Gaming Benchmarks
Moving on we're comparing the integrated GPU in a number of the processors just tested to older discrete graphics cards that you can now buy second hand for pocket change.
Please note all discrete graphics cards have been tested with the Core i3-8100 using 16GB's of DDR4-2400 memory. Then for comparison the Raven Ridge APUs have been tested using their Vega 8 and Vega 11 integrated graphics and they've been paired with 16GB's of DDR4-3200 memory and the Althon 200GE with 8GB's of DDR4-2666.
As you can see the 200GE was good for an average of just 32 fps at 720p using the medium quality settings. Disappointingly this made it 27% slower than the A12-9800 and although the Athlon part it features a newer GPU architecture, it has far fewer cores available, so we're going to find mixed performance when compared to the A12-9800. Still what's important here for AMD is that the 200GE smoked the Core i3-8100 and Pentium G4560.
In stark contrast to what was seen when testing with Fortnite, the 200GE crushes the A12-9800 in Battlefront II. The game was even playable at 720p using the lowest quality settings so that's something, it certainly wasn't using the Core i3-8100 and Pentium G4560.
Testing with Counter-Strike Global Offensive sees the 200GE slip back behind the A12-9800, though it was 41% faster than the G4560.
The 200GE crushes the G4560 and A12-9800 in DOTA 2 using the highest quality settings at 720p and using low quality settings does push frame rates up over 60 fps.
Performance in Overwatch is also decent using the medium quality preset and here the 200GE offered a little over 30% more performance than the A12-9800 and 82% more than the G4560.
As if often the case with entry-level solutions we find that PUBG is a no go with the 200GE, here we're only seeing Core i3-8100 like performance which is very disappointing, but then it is PUBG so who's surprised.
Rocket League is very playable at 720p using the highest quality settings, so gaming at 1080p with reduced quality will be possible. The 200GE managed to edge out the A12-9800 and crush the G4560.
Finally we have Rainbow Six Siege and here the 200GE comes in well behind the A12-9800, at least for the average frame rate. Still we do see playable performance and this wasn't the case with the Pentium G4560.
Before wrapping up the testing I wanted to investigate what might have been. Using the 2400G and the Wraith Stealth I disabled two cores and then locked the two remaining cores with SMT at 3.9 GHz. Basically this gives us an unlocked 200GE, but with a better integrated GPU, but here we are going to focus on the CPU performance.
So what we have here is a 22% CPU core overclock from 3.2 GHz to 3.9 GHz. This boosted single core performance by exactly 22% in Cinebench R15, while we see a multi-threaded score increase of 18%. That's nothing to sneeze at and it means if unlocked, the 200GE would have the potential to destroy Intel's sub $100 CPU range, beating the Pentium G5400 while costing less.