AMD’s first Ryzen 8000 desktop processors have arrived: the $329/£309 8700G, $229/£219 8600G, $176/£169 8500G, and the OEM-only 8300G. These 4nm APUs seem to be adaptations of the Ryzen 7040 laptop processors that we tested late last year, featuring current-gen Zen 4 CPU cores and powerful RDNA 3 graphics capabilities. AMD sent us the top two chips, the Ryzen 7 8700G and Ryzen 5 8600G, which come with dedicated Ryzen AI hardware that the rest of the stack doesn’t have.
To assess these new models, we’ve tested their performance both on their own (page two) and when paired with a discrete graphics card (pages three to five). In both cases, we’ve discovered some remarkable capabilities – which could make a Ryzen 8700G or 8600G a smart choice for straightforward entry-level gaming, media PCs, or as a temporary solution while waiting for a next-generation graphics card.
Examining the specifications is an intriguing read. While the eight-core Ryzen 8700G and the six-core 8600G have a considerable $100 MSRP gap, the two chips are surprisingly similar in many aspects. The 8700G only boasts an extra 2MB of L2 cache (8MB vs 6MB), a 100MHz higher rated boost speed (5.1GHz vs 5.0GHz), and a more substantial Wraith Spire cooler compared to the smaller Wraith Stealth that comes with the 8600G. TDP, L3 cache size, and AI performance are all the same. However, more significant differences are evident in GPU performance, with the 8700G having a more capable 12CU Radeon 780M graphics solution compared to the 8600G’s 8CU 760M.
