Ryzen 3 2200g APU good choice for non gaming use for the future?

logicalxm

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Jul 21, 2009
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Hi,

I wanted to start a budget build that will solely be used for light multitasking. Main purposes would be general web browsing and lots of video streaming from Youtube. I would like to avoid any hardware upgrades and therefore wanted to ask whether a Ryzen 3 2200g APU would be able to function well for my purposes for the next 5 years or so?

Thanks
 
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Dave3dfx

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Dec 27, 2017
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I would look into Ryzen 7 for streaming, for general 2200g should be enough, I would question if it’s 5 year enough in my opinion.


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whm1974

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I assume by streaming you talking about watching YouTube? The 2200G will be fine for that, but I would consider the 2400G instead for longevity.
 

logicalxm

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Jul 21, 2009
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I assume by streaming you talking about watching YouTube? The 2200G will be fine for that, but I would consider the 2400G instead for longevity.

Yeah, regular Youtube streaming on good settings, nothing game related.
I was actually considering the 2400G, but it's another $80. I am aware it is a bit faster, but then I would be approaching the category of me considering a discrete GPU with a Ryzen 1600 for slightly more $ than a 2400G...
 

tamz_msc

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Yeah, regular Youtube streaming on good settings, nothing game related.
I was actually considering the 2400G, but it's another $80. I am aware it is a bit faster, but then I would be approaching the category of me considering a discrete GPU with a Ryzen 1600 for slightly more $ than a 2400G...
A 1600 with a discrete GPU like a GT 1030 or RX 550 for basic YouTube functionality would still cost more than the 2400G. Since you're gonna keep it for five years, I would also suggest that you go for the 2400G as SMT is worth it in your case.
 
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SPBHM

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I think youtube is going to replace VP9 by something else in the next 5 years, and for 4K60 and higher video streaming with new formats 4c/4t might struggle, but not sure.

realistically, you can simply use 1080P60 and it's quite ok.
 

nickmania

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Aug 11, 2016
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I would wait for the new google codec av1 and the GPUs that will had hardware decode on them.
 

DAPUNISHER

Super Moderator CPU Forum Mod and Elite Member
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I'll add to those suggesting the 2400G.

Zen really benefits from HT.

Oh, and get a good quality mainboard and PSU.
Very much this. Because if you cheap out on those, then "I would like to avoid any hardware upgrades" becomes far more difficult to avoid more oft than not.
 

AtenRa

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I'll add to those suggesting the 2400G.

Zen really benefits from HT.

Oh, and get a good quality mainboard and PSU.

For a 65W TDP SoC ??? any A320 mobo with a 300W PSU will be more than fine for this, he is not even going to OC.
 

VirtualLarry

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I'm going to go out on a limb here, and suggest, that if you can handle it financially, get the B350/B450, and a Ryzen 5 1600 or 2600, and that RX 550 or 560. Get the 2200G or 2400G only if you are financially-constrained at the moment. The extra cores / threads and L3 cache of the 6C/12T Ryzen CPUs really lets them stretch their legs.

Not to mention, the current codec used by YouTube for 1080P and 4K encoding, VP9, is hardware-decoded by Polaris discrete cards, but is not by the Vega iGPUs. I was just reading that last night. (Edit: Apparently, I misread something, and this is actually backwards. VP9 is NOT decoded "in hardware" on Polaris or Vega discrete, only on Vega iGPU, for discrete cards, they use the shaders.)

I'm currently on an R5 1600, with an R7 260X 2GB GDDR5 card, connected to a 40" 4K UHD TV @ 30Hz (limitation of HDMI port on this card, need Polaris or better for HDMI2.0). I was watching some YouTube 4K clips (24Hz), they played back OK, but watching things like waterfalls, was a little "juddery", sort of pulsing of frame-rate, hard to describe. It was subtle, but it was there. I was also mining on my Ryzen CPU in the background, so that was probably an issue too, if it were software-decoding.

Edit: I own the 2200G and 2400G as well.
 
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Insert_Nickname

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For a 65W TDP SoC ??? any A320 mobo with a 300W PSU will be more than fine for this, he is not even going to OC.

Quality has nothing to do with TDP. Since the OP specified a long lifetime for the system, spending a bit extra on quality seems warranted. You don't want a fried MB due to a dodgy PSU, or a MB that fails because of cheap components.

