chip, the integrated graphics, Vega 11, ostensibly free, are 2-3x faster than the UHD 630 used by Intel. Fine for light gaming but not good enough to play some of the more graphically intensive games at a 1080p resolution, irrespective of quality.

Switching chips, the Ryzen 3 2200G, available for just $99, and fitting into the same AM4 platform we first saw last year, removes the SMT capability and reduces the graphics to Vega 8. That said, CPU performance is competitive against Core i3, graphics are obviously better, and, like other Ryzens, it remains unlocked.

We like these Ryzen chips as the backbone of budget PCs that have reasonable CPU grunt and enough in the GPU department for entry-level, light gaming. Both make decent cases for an HTPC-style PC.

Yet it's not all perfect as a few question-marks do remain. We have to mention some stability-related issues during testing, mostly ironed out during the course of the week, and we had hoped better since Ryzen has been out for the best part of a year.

It's interesting to note that no company dominates the budget space. Intel has more IPC, AMD has more GPU grunt, meaning the consumer has choice in which way to go. Neither is a bad bet, of course, so it's a win-win situation all round.

What we do come away with is the feeling that AMD has done well in tying together value, performance, a modern IGP and energy efficiency in one package. The Ryzen 3 2200G, in particular, is hard to beat when costing south of £100.

AMD Ryzen 5 2400G and Ryzen 3 2200G

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The AMD Ryzen 5 2400G and Ryzen 3 2200G are available to purchase from Scan Computers.

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