Review of - AMD Ryzen 5 3400G 4-core, 8-Thread Unlocked Desktop Processor with Radeon RX Graphics
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I am very satisfied with this AMD "value" APU, especially since its impossible to obtain graphics cards at MSRP right now.
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I was very fortunately able to obtain this 3400G processor recently from amazon at MSRP pricing (sold by amazon, shipped by amazon). I suppose I was very lucky because all the stock in these sold out in about 30 minutes after I got an email notification. Then the site went back to absurd scalper pricing from 3rd parties (avoid those, boycott them).
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I am using the 3400G for a "home theater" computer. At the MSRP price, paired with an Asus B450-F Gaming II mainboard that amazon also had at a great sale price, this CPU is working out well. Keep in mind however, that some BIOS CPU tuning is required. As a side note, I am using the Vetroo V5 air cooler. The Vetroo V5 has been holding idle tempts at 30C or so (CPU tuned to constant 4,000mhz clock speed), and rarely hitting 50C when pumping 2160p60 video from the web for smooth streaming playback. I'm not using this computer for gaming or video editing (such as with the Davinci Resolve editor). I am also using 32GBs of 3200mhz ADATA brand DRAM, with DOCP enabled. The AMD Ryzen 3400G's Vega 11 Graphics component reserves 2GB of RAM for dedicated graphics processing. With the CPU tuned to run at a constant 4,000mhz, the KODI home theater software application pumps steady, smooth, frame rate video.
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My CPU/BIOS optimization experience: I discovered that, out the box, the Asus bios setup the AMD 3400G to constantly throttle its clock speed down to the 1700mhz range. As the 3400G kept throttling down, smooth HD video playback was impossible. However, once I used the Asus BIOS auto "tweaker" feature, and set the CPU to hold at a constant 4,000mhz CPU clock speed, I have been experiencing snappy "home theater" software performance. I also discovered that it is very necessary to update the Windows OS to the latest network/ethernet device driver and to add some obscure advanced network device driver settings configuration (see various youtube videos about these obscure ethernet driver tuning settings) in order to obtain smooth 1080p60, 1440p60, etc., internet video streaming performance.
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Note also that, when connecting to a HDTV via HDMI, that 2160p60 is NOT possible unless the both the HDTV supports HDMI 2.1 for 2160p at 60hz refresh, as well as the MOBO in use. Based on my experience so far, 2160p (so called 4K), isn't that noticeably better beyond well smoothed, crisp, 1080p60 HDTV output anyway.
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After the Asus MOBO BIOS tuning, and Windows OS network device driver updating noted above, I have been extremely happy that a $149.00 MSRP AMD CPU has more than enough processing power to provide an excellent home theater computer experience with the KODI home theater software application running my movie and music library (KODI takes a LOT of time to setup though).
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The AMD Ryzen Vega 11 APU graphics included with the AMD Ryzen 3400G have been quite adequate for my "home theater" needs. I also recently purchased an AMD Ryzen 3200G, also available from amazon at MSRP from time to time. The graphics in the AMD Ryzen 3200G, which has more limited resolutions and refresh rates, are NOT at all as good as the 3400G graphics. The additional price for the AMD Ryzen 3400G over the 3200G is well worth it. However, for building office/business computers to run MSFT office and such, the $99 AMD Ryzen 3200G appears to provide more than enough processing power.
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SYSTEM SETUP WITH THE AMD Ryzen 3400G
- AMD Ryzen AMD 3400G
- Asus ROG Strix B450-F Gaming II
- Vetroo V5 CPU Air Cooler (Arctic brand NO rgb fans installed on it)
- Montech Century 850W PSU
- Fractal Design Meshify 2 Compact case (using the stock fans tuned with DC mode in BIOS)
- (2) PNY XLR8 CS3030 500GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Gen3 x4 SSD) - system drive
- - second matching drive for daily auto cloning backup with Macrium Reflect software
- (2) Toshiba N300 8TB NAS HD for home theater media storage (RAID 1 / mirroring)
- - 8TB total usable mirrored storage
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If you can get an AMD Ryzen AMD 3400G directly from amazon at MSRP, it is can excellent value CPU. Given the performance of the AMD 3000G line APUs, if and when the AMD 5000G APUs become available later this year, it seems like they are likely to provide an equally excellent value chip proposition. In years to come the anticipated AMD 6000G APUs, with even more upgraded RDNA2 graphics onboard, will hopefully provide ever more tantalizing value for money.
| Processor | 4.2 GHz ryzen_5_3400g |
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