Currently restricted to OEMs and System Integrator pre-built systems, Ryzen 5000G series APUs incorporate Zen 3 CPU cores and Vega graphics cores.
Currently restricted to OEMs and System Integrator pre-built systems, Ryzen 5000G series APUs incorporate Zen 3 CPU cores and Vega graphics cores.
Those hoping that AMD would soon be releasing a new set of high performance APUs for the DIY desktop market were yet again left disappointed today as they announced the Ryzen 5000G series… for OEM and pre-built systems only. Incorporating the latest Zen 3 architecture as well as somewhat long in the tooth Vega graphics cores, Ryzen 5000G APUs range from Ryzen 3 to Ryzen 7 class and from four to eight CPU-core design (each with SMT enabled).
This story is a familiar one. Last year AMD unveiled the 4000G-series and expectations for those with the budget 3000G-series APU solution were dashed. Both consumer and PRO flavours of the range would never be available in significant quality through DIY channels, leaving end-users to look elsewhere when assembling a low-budget system with integrated graphics that had more horsepower than the ageing Zen+ architecture would provide.
AMD’s Ryzen 5000G series looks promising on the face of it. The flagship Ryzen 7 5700G is equipped with 8 cores and 16 threads, operating at up to 4.6GHz with 16MB of L3 cache. The entry-level Ryzen 3 5300G meanwhile comes in with 4 cores and 8 threads running at up to 4.2GHz and 8MB of L3 cache. That’s around half the cache of their equivalent Ryzen 5000-series counterpart, but organised within a monolithic rather than chiplet core design. The Ryzen 5 5600G sits in the middle, both in terms of CPU core count and operating frequency.
Although core and thread counts are unchanged in the update from Zen 2 to Zen 3, improvements in IPC should see the 5000G-series handily outpace its predecessor. Furthermore, AMD’s internal testing shows the processors to be considerably faster in productivity and gaming than Intel’s 10th Generation counterparts. No equivalent results are available comparing the chips to the latest 11th Gen. Rocket Lake designs however.
Both 65W and 35W ‘GE’ TDP SKUs are being made available to system manufacturers, satisfying the many requirements of the OEM and SI sectors. SIs in particular may find the existence of the 5000G series something of a relief due to ongoing discreet GPU shortages.
For the majority of consumers however performance comparisons may be academic. By withholding the APUs from DIY sales avenues the only AMD-based option with four CPU cores and integrated graphics remains the 3400G, one that is now showing its age and increasingly difficult to find anywhere close to MSRP. With no effective upgrade path their hands are tied, and so Intel’s equivalent entry-level Rocket Lake designs with the new Xe graphics architecture become the only option. Furthermore, those who invested in an AMD solution some years ago in the expectation that successors to the Ryzen 3000-series would reach them will now feel justifiably frustrated.
More detailed information on the Ryzen 5000G series is available at AMD.com.
