AMD have introduced a brand new addition to their household of Radeon Vega CPUs at this time within the type of the Athlon 200GE. Yep, after greater than a decade on the shelf, Athlon is again from the lifeless.
This time, it’s been resurrected because the child cousin of AMD’s Vega-infused Ryzen 3 2200G and Ryzen 5 2400G chips. Described by AMD as a processor ideally suited to “everyday PCs”, this diddy little chip will value simply $55 when it launches on September 18 (UK pricing is TBC), and may give Intel’s low-end Pentium CPUs a good run for his or her cash.
Powered by the identical x86 Zen structure as AMD’s beefier Ryzen CPUs, the Athlon 200GE shall be a dual-core chip clocked at 3.2GHz with three Vega graphics compute models and a tiny energy draw of 35W.
Of course, with specs like that, it’s hardly going to switch your 2nd Gen Ryzen 5 2600/2600Xs and Ryzen 7 2700/2700Xs, or certainly your Intel Core i3s, i5s and i7s. However, because of its onboard Vega graphics, it may very well be a good funds possibility for small media PCs or easy-going esportsing machines.
Indeed, in comparison with Intel’s Pentium G4560 CPU (which prices £58 within the UK and $73 within the US), AMD reckon the Athlon 200GE is 67% sooner in terms of GPU efficiency in graphics benchmark 3D Mark. Its CPU efficiency in Cinebench R15 is, admittedly, 3% slower than the G4560 based on AMD’s personal slides, however that’s nonetheless fairly spectacular contemplating the G4560 is each dearer and has a better energy draw of 54W.
I’ll have to attend and see the way it fares as a correct gaming CPU as soon as I get one in for testing, in fact, however AMD’s preliminary figures look fairly promising – supplied you or your youngsters/youthful siblings are okay with enjoying games at 1280×720, that’s.
In Fortnite, as an illustration, AMD declare the 200GE can attain as much as 49fps on Low at 720p, whereas the G4560 can solely handle 28fps. There’s a equally huge soar in Overwatch on these settings, with the 200GE hitting a median of 59fps in comparison with the G4560’s 32fps.
That won’t sound significantly engaging for these of us used to enjoying every little thing on High at 1080p or above, however the 200GE isn’t simply restricted to enjoying games on Low. In Rocket League, as an illustration, the 200GE can handle 67fps on Medium settings at 720p – the G4560 can solely do 40fps – and in League of Legends on Ultra at 720p the 200GE is streaks forward with a median of 111fps versus the G4560’s 67fps. The 200GE can even produce a clean 71fps in CS:GO on Ultra, beating the 45fps of the G4560.
The solely game in AMD’s choose check group the place the 200GE doesn’t offer you an enormous increase in velocity is DOTA 2. It nonetheless manages a superior 65fps on Low at 720p, however the G4560 isn’t far behind with its common of 58fps. Still, contemplating the 200GE’s a lot cheaper than the G4560, that’s nonetheless a fairly compelling benefit in case you’re trying to construct an esportsing PC with out spending some huge cash.
The Athlon 200GE can even slot into any current AM4 socket motherboard as nicely, which AMD have stated they’ll be supporting till at least 2020, so that you don’t want to fret about your PC going instantly outdated the second you get spherical to really constructing one. It additionally means you may benefit from all the opposite conveniences fashionable gaming PCs have to supply as nicely, comparable to DDR4 RAM, USB 3.1 Gen 2 velocity and NVMe SSD drives in case you fancy it.
Is it a greater purchase than AMD’s Ryzen 3 2200G, although? All will hopefully be revealed as soon as I get my arms on a 200GE overview pattern.