That said there is no reason to go the whole hog. A mainstream unit from a reputable manufacturer is plenty.

Not to mention, the current codec used by YouTube for 1080P and 4K encoding, VP9, is hardware-decoded by Polaris discrete cards, but is not by the Vega iGPUs. I was just reading that last night.

I think you got it the wrong way round. Integrated Vega* has full VP9 HW decoding, discrete Vega doesn't. Neither does Polaris. Both rely on shader assisted decoding for VP9. Works on all other GCN cards too.

*IGP Vega has the newest VCN core. Discrete Vega is UVD7.
 

VirtualLarry

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I think you got it the wrong way round. Integrated Vega* has full VP9 HW decoding, discrete Vega doesn't. Neither does Polaris. Both rely on shader assisted decoding for VP9. Works on all other GCN cards too.

*IGP Vega has the newest VCN core. Discrete Vega is UVD7.

Did I misunderstand what was quoted from Wikipedia in this thread?

https://forums.anandtech.com/thread...-video-card-for-nvidia.2554275/#post-39582297

(bolded) That would explain why my Bonaire (GCN 1.1) card can decode 4K UHD VP9.
 

Insert_Nickname

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Did I misunderstand what was quoted from Wikipedia in this thread?

Well, they're right with regards to discrete Vega. The integrated Vega found in Ryzen/Athlon APUs has a newer decoder, and HW VP9 is only supported by VCN.

VCN = VideoCoreNext, the replacement for both UVD and VCE.

APU usually have a newer decode block then the discrete version of the same GPU architecture version. Most prominent was Trinity/Richland which had a VLIW4 IGP, but with the decode block from 1st gen CGN.

fPP7QTzBFt4qbLYg.jpg
 
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I would either go with the 2200 or the 2600 with a discrete card. The 2400 has always seemed overpriced to me relative to either of those other cpus.
For a 5 year use case, of those 2, i would go with the 2600. You could also go with the i5 8400. It would give good cpu performance with an adequate igpu that could be upgraded later if needed. Personally that would be my choice.
 
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AtenRa

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With current prices the Core i5 8400 at $215 is not recommended.

Personally I would get the Ryzen R3 2200G with a nice B450 board and upgrade in 2-3 years to a 7nm APU.
 
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tamz_msc

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I would either go with the 2200 or the 2600 with a discrete card. The 2400 has always seemed overpriced to me relative to either of those other cpus.
For a 5 year use case, of those 2, i would go with the 2600. You could also go with the i5 8400. It would give good cpu performance with an adequate igpu that could be upgraded later if needed. Personally that would be my choice.
A six-core processor is total overkill for light multitasking on a budget. The OP will be keeping the platform for 5 or more years, at which point the question of upgrade paths become a moot point.

It would have made sense if the price difference was 10$ between the 2400G and the 8400, but right now the difference is 40$ on Amazon.
 

VirtualLarry

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A six-core processor is total overkill for light multitasking on a budget. The OP will be keeping the platform for 5 or more years, at which point the question of upgrade paths become a moot point.

It would have made sense if the price difference was 10$ between the 2400G and the 8400, but right now the difference is 40$ on Amazon.

But the Ryzen 5 2600 is pretty similarly prices to the Ryzen 5 2400G (although the 2600 lacks an iGPU, therefore requires discrete graphics too).

I was more thinking to the future. Ryzen 3 2200G and 5 2400G support VP9 decode in hardware, but that's going away, and AV1 will slowly take over the open-source codec market, and if that's not yet implemented in hardware, then the 4C/4T or 4C/8T APUs may be at a disadvantage to processing AV1 video-decode in software at 4K UHD and higher resolutions. Then again, maybe having the CUs present in the iGPU on the 2200G and 2400G will help, although with the 2600, you would have some kind of dGPU to help process them as well.

OR.

Just get a 2200G now, and then in 5 years, upgrade either with a new dGPU, that will in theory support the newest video codec in HW decode, or upgrade to an 8C/16T CPU, and a newer dGPU.
 

AtenRa

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But the Ryzen 5 2600 is pretty similarly prices to the Ryzen 5 2400G (although the 2600 lacks an iGPU, therefore requires discrete graphics too).

