Skip to main content

AMD’s new Ryzen 3000 desktop APUs have arrived, starting at $259

AMD has just announced the release of two new Accelerated Processing Units (APU) — the Ryzen 7 5700G and the Ryzen 5 5600G. Combining a CPU and GPU into one, these units are AMD’s response to Intel’s onboard graphics solutions. The company also talked about four new AMD Ryzen Pro 5000-series processors that are set to hit the market soon.

The last APUs launched by AMD were a part of the Ryzen 3000 Series. With this big of a jump, some kind of performance gain is inevitable. However, going by AMD’s benchmarks and the specifications of the new units reveals a lot of promise that goes beyond what you’d expect from an APU.

Both of the new models are 65-watt processors built for desktops and laptops. Ryzen 7 5700G is an eight-core, 16-thread APU with an up to 4.6 GHz clock speed, a 16MB L3 cache, and eight CUs (control units). The slightly less powerful sibling, Ryzen 5 5600G, is a six-core, 12-thread CPU. It comes with a 16MB L3 cache and seven CUs.

AMD APU

AMD promises impressive performance from the integrated graphics card, allowing content creators and gamers to consider the new Ryzen G-series APUs for their budget setups. The company’s internal benchmarks reveal that the Ryzen 7 5700G offers 1080p gaming with an average of 78 frames per second (fps) on high settings. Comparing this model to an Intel Core i7-11700 processor shows an up to 2.45x increase in frames in some titles.

Of course, the gaming performance may vary depending on the title that you’re playing. When it comes to GPU-bound games, such as Shadow of the Tomb Raider, you won’t see a major improvement compared to previous APUs. However, CPU-bound games such as League of Legends might see an up to 60% boost.

When it comes to the new Ryzen Pro desktop processors, AMD announced four new models made especially for business users — the AMD Ryzen Pro 5000 G-Series and GE-Series. The former were created for small form factor PCs, while the latter are aimed at ultrasmall desktops. 

These processors are not going to be RDNA 2 based — instead, they will use Vega just like their mobile counterparts. AMD is transitioning to Zen 3 cores, improving performance and power efficiency. The Pro CPUs were built for space-saving, quiet, and cool setups, so their power usage is low — 65W and 35W for G-Series and GE-Series respectively.

AMD Ryzen Pro

The new G-Series processors offer up to eight cores and 16 threads, up to 4.6GHz, and a maximum 20MB cache. All of them feature a 7nm process node. AMD emphasized the importance of security in these processors, highlighting features such as AMD Shadow Stack to prove that safety was treated as a priority.

While we don’t know the pricing and availability of the new Pro series CPUs, AMD revealed that the new APUs are going to hit the market on August 5 this year. The Ryzen 7 5700G is going to be priced at $395, and the Ryzen 5 5600G — at $259. If the performance promised by AMD holds true, these CPU and GPU combos might make for interesting additions to budget desktops.

Editors' Recommendations

Monica J. White
Monica is a UK-based freelance writer and self-proclaimed geek. A firm believer in the "PC building is just like expensive…
Ryzen 7000 CPUs have a serious problem with their heat spreaders
AIO cooler coldplate with scratches in the copper.

AMD's new Zen 4 Ryzen 7000 CPUs look undeniably cool with their spider-leg-like integrated heat spreader (IHS). But, it pains me to say it: In my time with these chips, I've developed a real dislike for the design.

The convoluted, atypical shape means that cleaning off all the heat paste when changing CPUs or coolers is almost impossible. But in our testing we've found two instances of Ryzen 7000 CPUs actually scratching and damaging the cold plates of our coolers. That's just not cool.
Heat paste issues

Read more
AMD’s new Ryzen 7000 CPUs just got a huge discount
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X socketed into a motherboard.

In an unexpected twist, AMD's latest and greatest processors are now on sale, and the savings are huge on some of the models.

All four of the Ryzen 7000 CPUs are discounted, making them highly competitive against Intel's Raptor Lake chips.

Read more
New Ryzen 7000 motherboards are actually affordable, starting at $125
MSI B650 motherboards.

AMD and its partners have just unveiled a whole avalanche of budget-friendly B650 and B650E motherboards for the Ryzen 7000 processors. Made for the new AM5 socket, the boards will present an alternative to the already existing high-end X670/X670E.

With motherboards from Asus, ASRock, MSI, Gigabyte, and Biostar set to release shortly, early adopters of AMD Ryzen 7000 will now have a choice between X670 and B650. Let's see how the two compare.

Read more