Load Temperatures
Temperatures at full load reach a high of 78 degrees Celsius, which I think is ok considering. Having said that, the included Wraith CPU cooler did an adequate job of cooling the processor.
Verdict and Conclusion
Well, it was another fun weekend for me. I enjoyed building my cousin’s basic gaming system. He said he’ll be buying a GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER or a GTX 1660 later at the end of the year, which I think will be a perfect match.
All said and done, the AMD Ryzen 5 3400G is basically a step up from the Ryzen 3 3200G processor. Both have 2MB L2 cache, 4MB L3 cache and a TDP of 65W. The main differences between the two, are the number of processing threads. On the Ryzen 5 3400G you get 4 cores/8 threads, while the Ryzen 3 3200G comes with only 4 cores/4 threads. And as for the built-in Radeon Vega graphics, the 3400G also features 11 GPU cores, as opposed to 8 GPU cores found on the 3200G.
Some of you are probably wondering … is it worth spending the extra $45-$50 to get the AMD Ryzen 5 3400G over the Ryzen 3 3200G? Well, the real question you should be asking yourself is … what will you be using this system for? If it’s only for browsing the internet, online shopping, checking your emails or watching Youtube … then a I think a Ryzen 3 3200G will do just fine.
But if you’re going to do some occasional gaming (with basic settings), then I would suggest you get the AMD Ryzen 5 3400G. It may not be the most powerful gaming system, but it does offer 4 cores/ 8 threads and a built-in Radeon Vega 11 graphics. No other retail processor out there, that offers built-in graphics can match it. However, if you think that the built-in Vega 11 graphics isn’t enough, you can always upgrade to a more powerful discrete graphics card at a later date.
One question that sprung up quite often was … why didn’t we just get the Ryzen 5 3600 and a discrete graphics card? Well, the truth is a Ryzen 5 3600 processor would cost us around $199 with another $160 for a decent graphics card, say a GeForce GTX 1650. This would give us a total of USD $359 just for the CPU and graphics card, which means an addition $210 to our original budget ($650+$210 = $860).
Yes, I agree the above CPU+graphics card combo is much more powerful, but remember the Ryzen 5 3400G (with built-in Radeon Vega 11 graphics) only us cost $143, so you can do the math.
Final Words
Our complete PC build, cost us approximately USD $650, which is sounds about right. It’s not the most high-end, but bare in mind with the X570 motherboard, you can upgrade your CPU to a more powerful Ryzen 7 or Ryzen 9 (3000-series) at any time, as well as having the option install PCIE 4.0 devices when they become available. In other words, this is system is pretty much future-proof for 2020! You can check out our list of components on the first page here.
The AMD Ryzen 5 3400G is perfect for users who may not have the necessary budget to buy a discrete graphics card. The built-in Radeon Vega 11 is adequate for gaming (with basic settings), but you can’t expect too much from it. Call it a temporary solution until you get yourself a discrete graphics card.
You can buy the following items from Amazon US. You can also visit our Amazon stores in UK, Germany, Australia, Canada.
- AMD Ryzen 5 3400G
Processor
for around USD $143 – https://amzn.to/2Wri2OC
- ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming ITX-TB3 for around USD $229 – https://amzn.to/2C0r4sk
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