Performance: 36 out of 40 (2400G) / 32 out 40 (2200G).
For ‘small’ four core processors both the Ryzen 5 2400G and Ryzen 3 2200G are pretty darn peppy. So much so for their intended customer base both will provide an excellent – and noticeable – performance increase over previous generations. With that said Ryzen is a tad slower than their Intel counterparts. This is especially true of the slower and non-SMT enabled Ryzen 3 2200G. Counteracting this is they do cost significantly less and provide excellent video performance than what Intel has to offer. This is where they shine as we are simply amazed at the levels of video performance they have to offer. So much so buying a cheap video card is no longer needed in order to get playable frame rates at 1080 resolutions. Brilliant stuff.
Ease of Use: 19 out of 20
While there is indeed room for improvement on the overclocking side of the equation the fact of the matter is these are incredibly simple APUS to use. Install them, install your cooling solution, install the appropriate drivers and presto! Instant budget gaming and general processing nirvana. Want more performance? Install, run and play with Ryzen Master.
Innovation: 19 out of 20
A ton of engineering went into this new breed of APUs and it shows. While we do wish that they had access to a bigger chunk of system memory – or better still came with integrated GDDR/HBM memory – these new Ryzen APUs set a new gold standard upon which all CPUs with ‘integrated graphics processing units’ have to be judged. Mix in socket compatibility with standard Ryzen ‘CPU’s and AMD really knocked it out of the park with their new APU design.
Value: 20 out of 20
Both of these processors are choke full of value. So much so that opting for typical Intel CPUs or an add-on PCIe video card is hella hard. Good processing performance, good gaming performance, great price… what is not to like?!
Final Score (Ryzen 5 2400G): 94 out 100
Final Score (Ryzen 3 2200G): 90 out 100
Whether you need good general-purpose computing power or good video game performance at 1080P resolutions the new AMD Ryzen based APUs have you covered. It really will be difficult choosing which one is right for you but our personal pick is the Ryzen 5 2400G. Its combination of SMT and 3 extra Vega Compute Units make for one potent package…. Just don’t count out the even less expensive Ryzen 3 2200G. With a touch of overclocking, its abilities are simply amazing for a sub one hundred dollar CPU+GPU combination! That really is a tough call that only you can make: save $70 and manually overclock or spend still almost nothing and get plug and play performance. Tough call… and just underscores how good both of these new breed of AMD APUs really are.
