With the new AMD Ryzen 8000 G-Series processors, unveiled Monday at CES, the gaming market with built-in graphics is about to take a big step forward. Combining AMD’s Zen Four architecture with a current-generation RDNA 3 graphics core and an XDNA AI engine, these processors are designed to deliver the most productive gaming experience imaginable without a discrete graphics card. AMD also announced some new AMfour processors, which will help keep its old but reliable AMfour platform alive for a little longer.
By combining its latest CPU and graphics technologies into a single package, AMD is poised to bring built-in graphics functionality to a new h8. The star of AMD’s new Ryzen 8000 G-Series processor lineup is the AMD Ryzen 7 8700G, which will come with 8 Zen with four SMT-compatible CPU cores and a turbo clock speed of 5. 1 GHz.
AMD hasn’t detailed exactly how many shaders are offered in the 8700G, but from images taken through the chip, it appears that the chip has six pairs of Radeon computers with 64 shaders each, for a total of 768 streaming processors. they’re called the Radeon 780M and they’re based on the RDNA 3 architecture that’s also used in AMD’s Radeon RX 7000 series of graphics cards.
These specs alone will give the Ryzen 7 8700G a huge leg up over its predecessor, the Ryzen 7 5700G. That chip was also impressive for its time, but its CPU cores are based on the Zen 3 architecture, and they top out at 4.6GHz. The 5700G’s graphics chip also has just 512 shaders, and they are based on the fifth-generation GCN architecture better known as Vega, which itself is now three generations old at this point. That’s not to mention the benefits of the new AM5 platform that supports DDR5 memory and other smaller changes, all of which help to catapult the new Ryzen 8000 G-Series processors to heights the older Ryzen 5000 G-Series processors could never dream of.
We also can’t talk about ray tracing support, which normally isn’t easy for built-in graphics, but can still be used in 1080p resolutions with those chips.
AMD’s functionality for the Ryzen 7 8700G shows that the processor is capable of handling a number of popular popular games in modest configurations. Gaming in 1080p on low settings might not impress many gamers, but if you’re on a budget, those scores are intriguing enough to make the chip seem like a pretty nice option rather than buying a discrete graphics card.
AMD is also pretty genuine about how it compares the Ryzen 8000 G-Series processors to discrete graphics cards. The company knows that those built-in graphics are a real challenge for modern video cards. Instead, it presents them as an option before buying a graphics card. or as an option to buy an older card like the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650.
The slide above suggests that the Ryzen 7 8700G can outperform a GeForce GTX 1650 in some cases. That’s a pretty ambitious claim, even considering that the GTX 1650 is already several years old. If true, this will be a solid argument for gamers on a budget for the Ryzen 7 8700G above the maximum of the budget-level discrete graphics card features available lately.
AMD’s Ryzen 7 8700G is by far the most interesting processor announced by AMD at CES, but it’s not the only one. At launch, the Ryzen 8000 G series will come with four chips, one of which is not planned for sale to end users. AMD hasn’t shared much about the functionality expectations of those other chips, even though they all share the same architecture and the most of the same features.
The Ryzen 5 8600G also turns out to be a pretty impressive specimen, with performance often slower but not much worse than the Ryzen 7 8700G. It has two fewer CPU cores and probably has fewer shaders in its AMD Radeon 760M graphics core. The Ryzen five 8five00G is quite similar to the 8600G, but with an AMD Radeon 740M GPU that likely has even fewer shaders enabled. This style also removes Ryzen AI’s features, although it’s tricky to put a price tag on them as they’re still widely used in games.
The AMD Ryzen 7 8700G is $329, which is an exceptionally low price. The lowest-priced AMD Ryzen 7000-series processor with eight cores is the Ryzen 7 7700 and it carries the same $329 price but with a far weaker graphics solution. The Ryzen 5 8600G does exceedingly well in this regard too, at $229, which likewise matches AMD’s least-expensive 6-core Ryzen 7000-series processor, the Ryzen 5 7600.
As for the Ryzen 5 8500G, it goes a step further, with a price of just $179. That will make it AMD’s most affordable AM5 processor at launch.
The new Ryzen 8000 G-Series processors announced through AMD are exciting, but they’re the only new processors AMD is unveiling at CES. While the new AM5 platform is now firmly in place, AMD has also chosen to show some love for its existing AM4 platform. with 4 new AM4 processors.
Perhaps the most attractive of these is the AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3-d, which combines eight Zen 3 CPU cores with a 4. 1 GHz speed clock and AMD’s 3-D V-Cache generation to create a chip with 100 MB of total cache. AMD has pushed those chips pretty hard, as this extra cache can get more functionality when running games at resolutions of 1080p or lower.
However, they have some notable drawbacks, including rather high prices. The Ryzen 7 5700X3D is $249, and for that price I’d recommend instead buying into a newer AM5 or Intel LGA 1700 platform, as you will be able to get a more modern processor that will likely perform even better in most games.
Since the clock speed is also well suited for gaming, the Ryzen 7 5700 that AMD also announced at CES this year is a much more attractive option than the Ryzen 7 5700X3D. Not only does it cost a little less at $175, but its 8 CPU cores are capable of reaching a turbo of up to 4. 6 GHz, which will likely give it an edge in most games and other software.
The new AMD Ryzen five five600GT and Ryzen five fivefive00GT are also attractive entries in the AM4 lineup, as they are some of the most affordable processors for this platform that come with built-in graphics. We don’t know much about those chips at the moment, unless from what is shown in the table above, however, the Ryzen five five 600GT turns out to be geared towards being a faster and less expensive option than the Ryzen five five600G that came out in 2021.
The Ryzen Five Five Five 500GT doesn’t upgrade any existing processors, but at $12 five, it’s at least affordable. On the other hand, for an additional $1, you get two more cores with the Ryzen five five600GT at $140, which makes the Ryzen five fivefive00GT difficult to present from a charging perspective. We’re also not talking about the new $179 Ryzen five 8five00G, which can offer a lot more functionality for not much more money, but at the moment we can’t be sure without doing a first-hand analysis. Tests.
All of those processors will go on sale on January 31. Check back soon for full PCMag reviews.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve enjoyed all things tech, driven, in part, by my love of gaming. I started running on my family and friends’ computers when I was about 10 years old. I’ve strived to be as informed as possible about all things PC, allowing me to have a complete understanding of all things current-gen. In my role at PCMag, I greatly appreciate the opportunity to share the percentage of what I know.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve enjoyed all things tech, driven, in part, by my love of gaming. I started running on my family and friends’ computers when I was about 10 years old. I’ve strived to be as informed as possible about all things PC, allowing me to have a complete understanding of all things current-gen. In my role at PCMag, I greatly appreciate the opportunity to share the percentage of what I know.
I wrote for the well-known tech site Tom’s Hardware for three years before I joined PCMag in 2018. In that time, I’ve reviewed desktops, PC cases, and motherboards as a freelancer, while also producing deals content for the site and its sibling ExtremeTech. Now, as a full-time PCMag analyst, I’m focusing on reviewing processors and graphics cards while dabbling in all other things PC-related.