I was more thinking to the future. Ryzen 3 2200G and 5 2400G support VP9 decode in hardware, but that's going away, and AV1 will slowly take over the open-source codec market, and if that's not yet implemented in hardware, then the 4C/4T or 4C/8T APUs may be at a disadvantage to processing AV1 video-decode in software at 4K UHD and higher resolutions. Then again, maybe having the CUs present in the iGPU on the 2200G and 2400G will help, although with the 2600, you would have some kind of dGPU to help process them as well.

OR.

Just get a 2200G now, and then in 5 years, upgrade either with a new dGPU, that will in theory support the newest video codec in HW decode, or upgrade to an 8C/16T CPU, and a newer dGPU.

In two years (H2 2020 ) we will get most probable a 7nm 8Core APU at $150-180 price range. There is zero reason to get an expensive setup today like R5 2600+dGPU or Core i5 8400 when you can get the 2200G that will fulfill 100% all the OP needs for the next 2-3 years. And then upgrade to a new 7nm APU in 2-3 years from now (keeping the same B450 mobo).
 

tamz_msc

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But the Ryzen 5 2600 is pretty similarly prices to the Ryzen 5 2400G (although the 2600 lacks an iGPU, therefore requires discrete graphics too).

I was more thinking to the future. Ryzen 3 2200G and 5 2400G support VP9 decode in hardware, but that's going away, and AV1 will slowly take over the open-source codec market, and if that's not yet implemented in hardware, then the 4C/4T or 4C/8T APUs may be at a disadvantage to processing AV1 video-decode in software at 4K UHD and higher resolutions. Then again, maybe having the CUs present in the iGPU on the 2200G and 2400G will help, although with the 2600, you would have some kind of dGPU to help process them as well.

OR.

Just get a 2200G now, and then in 5 years, upgrade either with a new dGPU, that will in theory support the newest video codec in HW decode, or upgrade to an 8C/16T CPU, and a newer dGPU.
That is true, however between the 2400G and the 2200G, when it comes to keeping either of them for 5 years, the SMT on the 2400G make it a better choice as a CPU in my opinion - it can handle your normal light multithreaded use cases like photo editing, compressing/decompressing archives, light compiling etc. much better than what the 2200G can do due to the latter lacking the benefits of SMT. I say this having used an i7 3770 machine for work for a number of years in comparison to an i5 2400 at home.
 

SPBHM

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In two years (H2 2020 ) we will get most probable a 7nm 8Core APU at $150-180 price range. There is zero reason to get an expensive setup today like R5 2600+dGPU or Core i5 8400 when you can get the 2200G that will fulfill 100% all the OP needs for the next 2-3 years. And then upgrade to a new 7nm APU in 2-3 years from now (keeping the same B450 mobo).

actually that might be a strong argument for buying a 200GE (which is perfectly fine for web browsing and youtube right now) and upgrading in 2020 to the latest AM4 CPUs!?
 

AtenRa

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Feb 2, 2009
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actually that might be a strong argument for buying a 200GE (which is perfectly fine for web browsing and youtube right now) and upgrading in 2020 to the latest AM4 CPUs!?

Yes that too, but i believe Athlon 200GE will not be available globally. But if you can find it then yes for this kind of workloads its more than enough today.
 

logicalxm

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Jul 21, 2009
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Thank you all, some very good replies.
The only thing that bothers me about getting the Ryzen 5 2400g is that in that case, I'd much rather get the 2600+used GTX 1030 GPU vs. the 2400G APU. Would end up spending a bit more though, since would need to get a pricier B450 mobo as well. I'm looking at probably extra $180-200 compared to the 2200 setup I was planning to build.
I was checking benchmarks for the 2200, and overall, games perform well on low-average settings and most reviewers/users seem amazed at the performance that can be obtained from a $100 APU. This lead me to believe that it should be perfectly fine for web browsing and Youtube watching for the next 4-5 years. Hard to decipher if it is still a good option due to the varied replies.

Getting the 2200 for $100 right now and upgrading for a similarly priced APU in 3 years time (considering there will be one) is also not a bad option. If that means I would need to get a pricier B450 mobo or 16gb of RAM then it is not a deal breaker, considering that it will assure future upgradability.