Can “Golden Legacy” exceed 60fps? Let’s take a look at the power of the “AMD Ryzen 5 8600G”! (1/4)
Updated at 10:00 on August 30, 2024
With the AMD Ryzen 5 8600G, you can build your own PC without a video card!
The performance of video cards has improved in recent years, but their prices have also risen sharply, with even mid-range models costing over 100,000 yen. With such high prices, video cards can be a burden for those who want to keep PC costs down.
So, we would like to focus on AMD’s “APU” (Accelerated Processing Unit). Simply put, an APU is a CPU that integrates graphics functions, and AMD’s APU uses the technology adopted in the AMD Radeon series. It is possible to build a PC without a video card.
So this time, we used AMD’s APU “AMD Ryzen 5 8600G with Ryzen AI” (hereinafter referred to as Ryzen 5 8600G) to check whether we could actually play games comfortably.
Based on Zen 4, the same as the AMD Ryzen 7000 series, the GPU integrates the RDNA 3rd generation AMD Radeon 780M
First, let’s review the specifications of the AMD Ryzen 8000G series. The Ryzen 8000G series consists of four products: “AMD Ryzen 7 8700G with Ryzen AI”, the above-mentioned Ryzen 5 8600G, and “AMD Ryzen 5 8500G” and “AMD Ryzen 3 8300G”, each with different core counts and built-in GPUs (Ryzen 3 8300G has not yet been released in Japan). It also uses the same Zen 4 architecture as the AMD Ryzen 7000 series and is manufactured with TSMC’s 4nm FinFET. In addition, since it is compatible with Socket AM5, it can be used on the same motherboards as the Ryzen 7000 series.
The Ryzen 8000G series will be available on the same Socket AM5 motherboards as the Ryzen 7000 series.
Name Ryzen 7 8700G Ryzen 5 8600G Architecture Zen 4 (4nm) Cores/Threads Zen 4 x8/16 Zen 4 x6/12 Base Clock 4.2GHz 4.3GHz Boost Clock 5.1GHz 5.0GHz L2 Cache 8MB 6MB L3 Cache 16MB Compatible Memory DDR5-5200 PCI-Express PCIe 4.0 x20 TDP 65W Built-in GPU Radeon 780M Radeon 760M GPU Architecture RDNA 3 Number of CUs 12 8 GPU Clock 2.9GHz 2.8GHz NPU XDNA (16TOPS) Compatible Socket AM5 CPU Cooler Wraith Spire Wraith Stealth Name Ryzen 5 8500G Ryzen 3 8300G (not yet released in Japan) Architecture Zen 4 (4nm) Cores/Threads Zen 4 x2 + Zen 4c x4/12 Zen 4 x1 + Zen 4c x3/8 Base Clock 3.5GHz 3.4GHz Boost Clock 5.0GHz 4.9GHz L2 Cache 6MB 4MB L3 Cache 16MB 8MB Supported Memory DDR5-5200 PCI-Express PCIe 4.0 x14 TDP 65W Built-in GPU Radeon 740M GPU Architecture RDNA 3 Number of CUs 4 GPU Clock 2.8GHz 2.6GHz NPU ─ Supported Socket AM5 CPU Cooler Wraith Stealth
Among them, the Ryzen 5 8600G, as you can tell from the official model name, is capable of using the AI function “AMD Ryzen AI”. It is also a 6-core, 12-thread type CPU with 6MB of L2 cache and 16MB of L3 cache. The base clock is 4.3GHz and the maximum boost clock is 5GHz. Although there are differences in the base clock and cache, it can be said that the specifications are close to the “AMD Ryzen 5 7500F”.
The APU used in this test is the Ryzen 5 8600G
The graphics function integrated into the Ryzen 5 8600G is the “AMD Radeon 760M Graphics” (hereinafter referred to as Radeon 760M). The Radeon 760M is a GPU based on the RDNA 3 architecture, which is also used in the desktop AMD Radeon RX 7000 series. To put it a little roughly, the Ryzen 5 8600G is an APU that can be thought of as a combination of the Ryzen 7000 series and the Radeon RX 7000 series.
By the way, the built-in graphics functions are different: Ryzen 7 8700G has AMD Radeon 780M, while Ryzen 5 8500G and Ryzen 3 8300G have AMD Radeon 740M. Therefore, if you want higher graphics performance, Ryzen 7 8700G with Radeon 780M will be a realistic choice. According to AMD, the AMD Radeon 700M series has performance comparable to “GeForce GTX 1650”.
CPU-Z (Version 2.10.0) execution result
Execution results of GPU-Z (Version 2.59.0)
Even in the Ryzen 7000 series, there are models with graphics functions named “AMD Radeon Graphics” and “Radeon”, but these are the RDNA 2 generation, that is, the same generation as the AMD Radeon 6000 series. The Ryzen 8000G series APU and the Ryzen 7000 series CPU have completely different generations of graphics functions. Intuitively, it is easy to understand that the graphics functions of the Ryzen 7000 series are only good enough to display the screen, while the Ryzen 8000G series has the performance to play games. And that is no different with the latest Ryzen 9000 series. In terms of graphics performance, the Ryzen 8000G series has an edge over the Ryzen 9000 series.
However, the number of Radeon 760M calculation units built into the Ryzen 5 8600G is modest at eight. This is fewer than the 32 calculation units of the entry-level “AMD Radeon RX 7600” in the Radeon RX 7000 series. In addition, it does not have the Ray accelerator, AI accelerator, or AMD Infinity Cache technology that are available in the Radeon 7000 series.
The Radeon 760M has simplified functions considerably, probably because it is integrated into the CPU, but the operating clock is 2800MHz, which is a topic of discussion, surpassing the maximum operating clock of 2655MHz for the Radeon RX 7600. As for the AI function, the previously mentioned Ryzen AI works by combining the CPU, NPU (Neural Processing unit), and built-in GPU.
Also, since part of the system memory is used as video memory, it is important to remember that the capacity and speed of the system memory affect drawing performance.
When using the Ryzen 8000G series, you’ll want to pair it with high-speed memory such as DDR5-6000. The image shown is from the Crucial DDR5 Pro series.