The computer hardware giant, AMD recently launched two new processors in their Ryzen series lineup. The new Ryzen 5 2400G and Ryzen 2300G are the first budget friendly APU’s by the company that features onboard graphics processing unit.
“APU”, which stands for Accelerated Processing Unit is basically AMD’s terminology for a CPU with an integrated graphics processor that doesn’t require a discrete standalone graphics card in order to function. It seems like a pretty good deal for now as the graphics cards prices have nearly doubled all thanks to cryptocurrency mining.
These new processors aim to provide entry-level graphics performance for budget PC builds. The $169 Ryzen 5 2400G processor and its slimmed-down sibling, the $99 Ryzen 3 2200G are AM4 platform processors combined with Vega architecture based graphics processor which, of course, is also found in the Radeon Vega 56 and the Radeon Vega 64 video cards (two discrete GPUS by AMD).
The graphics processor are not very powerful though, the Ryzen 3 2200G has only eight compute units and the Ryzen 5 2400G has 11 which is a big drop down from the Vega 56 and Vega 64 which derive their names from the number of “compute units” they have onboard – 56 and 64, respectively.
They are still good at what they do, providing decent gaming performance at low settings. The Ryzen processors are based on Zen architecture with a core complex “CCX” which is a block of four cores/eight threads combined with a level 3 cache shared across all four cores.
The processors are also compatible with most AM4 socket existing motherboards. However, you still might need to check the BIOS firmware update and also not all the AM4 motherboards support the video outputs necessary to use the integrated GPU.
The two down points of the new APUs compared to their predecessors are the number of PCI-E lanes available for the GPU – just eight compared to the usual 16 and the L3 cache is also half that of the Ryzen 5 1400 at just 4MB.
The APUs still manage to provide an increase in performance thanks to the AMD’s improved boosting technology – Precision Boost 2 that increases the performance especially in lightly-threaded workloads.

If you are hoping to get the same performance that you would get out of a discrete graphics card then you are going to get disappointed. However, they offer better onboard graphics performance than the Intel CPUs.
The benchmarks from Anandtech shows that the AMD chips can manage around 30 frames per second at 1080p in Civilization VI, compared to just 10fps from the Intel parts. In Grand Theft Auto V, the 2400G is just shy of 20fps, to sub-5fps for the Intel parts. From Tech Report, Dota 2 at 1080p manages 46fps on the 2400G, compared to just 16fps on an Intel system.
This performance clearly reflects that the new chips can easily rival their Intel competitors and are also way cheaper. You will be able to play most of the recent titles if you crank down the settings.
On other hand, Intel seems to be performing slightly better in CPU intensive tasks. The AMD APUs clearly seem to be best options PC gamers who are on a budget, they can later on throw in a discrete GPU when the prices drop down to get an increase in their gaming performance. Without a doubt, these are the fastest onboard GPUs currently available in the market.
The reason these new APUs are so good at graphics is that the company makes really good graphics cards too. The benchmark scores are the proof that these integrated graphics perform well – particularly in the gaming department, considering the price point.
Even when compared to the integrated graphics on Intel’s first class desktop processor, the $360 Intel i7-8700K AMD’s budget APUs outperforms it. The Vega microarchitecture really gives a boost in the graphics performance. You can purchase Ryzen 5 2400G from Amazon here.
• Final Verdict:
If you are on a budget and currently can’t afford a stand alone graphics card then AMD’s new APUs should be on top of your list as they offer the best integrated graphics. You will be saving up to $50 to $100 which will give you the option to put that money towards some other PC component.
The stock cooler that comes with these processors is also pretty decent, you will easily be able to overclock the CPU and the onboard GPU to get some extra FPS. Overall this seems like a pretty good deal and an impressive success for the company.
You will get a decent gaming performance at a reasonable graphics settings in 1080p. The CPU intensive performance is also fine and you will get a good computing experience in this price range.