Today AMD announced the availability of its budget Zen-based Athlon Processor with Vega Graphics APUs and released details about the Athlon 220GE and Athlon 240GE APUs that complement the Athlon 200GE it talked about back in September.
These Athlon 200-series processors are aimed at the budget and mainstream markets to fill the need for a basic processor for everyday tasks such as browsing the internet, checking email, and doing homework. The APUs utilize a 14nm manufacturing process and pair Zen CPU cores with a Vega-based GPU in a 35 watt power envelope, and are aimed at desktops utilizing the AM4 socket.
The Athlon 200GE, 220GE, and 240GE are all dual core, 4-thread processors with 4MB L3 cache and GPUs with 3 compute units (192 cores) clocked at 1 GHz. They all support dual channel DDR4 2667 MHz memory and have 35W TDPs. Where the Athlon APUs differ is in CPU clockspeeds with the higher numbered models having slightly higher base clock speeds.
APU Model | Athlon 200GE | Athlon 220GE | Athlon 240GE |
---|---|---|---|
Cores/Threads | 2 / 4 | 2 / 4 | 2 / 4 |
Base Freq | 3.2 GHz | 3.4 GHz | 3.5 GHz |
Graphics CUs | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Graphics Freq | 1 GHz | 1 GHz | 1 GHz |
L3 Cache | 4MB | 4MB | 4MB |
TDP | 35W | 35W | 35W |
Pricing (SEP) | $55 | $65 | $75 |
The Athlon 200GE starts at 3.2 GHz for $54.98 with an additional $10 buying you the 3.4 GHz 220GE and another $10 premium buying the $74.98 Athlon 240GE's 3.5 GHz CPU clocks. The Athlon 220GE seems to be the best value in that respect, because the extra $10 buys you an extra 200 MHz and the jump to the 240GE only gets an extra 100 MHz for the same extra cost. (Keep in mind that these chips are not unlocked.) Then again, if you are on a tight budget where every dollar counts, the 200GE may be what you end up going with so that you can buy better RAM or more storage.
The new chips are available now but it seems retailers aren't quite ready with their listings as while the 200GE is up for sale at Amazon, the 220GE and 240GE are not yet listed online at the time of writing.
The Athlon 200GE-series APUs introduce a new lower-end option that sits below Ryzen 3 at a lower price point for basic desktops doing typical office or home entertainment duties. With a 35W TDP they might also be useful in fanless home theater PCs and game streaming endpoints for gaming on the big screen.
I am also curious whether these chips will be used for by the DIY and enthusiast community as the base for budget (gaming) builds and if they might see the same popularity as the Athlon X4 860K (note: no built-in graphics). I would be interested in the comparison between the 4c/4t 860K ($57) and the 2c/4t 200GE ($55) to see how they stack up with the newer process node and core design. On the other hand, enthusiasts may well be better served with the overclockable Ryzen 3 2200G ($97) if they want a budget Zen-based part that also has its own GPU.
What are your thoughts on the new Athlon APUs?
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With these kinds of specs for
With these kinds of specs for the desktop…….I am seriously thinking about the “console” variants of these that will obviously be something to truly behold. I mean really…if one thinks about it. The console would be around 175 watts, so you could assume that there would be an eight core/thread CPU with a Vega/Navi GPU easily slapped onto it.
I still can not believe the total TDP of these said chips ATM….. WOWO!!!! Please push these envelope for the next iteration of consoles and HTPC’s!!!!
36% increase in price for a
36% increase in price for a 9% increase in frequency.
Makes no sense for budget parts.
Yeah especially considering
Yeah especially considering the 200GE can be overclocked with an MSI ( and some reports even suggest ASUS ad Gigabyte as well ) boards with the latest BIOS revisions. And Steve from gamersnexus and hardware unboxed have managed to push it to 3.9GHz. Like basically the 220GE and 240GE really shouldn’t exist imho.
The 240GE may overclock(BCLK
The 240GE may overclock(BCLK overclocking on some MBs) a little better because it’s a higher binned part out of the box but really with the Ryzen 3000 series of APUs incoming the 2000 series APUs that can be fully overclocked will come down in price a good bit. I’ll bet that these chips will have to be priced even lower by the retailers very soon after Jan 2019 begins because that will come with there being an older generation of Zen/Vega based APU SKUs on the market for the first time. Look at how far the Ryzen 1000 series ASPs have fallen, including first generation Threadripper! AMD’s APUs in the lowest Tier Athlon space will have to compete with the soon to be older generation Ryzen 2000 series APU’s both desktop and mobile APUs.
So the Raven Ridge 2200G/2000 series APUs will be supplanted by the 3000 series APUs soon enough and really be a better deal unless current Athlon generation sells for less than $50.
Maybe AMD should begin to think about building some hobbyest series Dual Core Zen/Vega SKU that’s more Raspberry Pi like that makes use of some Mobile, or lower clocked, Zen dual core bottom binned parts and try and sell these 2 core APU SKUs that way also. AMD will be becoming like Intel with respect to having to compete with its older generation parts that can be had for not much more than what the Dual Core’s Athlons, or Pentiums, cost.
Any Athlon Parts will have to be competing with first gneration 2000 series APUs that will be priced to sell in advance of the newer 3000 series generation of Desktop/Mobile APUs and that $75 price on the high end Athalon will have to come down or the parts will stay on the shelves gathering dust.
Microcenter currently has the Ryzen 3 2200G listed for $79.99 and that’s really too good to pass up on compared to any Athlon at current pricing!
I want a nuc! Dual nic, 35w
I want a nuc! Dual nic, 35w cpu. Amd. Go team red!
It would be nice if they
It would be nice if they increased the number of Vega CUs – say 3, 4, 5 – along with the slight bump in clock speed. As it stands they’re a bit meh.