Price/performance efficiency, between Ryzen 3 2200G APU, and Intel Core i3-8100 quad-core CPU?

[VirtualLarry]

Since my other thread kind of meandered, this one is intended to be a strictly technical and price/performance discussion between the two platforms.

I guess, I'm thinking, that the RAM would be cheaper for the i3-8100, mobo price basically a wash, and the CPU more expensive than the APU. Case+PSU+SSD could be the same.

Does anyone have any (technical) preferences for one over the other? Preferably, this rig would not use a dGPU, both for cost and power-saving reasons. Gaming is not the intended purpose of the rig, but if it can, so much the better. (A point for the APU, I guess, but that effectively means requiring dual-channel RAM, too.)

Also, possibly consider the 2400G versus the i3-8350K, and overclocking (which requires, for AMD, at the minimum a B350 board, and for the Intel, a Z370 board)?

(As an aside, I really think that Intel should relax their OCing requirements, to allow the H370 to OC CPUs too, given that AMD allows OCing on B350 boards.)

 

[whm1974]

While I have been rooting for AMD since they released Ryzen, Their new APUs still need some work to be fully supported by Linux. The Intel i3-8100 on the other hand is fully supported. For Linux users not using a dGPU I would stick with Intel for now.

If you are using a dGPU, then why are you looking at a puny quad core?

 

[burninatortech4]

Assuming no dGPU (or intent to install one for the foreseeable future), and if any games are going to be played (at all), I'd have to go with the 2200g. The iGPU is simply superior. Amazon US Prices.

Intel - Core i3- 8100 3.6Ghz Quad-Core Processor - $118.70 (Amazon)
Gigabyte - H370M DS3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard - $89.99 (Amazon)
Patriot - Viper 4 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory - $89.99 (Amazon)
Samsung - 860 Evo 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive - $83.99 (Amazon)
Fractal Design - Focus G Mini (Black) MicroATX Mini Tower Case - $63.58 (Amazon)
Silverstone - Strider Gold 450W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply - $93.99 (Amazon)
Total w/o Windows : $540.24

AMD - Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5Ghz Quad-Core Processor - $96.00 (Amazon)
Gigabyte - GA-AB350M-DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard $64.99 (Amazon)
Patriot - Viper 4 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory - $89.99 (Amazon)
Samsung - 860 Evo 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive - $83.99 (Amazon)
Fractal Design - Focus G Mini (Black) MicroATX Mini Tower Case - $63.58 (Amazon)
Silverstone - Strider Gold 450W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply - $93.99 (Amazon)
Total w/o Windows: $492.54

The AMD system costs less, is overclockable, has much better iGPU gaming potential, and both are overkill for most basic productivity/internet purposes. I know I could go cheaper on power supply but I'm partial to silverstone SFF power supplies and I don't trust those cheap $30 EVGA ones.

On the 2400g vs i3-8350K - I would still go with the 2400g for the same reasons as above.

 

[MajinCry]

I'd go for the 2400G, as it's got more threads. That's particularly important for Ryzen, as AMD's SMT performs better than Intel's. Better multitasking, will perform better (more perf when using more than 4 threads, less stuttering in general) in games that take advantage of several threads.

Edit: Oh, it's the 2200G. In that case, I'd go for the Ryzen because of the superior iGPU perf. In terms of CPU performance, they're about equal.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Thanks. So far, consensus seems to be "Go AMD - Ryzen APU".

I've built both 2200G and 2400G rigs, and when they work, they're great. I just hesitate, due to me seeing some corner-case type bugs that seem to me to personally make me wonder if these APUs are really ready for prime-time. Plus, the Linux compatibility thing, too, if I ever migrate the user I was thinking of this rig for to Linux, or possibly even myself, moving my main rigs off of dGPUs for power-saving reasons, and then running their Ryzen APUs, for probably BOTH Win10 and Linux.

Gigabyte - GA-AB350M-DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard $64.99 (Amazon)

As far as that mobo goes, is it fully-compatible with Ryzen APUs?

I've tried ASRock AB350M Pro4 boards, which are otherwise great all-rounder boards for Ryzen CPUs, but they aren't so hot for APUs, had BIOS bugs and hangs, maybe my particular board sample (which has been through a lot), has some defective VRM components, due to being run at high temps for a while while mining.

I've used a Gigabyte Gaming 3 mATX board, with my 2400G, and it worked REALLY WELL, including trouble-free (mostly) overclocking, XMP RAM, etc., but I had to flash my BIOS from F6 to F21 using a CPU and dGPU first.

Likewise, I've used Biostar's A320 mATX board, with the 2200G, and while that board can't OC the CPU or iGPU, it does run pretty-much fine on that board, again, once I flashed the BIOS with a CPU and dGPU to get it to work.

I would love if there was a really-compatible board, that came pre-flashed with an appropriate BIOS to support the Ryzen APUs. If that Gigabyte AB350M-DS3H is the one, then I'll go with that for builds. It's inexpensive enough.

 

[scannall]

Thanks. So far, consensus seems to be "Go AMD - Ryzen APU".

I've built both 2200G and 2400G rigs, and when they work, they're great. I just hesitate, due to me seeing some corner-case type bugs that seem to me to personally make me wonder if these APUs are really ready for prime-time. Plus, the Linux compatibility thing, too, if I ever migrate the user I was thinking of this rig for to Linux, or possibly even myself, moving my main rigs off of dGPUs for power-saving reasons, and then running their Ryzen APUs, for probably BOTH Win10 and Linux.


