The new AMD Ryzen 5000G chips solve a big PC building problem

AMD just released two new Ryzen 5000G processors — the Ryzen 5 5600G and Ryzen 7 5700G. Although budget-focused APUs are par for the course with newer architectures, these two chips arrive at a very opportune time. The GPU shortage is still in effect, and both APUs fill a gap in the PC building space.

Over the past several months, the price of last-gen APUs has gone up in response to the GPU shortage. For example, we recommended the Ryzen 5 3400G in our best $500 gaming PC build at twice the price it should sell for. The two-year-old chip should sell for $150, but it’s nearly $330 at the time of publication.

These new chips from AMD hit on two fronts. In addition to featuring the new Zen 3 architecture, the chips are priced in line with how they should perform. The $360 Ryzen 7 5700G, for example, outclasses the 3400G in Fortnite by 23% at 1080p, according to AMD’s numbers. AMD also says it provides a 1.45x increase in Cinebench R20 and a 1.44x increase in PCMark 10.

Here are the specs of the new chips:

Thanks to the GPU pricing crisis, many builders have turned to picking up an APU. Although integrated graphics are never a sure bet for gaming, they’re still capable of running games with trimmed-down settings at lower resolutions. The logic is pretty straightforward — buy an APU for now to scratch the gaming itch, and add in a graphics card later once prices have dropped.

The problem was that APUs became the hot ticket, leading to issues like the vastly overpriced 3400G. The 5600G and 5700G fill that gap nicely, offering builders the opportunity to put together a gaming PC that can actually play games without taking out a new line of credit.

As for the gaming performance you can expect, AMD says the 5600G is capable of 79 frames per second (fps) in Civilization VI, 33 fps in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and 98 fps in Fortnite, all at 1080p with Low settings. The 5700G is only slightly more powerful in gaming, matching the 5600G in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Fortnite while moving up to 84 fps in Civilization VI. 

AMD originally announced these processors at Computex, and they’re now making it to store shelves. Both parts are available today across retailers at their list price. If all things go well, they should be available at that list price for a while, but it’s too soon to say if they’ll suffer a similar fate as the 3400G.

Although we haven’t had the chance to test the chips ourselves, they look like the perfect addition to a budget build without a dedicated graphics card. And that’s something PC builders have needed for a while.

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