Is The Former Best Ryzen APU Still Worth Buying in 2020?
The Ryzen 5 3400G was launched by AMD on 7th July, 2019 for $150 and even today it can be found for $145. This APU used to rule the lower-budget computer market as the most powerful APU until the launch of Ryzen 4000 series APUs.
This APU used to be the best choice for everyone who was on a budget. This performed very excellently on both single core and multi core tasks. Having more frequencies (both GPU + CPU) with newer microarchitectures made it great option.
Now, the cheapest ZEN2 APU i.e, Ryzen 3 4300G which costs around $160 performs slightly better than this APU in most of the tasks. The 4000 APU series have the benefit of more Frequency (both CPU and GPU), newer microarchitecture and 7nm Lithography process and more frequency memory support.
But is the Ryzen 5 3400G dead now? As in most of the areas, where newer APUs have not been launched or price is too much, the -$150 Ryzen 5 3400G can useful for budget gamers still today. Here's brief review of the APU in 2020.
The Ryzen 5 3400G has 4 cores with SMT/hyperthreading just like the older Ryzen 5 2400G. The APU is based on the AMD's ZEN+ microarchitecture and fabricated on 12nm lithography process which is an improvement from 14nm ZEN Ryzen 5 2400G. This APU has higher Base and Boost Clock frequencies of upto 4.2 GHz.
It has the same TDP ranging from 45W to 65W and default TDP at 65W. It also comes with 4MB L3 cache. Most importantly it comes with a Wraith Spire cooler in the box unlike Wraith Stealth in Ryzen 5 2400G.
|
Processor |
Ryzen
5 3400G |
|
Cores/Threads |
4/8 |
|
SMT/HT |
YES |
|
Microarchitecture
|
ZEN+ |
|
CMOS |
12nm |
|
Unlocked |
YES |
|
Base
Clock |
3.7 GHz |
|
Boost
Clock |
4.2 GHz |
|
L3
Cache |
4MB |
|
Default
TDP |
65W |
|
PCIe
Version |
PCIe 3.0 |
|
PCIe
lanes |
8 |
|
Socket |
AM4 |
|
Max.
RAM supported |
64GB |
|
Max.
RAM frequency |
2933 MHz |
|
Integrated
graphics |
Vega 11 |
|
GPU
cores |
11 |
|
Base GPU
frequency |
1400 MHz |
|
Boost
GPU frequency |
1650 MHz |
|
Launch
date |
July, 2019 |
|
Current
Price |
$150 |
The APU supports the AM4 socket and can be paired with motherboards like B450, A520, etc. It supports upto 8 PCIe 3.0 lanes an 2933 MHz DDR4 memory in dual channel. The integrated graphics i.e, Vega 11 graphics comes with 11 GPU cores and Boost Clock upto 1650 MHz.
Test Specifications
|
APU |
Ryzen
5 3400G @4.2 GHz |
|
Graphics
Card |
Geforce GTX
1650 SUPER |
|
Memory |
2x8GB 3200MHz CL14 |
|
Integrated
Graphics |
Vega 11
@1650 MHz |
|
Motherboard |
TUF B450 Plus Gaming |
|
PSU |
Corsair
CX650 |
On the specification 5 games are tested on 1080p Low settings one with dedicated GPU and other with iGPU and Cinebench R20 scores compared with Ryzen 5 2600.