As far as that mobo goes, is it fully-compatible with Ryzen APUs?

I've tried ASRock AB350M Pro4 boards, which are otherwise great all-rounder boards for Ryzen CPUs, but they aren't so hot for APUs, had BIOS bugs and hangs, maybe my particular board sample (which has been through a lot), has some defective VRM components, due to being run at high temps for a while while mining.

I've used a Gigabyte Gaming 3 mATX board, with my 2400G, and it worked REALLY WELL, including trouble-free (mostly) overclocking, XMP RAM, etc., but I had to flash my BIOS from F6 to F21 using a CPU and dGPU first.

Likewise, I've used Biostar's A320 mATX board, with the 2200G, and while that board can't OC the CPU or iGPU, it does run pretty-much fine on that board, again, once I flashed the BIOS with a CPU and dGPU to get it to work.

I would love if there was a really-compatible board, that came pre-flashed with an appropriate BIOS to support the Ryzen APUs. If that Gigabyte AB350M-DS3H is the one, then I'll go with that for builds. It's inexpensive enough.

The B450 motherboards are due out any time now, and should be just fine for the APU's.

 

[SPBHM]

I would go with the 2200G because it's more capable for gaming,
but if you are not playing games it doesn't really make much of a difference, and as a CPU the 8100 is superior,
now with the H310 boards being available it becomes very competitive,

OC as far as I know it's kind of useless on these APUs (the CPU portion) so not a big advantage, but, AMD keeping the same platform for future CPUs is a good advantage to have.

 

[whm1974]

Thanks. So far, consensus seems to be "Go AMD - Ryzen APU".

I've built both 2200G and 2400G rigs, and when they work, they're great. I just hesitate, due to me seeing some corner-case type bugs that seem to me to personally make me wonder if these APUs are really ready for prime-time. Plus, the Linux compatibility thing, too, if I ever migrate the user I was thinking of this rig for to Linux, or possibly even myself, moving my main rigs off of dGPUs for power-saving reasons, and then running their Ryzen APUs, for probably BOTH Win10 and Linux.

Once Linux Kernel 4.18.x is officially released then the 2200G and 2400G should be good to go. Which Distro are you using?

 

[burninatortech4]

Thanks. So far, consensus seems to be "Go AMD - Ryzen APU".

I've built both 2200G and 2400G rigs, and when they work, they're great. I just hesitate, due to me seeing some corner-case type bugs that seem to me to personally make me wonder if these APUs are really ready for prime-time. Plus, the Linux compatibility thing, too, if I ever migrate the user I was thinking of this rig for to Linux, or possibly even myself, moving my main rigs off of dGPUs for power-saving reasons, and then running their Ryzen APUs, for probably BOTH Win10 and Linux.


As far as that mobo goes, is it fully-compatible with Ryzen APUs?

I've tried ASRock AB350M Pro4 boards, which are otherwise great all-rounder boards for Ryzen CPUs, but they aren't so hot for APUs, had BIOS bugs and hangs, maybe my particular board sample (which has been through a lot), has some defective VRM components, due to being run at high temps for a while while mining.

I've used a Gigabyte Gaming 3 mATX board, with my 2400G, and it worked REALLY WELL, including trouble-free (mostly) overclocking, XMP RAM, etc., but I had to flash my BIOS from F6 to F21 using a CPU and dGPU first.

Likewise, I've used Biostar's A320 mATX board, with the 2200G, and while that board can't OC the CPU or iGPU, it does run pretty-much fine on that board, again, once I flashed the BIOS with a CPU and dGPU to get it to work.

I would love if there was a really-compatible board, that came pre-flashed with an appropriate BIOS to support the Ryzen APUs. If that Gigabyte AB350M-DS3H is the one, then I'll go with that for builds. It's inexpensive enough.

I just realized the DS3H only have 2 SoC phases. The GA-AB350M has 3 SoC phases. I use the same board for my 2700x (with added 50mm fan to the VRM heatsink) and I love it. Cheap but well built. Seems worth the $10 upgrade from the DS3H

 

[cbn]

Since my other thread kind of meandered, this one is intended to be a strictly technical and price/performance discussion between the two platforms.

I guess, I'm thinking, that the RAM would be cheaper for the i3-8100, mobo price basically a wash, and the CPU more expensive than the APU. Case+PSU+SSD could be the same.

Does anyone have any (technical) preferences for one over the other? Preferably, this rig would not use a dGPU, both for cost and power-saving reasons. Gaming is not the intended purpose of the rig, but if it can, so much the better. (A point for the APU, I guess, but that effectively means requiring dual-channel RAM, too.)

If the machine only has 8GB RAM and planning on doing a lot of browsing* (E.g. on my triple monitor set-up I routinely exceed 8GB RAM and sometimes 16GB RAM) I would look into what set-up has the best RAM extender software available for it. (RAM extender hardware = Optane).

*Browsing + multi-tasking (eg, video or Blender rendering) would be even more demanding on RAM.

P.S. For the R3 2200G AMD StoreMI comes free on B450 boards (This can use up to a 256GB NVMe SSD for the fast tier....so ultimately if going that route it would be Optane vs. NAND (NVMe). Capacity (and Sequential) vs. 4K read (and to a lesser extent 4K write if the Optane is 32GB or greater)

 

[cbn]

Also, possibly consider the 2400G versus the i3-8350K, and overclocking (which requires, for AMD, at the minimum a B350 board, and for the Intel, a Z370 board)?

I've got a i3-8350K myself....still looking for a motherboard and RAM for it. (Would be interesting to see how it compares to the AMD hardware and software when using Optane).