AMD Ryzen 5 8600G Review – Ryzen G-Series Is Back!

It’s been 2.5 years since AMD last launched a desktop Ryzen G-series processor under the Ryzen 5000 series banner, and the company has since skipped the 7000G series altogether to gamers’ dismay. Today, they’re officially back in the form of the Ryzen 8000G series, and with it comes the old habit of Team Red naming desktop APUs – adding a number over laptop counterparts. With that out of the way, let’s begin our review.

AMD Ryzen 5 8600G: Basic Specifications

Full specifications of Ryzen 5 8600G are listed on AMD’s website.

Processor	AMD Ryzen 5 8600G	AMD Ryzen 5 5600G
Core Configuration	6 cores, 12 threads (monolithic APU)
Process Node	TSMC N4	TSMC N7
Microarchitecture	Zen 4 “Phoenix”	Zen 3 “Cezanne”
Boost Clock	5.0GHz	4.4GHz
Base Clock	4.3GHz	3.9GHz
Cache (L2+L3)	6+16MB	3+16MB
TDP	65W
Memory Support	DDR5-5200 (2-module) DDR5-3600 (4-module) Max. 256GB dual-channel	DDR4-3200 Max. 128GB dual-channel
Onboard Graphics	AMD Radeon 760M 8 CUs (RDNA3) @ 2.8GHz Max. 8K60 display output via DisplayPort	AMD Radeon Graphics 7 CUs (Vega) @ 1.9GHz
PCIe Lanes Configuration	20x PCIe 4.0	20x PCIe 3.0
Socket	Socket AM5 (LGA1718)	Socket AM4 (PGA1334)
Chipset Support	AMD 600 Series	AMD 300*, 400, 500 Series (Select 300 series M/Bs only)

The differences between the two chips in the same class, the Ryzen 5 8600G and Ryzen 5 5600G, couldn’t be farther apart – the only two specifications both chips share are the same core count and 65W TDP. The new chip naturally uses Socket AM5, and with it comes AMD 600 series motherboard and DDR5 memory support, with the onboard graphics now featuring the much more recent RDNA3 architecture versus Vega (which is at least six years old at this point).

Aside from its predecessor, here’s how it compares to the Ryzen 5 7600, which is based on the Zen 4 architecture:

Processor	AMD Ryzen 5 8600G	AMD Ryzen 5 7600
Core Configuration	6 cores, 12 threads (monolithic APU)	6 cores, 12 threads (1x CCD + 1x IOD)
Process Node	TSMC N4	CCD: TSMC N5 IOD: TSMC N6
Microarchitecture	Zen 4 “Phoenix”	Zen 4 “Raphael”
Boost Clock	5.0GHz	5.1GHz
Base Clock	4.3GHz	3.8GHz
Cache (L2+L3)	6+16MB	6+32MB
TDP	65W
Memory Support	DDR5-5200 (2-module) DDR5-3600 (4-module) Max. 256GB dual-channel
Onboard Graphics	AMD Radeon 760M 8 CUs (RDNA3) @ 2.8GHz Max. 8K60 display output via DisplayPort	AMD Radeon Graphics 2 CUs (RDNA2) @ 2.2GHz
PCIe Lanes Configuration	20x PCIe 4.0	28x PCIe 5.0
Socket	Socket AM5 (LGA1718)
Chipset Support	AMD 600 Series

Both the 8600G and 7600 (non-X) feature the same Zen 4 core, but there are different implementations involved. The 7600 is a run-of-the-mill desktop chip with an iGPU just enough to drive displays without the need for a discrete GPU, whereas the 8600G comes with beefier graphics capable of handling AAA titles, as long as the graphics settings are reasonable. The monolithic 8600G also gets half the L3 cache, which could hamper its performance slightly on cache-sensitive games.

Test System

CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 8600G
Cooling	Cooler Master MasterLiquid PL360 Flux 30th Anniversary Edition Cooler Master MasterGel Maker
Motherboard	MSI B650 GAMING PLUS WIFI (BIOS ver. E7E26AMS.1101aT0B_4, build date 29/12/2023)
GPU	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition
Memory	Kingston FURY RENEGADE RGB DDR5-6400 CL32 (2x16GB)
Storage	Samsung SSD 980 PRO 256GB (Boot) Kingston NV1 1TB
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 1250 V2 Full Modular 1250W
Case	VECTOR Bench Case (Open-air chassis)
Operating System	Windows 11 Home 22H2

Benchmarks

All tests are performed with stock settings out of the box unless otherwise specified.

Cinebench R23 (Multi-core)

Starting with the multi-core benchmark courtesy of Cinebench R23, we’ll be making most comparisons between the Ryzen 5 7600 and Ryzen 5 8600G as both are in the same class of chips. Given the clock speed difference is just a mere 100 MHz between the two, it’s not surprising to see the 8600G slightly trailing behind the 7600, though you’d be hard-pressed to notice the difference unless compared side-by-side.

