Now admittedly I don’t review or talk much about full blown desktop APU processor in any of my previous reviews but here it is, we do have this AMD Ryzen 5 8600G processor over here and we will be test benchmark it, as well as what is our verdict on this processor.
The Target Audience
The AMD Ryzen 8000 series of family targets budget users that wanted a new build that is capable of running eSports games along with some rendering, multi core application support, consumer based AI application acceleration with Ryzen AI NPU and intensive office work tasks. These new updated processors boast new features such as DDR5 Memory compatibility with AMD EXPO as well as PCI-E 4.0 compatibility for GPU, add-ons and NVME storage solutions. This is targeted for the budget minded consumers, mainstream and for the enthusiast beginners and above that craves for new PC builds that benefits much towards newer technology on their hands today. We will have the short review and performance benchmark for the Zen4 AMD Ryzen 5 8600G. The whole AMD Ryzen 8000G lineup pricing will be as below with TDP running at 65w only which is much power efficient but still powerful especially if you are planning to upgrade it with a dedicated GPU.
Processor Specifications and Features
| Model | Cores/Threads | Boost / Base Frequency | Total Cache | TDP | Graphics | NPU | SEP |
| AMD Ryzen™ 7 8700G | 8C/16T | Up to 5.1GHz / 4.2GHz | 24MB | 65W | AMD Radeon™ 780M graphics | Yes | $329 |
| AMD Ryzen™ 5 8600G | 6C/12T | Up to 5.0GHz / 4.3GHz | 22MB | 65W | AMD Radeon™ 760M AMD graphics | Yes | $229 |
| AMD Ryzen™ 5 8500G | 6C/12T | Up to 5.0GHz / 3.5GHz | 22MB | 65W | AMD Radeon™ 740M graphics | N/A | $179 |
| AMD Ryzen™ 3 8300G | 4C/8T | Up to 4.9GHz / 3.4GHz | 12MB | 65W | AMD Radeon™ 740M graphics | N/A | N/A |
- AMD Zen 4 Core Architecture (4nm process)
- AMD VR Ready Premium processor
- Lower 65w for more power efficient computing
- Supports Native USB 4 (40Gbps) Ports
- Supports up to 5200Mhz DDR5 Memory module and above
- AMD EXPO and XMP 3.0 Memory Ready, and Most Non EXPO RAM are compatible as well
- PCI-E 4.0 Ready
- AMD Ryzen AI supporting multiple consumer applications from DaVinci and Adobe Suite. (For Ryzen 5 8600G and above)
- Precision Boost 2, automatically raises processor frequencies for performance when needed most.
- Built in RDNA 3 Radeon Graphics (iGPU) for displays, advanced gaming and mainstream rendering
Unboxing
Each Ryzen 8000G series includes the Processor, Cooler, Warranty statement, and Ryzen sticker. It’s as easy as that – just plug it into a compatible B650 or X670 motherboard and configure the rest through the BIOS settings. Another option is to buy your own cooler or AIO to finish the setup, or if you are transitioning from AM4, you can reuse the same cooler mount and fan/AIO. Another key feature is that all upcoming AM5 platforms will utilize LGA technology, eliminating pins on the processor and moving them to the motherboard instead.
Test Setup
Below is the hardware used and to compare with the Ryzen 5 in the performance benchmarks, no overclocking is set and all will be in default settings. We will also be running all the settings with only the built in AMD Radeon 760M iGPU as part of the benchmark to reflect the results.
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 5 8600G |
| Motherboard | ASUS TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI |
| System Memory | Kingston Fury 24GB X2 DDR5 (running at 7200MT) |
| Primary Drive | NVME SSD 500GB (Gen3 X4) |
| Secondary Drive | Kingston NVME 4×4 SSD, 2TB |
| PSU | Thermaltake Litepower 650w PSU |
| Operating System | Windows 11 64bit Professional 23H2 |
| Graphics Card | iGPU – AMD Radeon 760M |
| Cooling | AMD Wraith Cooler |
Benchmark Scores
Verdict and thoughts
The Ryzen 5 8600G is one of the great choices should you just wanted is a starter system that is vastly upgradable in the future, since it uses the AM5 motherboard platform that still supports backwards 7000 series and 9000 series of processor. This is also great for office and CAD/CAM users that wanted to accomplish most of the mainline tasks and rendering as well. For home users, this can be a good start for multimedia and eSports title gaming, should you need more gaming power, a GPU can be added in the future and this expands towards more flexibility for the end user. For those looking for an upgrade from an older generation DDR4 RAM based platform, this is also a good path for a change towards the AM5 platform as a start. We would recommend at least 16GB of RAM to accommodate the demanding applications and games today with a lower TDP without losing much efficiency while when you have the budget, adding a new GPU will be great.
Pros
- A capable 1080P processor on High/Very High settings beyond 144 FPS with a mid to high range graphics card
- Can game pretty well on most eSports and some new titles, able to target over 60FPS on existing titles.
- 4K ready for gaming over 75FPS if paired with a powerful graphics card
- Majority AM4 coolers and AIO still can be used on AM5 platforms
- Includes AMD Wraith Cooler
- Runs at 65w TDP only
Cons
- AM5 boards required with new BIOS/UEFI update, all older AM4 motherboard will not be compatible
- Still Pricey on the DDR5 module (unless you are planning to use lower speeds DDR5 RAM)
Special Thanks to ASUS, Kingston, Thermaltake for the providing the components and AMD for loaning the processors