AMD Ryzen 5 3400G Review

The Ryzen 5 3400G is one of AMD's mid-range Desktop processors. It was released in 2019 with 4 cores and 8 threads. With base clock at 3.7GHz, max speed at 3.9GHz, and a 65W power rating. The Ryzen 5 3400G is based on the Picasso 12nm family and is part of the Ryzen 5 series.

Ryzen 5 3400G is also the successor of AMD's last gen Ryzen 5 2400G processor that was based on the Zen and 14nm process and was released in 2018.

Now, we're asking ourselves whether or not the AMD Ryzen 5 3400G finally dethrones the Core i3-9100 as the de facto ruler of the mainstream processors. Ultimately, it depends: the Ryzen 5 3400G doesn't reach the same single-core performance as Intel, but we're starting to see more games adopt multi-threaded CPUs, so that doesn't matter as much.

AMD Ryzen 5 3rd Generation, and the Zen+ architecture itself, is notable because it leads 12nm processors to the mainstream for the first time. But, there’s a lot more going on under the hood than just a smaller manufacturing node.

AMD's Zen+ series has landed, upping the ante with Intel in its high-stakes game for desktop PC market dominance with a well-rounded lineup of new chips that push mainstream platforms to higher core counts and more raw compute than we've ever seen. As a result, Intel's commanding presence in the enthusiast space is threatened in a way we haven't seen in over a decade.

The Ryzen 5 3400G takes the basic ingredients of the Zen+ microarchitecture, which brings an average of 15% more instructions per cycle (IPC) throughput, and 12nm process and melds them into a high-performance chip that is impressive across our test suite, especially when we factor in the competitive pricing, backward compatibility with most AM4 socket motherboards, unlocked overclocking features, and bundled cooler.

As we've seen, gaming remains an advantage for Intel, so if squeezing out every last frame is all you care about, Intel's processors are a good choice. Much of that performance advantage will be less noticeable when gaming at higher resolutions, or if you pair the processors with a lesser graphics card.

But, like most humans, if you do things other than gaming, the Ryzen 5 3400G offers a better mixture of performance in single- and multi-threaded applications. The Ryzen 5 3400G offers twice the threads of the price-comparable Core i3-9100, and it wields them to great effect in threaded workloads. As such, rendering and encoding remain a strong suit of the Ryzen 5 chips, and AMD's improvements to AVX throughput have yielded impressive results.

AMD Ryzen 5 3 Generation is finally here, and the AMD Ryzen 5 3400G might just be the poster child for what this generation of processors has in store for consumers. Sure, it might have stuck with the 4-core, 8-thread setup, which it inherited from its predecessor, the Ryzen 5 2400G. However, with the new 12nm manufacturing process, it delivers a far better performance at lower power consumption.

The AMD Ryzen 5 3400G was rolled out on Jul 2019 for $160, which puts it in the same general price range as the last-generation Ryzen 5 2400G. This means that at least we're not seeing any considerable price jumps from generation to generation.

It gets more interesting, however, when you compare the Ryzen 5 3400G to its main competitor. The Intel Core i3-9100 is available for $122, an 4-core processor with no hyperthreading, which means that the Ryzen 5 3400G offers twice the processing threads at a lower price tag. Intel is still king when it comes to single-core performance, but when it comes to multi-core ones, the AMD Ryzen 5 3400G is the absolute beast.

This decision to 12nm has brought a beefy 15% boost to IPC (instructions per clock) performance. Effectively, compared to a Ryzen 5 2-Generation processor at the same clock speed, you will get a straight 15% increase in performance. That’s not big enough to be evident in day-to-day workloads, but it does still mean something.

What this all means is that the AMD Ryzen 5 3400G is an absolute beast when it comes to multi-threaded workloads, especially at this price point. If you're counting on doing some video editing or compiling one hell of an Excel spreadsheet, you're going to see firsthand a performance boost with the Ryzen 5 3400G.

One of the nice things about the AMD Ryzen 5 3400G processors is that the retail boxed models come with a CPU cooler. So, you can pick something like the AMD Ryzen 5 3400G up for $160 and don’t need to spend any extra money on CPU cooling.

The AMD Ryzen 5 3400G retail boxed processor comes with the traditional ‘pancake’ CPU cooler. Nothing fancy, but it gets the job done on this processor which is rated at 65W TDP. You do not need to have an aftermarket cooling solution unless you want to.

Our look today at the AMD Ryzen 5 3400G showed that it is a very capable processor. A 4-core processor sounds like it would be really under-powered these days, but we were pleasantly surprised with a snappy and very capable system. Having just 4 cores had this processor coming in at the back of the pack for heavily threaded workloads, but it performed better than some of its more expensive siblings in lightly threaded workloads where it shined thanks to its high base clocks.

The AMD Ryzen 5 3400G seems to be a decent performing chip that is readily available for $160 at your favorite retailer. The main competition for this processor is the Core i3-9100 4-Core unlocked desktop processor with Intel UHD Graphics 630 graphics ($122 shipped).

Now the biggest question is can AMD’s Ryzen 5 processor play games? The answer is simply yes as it got a respectable gaming score of 80% in our benchmarks.

The Ryzen 5 3400G clocks up to 3.9Ghz just as it promises on the box, and with AMD’s software you can take one of the cores all the way up to 4GHz. However, don’t expect to get much beyond that without seriously upgrading your cooling solution and manually tweaking voltages behind the operating system level.

If you’ve been looking for an affordable, powerhouse CPU that both works and parties hard, this is it.

Fresh from a successful roll-out of mainstream Ryzen 5 CPUs, AMD's attack on Intel now extends down into the mid-range with its Ryzen 5 3400G processors, which the company is making available as of Jul 2019.

Although the 65W-rated cooler doesn't feature a copper base or the LEDs found on AMD's higher-end thermal solutions, it does handle Ryzen 5's heat output deftly enough to facilitate XFR-triggered frequencies. This gives you an extra 200 MHz. We were even able to overclock the Ryzen 5 3400G to 4.1 GHz within a reasonable temperature range. The fan also blows down onto the motherboard, which provide additional cooling around the socket. If you need more bling, AMD recently announced that it now offers the LED-equipped cooler separately.

Like all other Picasso chips, the Ryzen 5-series CPUs drop into any Socket AM4 motherboard. But most will find a home on boards equipped with the A320 chipset, which has provisions for overclocking and offers plenty of connectivity options. Unlike Intel, AMD plans to utilize its current socket until 2023, so upgrading to future models shouldn't require a new motherboard.