Cinebench R23 (Single-core)

 

In terms of single-core performance, it’s pretty much what we expect – a small deficit to the Ryzen 5 7600 which has 100 MHz faster clock speeds. Coincidentally, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D shares the same 5.0GHz boost clocks, and as a result we see both the 7800X3D and 8600G scoring basically the same in this test.

Cinebench R23 (Power Draw)

In terms of power draw, all four chips here are what both Intel and AMD call 65W-class chips, though the definition of 65 watts isn’t quite the same. For Intel, it’s straightforward 65W TDP for all non-K chips, AMD’s 65W models meanwhile follow the PPT value of 88W, which is the actual power draw these chips are designed to pull at max loads. In this case, we observed around 85 watts in the Cinebench R23 run, slightly lower than two of the chiplet-based counterparts.

7-Zip

A similar trend in 7-Zip, where we see the Ryzen 5 8600G trailing slightly behind the Ryzen 5 7600 non-X due to lower clock speeds. That being said, the compression scores seem to have a bigger gap between the two – we believe this has to do with different cache sizes, where the 7600 has double the L3 over 8600G.

3DMark Time Spy (CPU Score)

Next up is 3DMark Time Spy – a 3% deficit for the 8600G. We’ll have to see how this translates to actual gaming performance, which we’ll get to in a bit.

Handbrake

For the Handbrake test, it’s worth noting that we’re using an older version here as the data is more complete on the v1.5.1 we’ve tested since 2022, newer versions since have greatly improved transcode performance on all CPUs, so take this number as a point of reference – your mileage may vary in future versions of the software.

In this case, we clocked 6:13 minutes for the Ryzen 5 8600G, which is 19 seconds behind the Ryzen 5 7600 non-X. On the Handbrake 1.6.1, the render was completed in 5:14 minutes instead.

Gaming (Discrete GPU, RTX 3080 Ti)

For the G-series chip like the 8600G, we’ll be testing the gaming performance in two scenarios: one with discrete GPU and another with onboard graphics doing the heavy lifting. In the first round of tests, we’ll be pairing the CPU to our good old RTX 3080 Ti FE to compare it against other chips like-for-like.

Here, we can see the performance is pretty much back and forth between the 8600G and 7600, although part of that can be attributed to DDR5-6400 memory that the 8600G is tested on (AMD recommends 6400MT/s as the new ‘sweet spot’ compared to 6000MT/s in the 7000 series). Evidently, games less memory-bound will hand the advantage back to the 7600 thanks to its larger cache pool and clock speeds.

Gaming (Onboard GPU, Radeon 760M)

Now, you used to be able to make the argument that part of the reason why people buy the Ryzen G-series was to have peace of mind in case the discrete GPU fails, which allows for easy troubleshooting. Since the Ryzen 7000 series already comes with basic display capabilities, that means anyone buying the 8000G series is specifically looking for its graphics performance, which does matter on either SFF or dGPU-less systems.

Here’s what to expect out of the onboard Radeon 760M: benchmarking our games with the lowest presets and settings, we pretty much can get playable framerates in all games, and 60FPS+ for some. These are all native framerates, and if you need more FPS out on this chip, AMD’s latest Adrenalin 24.1.1 driver now comes with AMD Fluid Motion Frames (AFMF) as part of the HYPR-RX profile which is also available for Radeon 760M to use.

Conclusion

The premise of the Ryzen G-series is that for anyone looking for a CPU with just enough graphics performance to play any PC game even with the lowest settings, this lineup is the only one that fills that niche. To date, Intel has no like-for-like competitor that competes on the onboard graphics performance, so that leaves AMD effectively having the sole authority on the socketed SFF PCs form factor.

So the only point of comparison at this point is A, its predecessor, the Ryzen 5 5600G, and B, the Ryzen 5 7600(X), which is not quite the same thing in nature. That said, the presence of 8600G does finally fill the gap that users have been long asking for since the introduction of the Socket AM5 platform, so the users won’t have to resort to something like the Ryzen 5 7600 for SFF PC builds.

With the processor, you’re also getting an included Wraith Stealth cooler with the thermal paste pre-applied, so getting it going is as simple as it gets. One more thing that most people are going to overlook is the inclusion of Ryzen AI, given that it’s based on the Zen 4 “Phoenix” architecture. However, while laptops can find its use for webcam effects, I have doubts if Ryzen AI (or NPU in general) will find much use in desktop PCs, especially when any kind of heavy AI workload is going to involve a discrete GPU anyway.

To answer the question: is the Ryzen 5 8600G a good chip in general? Pretty good, I’d say. For the same MSRP of $229 (US SEP) as the Ryzen 5 7600 (at launch), you get significantly more graphics power, which more than compensates for the slight lack of CPU performance. For some, this is the tradeoff that’s easily acceptable for most people. Plus, there’s also the Ryzen 7 8700G if more performance on both fronts is needed. All in all, a solid one!

Special thanks to AMD Malaysia for providing the Ryzen 5 8600G processor for this review.