# AMD Athlon 200GE 3.2 GHz



## W1zzard (Oct 18, 2018)

AMD is bringing back their Athlon brand with the Athlon 200GE, featuring two cores and four threads. With a price of only $60 for the reviewed processor, this is the cheapest option to join the Ryzen+Vega game and a clear winner when it comes to price/performance.

*Show full review*


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## Liquid Cool (Oct 18, 2018)

I'd strongly echo Wizzard's recommendation on memory.  For my Ryzen 3 2200G, it really started to wake up when you hit 2666MHz.

It was quite nice to see my little chip "at least in the same neighborhood" as the GT 1030 and it's bigger brother(Ryzen 5 2400G).

That's enough price/performance for me...until I get a graphics card....

Thanks for the review W1z, I enjoyed reading it.

,

Liquid Cool


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## Basard (Oct 18, 2018)

According to the charts, it looks like a solid 4k gaming CPU for its price.


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## Frick (Oct 18, 2018)

€62 ... which I thought was too much because the Pentium G5600 was way better but then I saw that the Pentium is >€100, which is just retarded.

This is quite good then actually. G4560 dethroned!


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## GeorgeMan (Oct 18, 2018)

Actualy gaming performance with 1080Ti is bad because of the pci-e x4 limitation 
Nice review, thank you very much!


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## Dante Uchiha (Oct 18, 2018)

@*W1zzard* - It would be interesting see a power consumption test without an off-board video card.


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## W1zzard (Oct 18, 2018)

Dante Uchiha said:


> @*W1zzard* - It would be interesting see a power consumption test without an off-board video card.


Just subtract 10 W


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## randomUser (Oct 18, 2018)

Frick said:


> €62 ... which I thought was too much because the Pentium G5600 was way better but then I saw that the Pentium is >€100, which is just retarded.
> 
> This is quite good then actually. G4560 dethroned!



Don't be fooled by a bad choice of testable CPUs.
G5600 is "top" of the line.
G5400 has only 200MHz lower clocks (3.7Ghz) and was priced at 56 Eur (bought it before price hike).

If you look through all the graphs again, you will notice, that G4560 (Clocked at 3.5GHz) is better than athlon in almost all of the tests.
So 3.7GHz means, that G5400 will beat athlon in every test.

200GE currently costs 56 Eur. It if wasn't for the production shortage on Intels side, G5400 would cost the same as 200GE, and that means for the same price, you do get a better CPU and graphics are not that much behind the 200GE


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## Salty_sandwich (Oct 18, 2018)

interesting result in relative performance between the quad core Ryzen 3 1200 using four real cores vs 2 and hyper threaded.


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## ArbitraryAffection (Oct 18, 2018)

Great review thanks Wizzard. 

I just ordered one of these to replace the A6-9500 in my HTPC (which was originally used to flash a bios haha). It should be a really nice upgrade for the HTPC.

That said I really think AMD dropped the ball with lack of overclocking on this. at 3.2 GHz it is running slower than all(?) of the Pentium 2/4 CPUs and as a result is going to be slower. I think pricing is perfect if the CPU is unlocked. 3.7GHz+ on this and it is much more competitive against the Coffee Lake Pentiums at their MSRP's. (I know they are overpriced now due to 14nm+ shortages). GPU is better but you are not going to be gaming on this CPU IMO.

Either way I already had the AM4 motherboard so it was a no brainer for a low cost HTPC processor.


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## randomUser (Oct 18, 2018)

W1zzard said:


> Just subtract 10 W


Power consumption seems to be very high for 200GE.

Just for reference:
1. ITX case with integrated 250W TFX PSU
ITX H310 board with M.2 drive
1x8GB DDR4 value RAM
Wifi ON
LAN OFF
Passive cooling
G5400 CPU
Power consumption ~15W idle

2. Mid-tower with beQuiet Pure Power 400W PSU
Same ITX board
2x16GB value RAM
Wifi ON
LAN Off
Passive cooling
G5400 CPU
Power consumption ~21W idle

EDIT: Power measured with wattmeter at the socket.

HWMonitor shows CPU package consuming around 0.8-1.2W on idle.


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## TheLostSwede (Oct 18, 2018)

@W1zzard what's a Cire i3-8300? 

Sorry, but imho, this doesn't deserve a highly recommended award. AMD messed up here by limiting the memory frequency and locking the multiplier. It's a slow turd as it is and it's not that cheap. Either they should've upped the clock speed, or not limited user overclocking to make this the least bit interesting.
Maybe I'm just "elitist" or something here, but this is not something I would waste money on, not for myself, not for someone else.


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## newtekie1 (Oct 18, 2018)

Sees like a good processor for those who just need a computer and don't really care about performance, a great CPU for grandma's computer.


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## GoldenX (Oct 18, 2018)

So the Pentium is a 16% better while costing 66% more.
Nice little chip, too bad it's locked. Is still the perfect HTPC, with sucha low price, and better than any embedded Atom.


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## Vya Domus (Oct 18, 2018)

Too bad it's locked. And it's a dual-core...



randomUser said:


> It if wasn't for the production shortage on Intels side, G5400 would cost the same as 200GE



Highly doubt that, I never saw even the G4560 at MSRP.


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## catulitechup (Oct 18, 2018)

Great review

Sadly amd dont put more frecuency, at 3.5ghz or more will be more interesting

High tdp in tests


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## Assimilator (Oct 18, 2018)

randomUser said:


> Power consumption seems to be very high for 200GE.



In particular, the idle power is not great:







All the Vega APUs have relatively poor energy efficiency when "idle". @W1zzard is this maybe a driver issue, would you consider taking it up with AMD?


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## ShurikN (Oct 18, 2018)

It's ok, but nothing spectacular. If it was clocked at around 3.5GHz with this pricing, it would have been great.


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## W1zzard (Oct 18, 2018)

Assimilator said:


> All the Vega APUs have relatively poor energy efficiency when "idle"


The biggest part of that is not that CPU but the other components like motherboards and the GTX 1080 Ti (10 W in idle, for all systems).

The higher power draw compared to the non-APU Ryzens is because of the integrated graphics


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## phill (Oct 18, 2018)

Liked the review, but as the review mentioned, for a basic light task PC it's perfect.  Something for the children to do college work on or surf the net..  Not sure I'd like it for gaming on for 720P or something, but if it's locked and unable to overclock, then it's limiting itself to its ordinance.. (I hope I've spelt that right!)  

Bring back the AMD Thunderbird days


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## Supercrit (Oct 18, 2018)

If only it could support turbo that would sweeten the deal quite a bit.


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## Divide Overflow (Oct 18, 2018)

Kinda feels sad having my image of AMD's Athlon diluted by such a low tier part.


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## GoldenX (Oct 18, 2018)

Divide Overflow said:


> Kinda feels sad having my image of AMD's Athlon diluted by such a low tier part.


The AM1 Athlons were worse, like the Atom Pentiums.


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## kastriot (Oct 18, 2018)

If this cpu would sell together with nano atx custom mobo with soldered 4/8GB RAM @100$ it would be great value, but ofc that will never happen


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## R0H1T (Oct 18, 2018)

This chip could've killed everything under $100 if it was unlocked. But I guess AMD needs to sell 2200g & 2400g as well.


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## Mistral (Oct 18, 2018)

Bloody slow, but dat performance per $...


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## Salty_sandwich (Oct 18, 2018)

R0H1T said:


> This chip could've killed everything under $100 if it was unlocked. But I guess AMD needs to sell 2200g & 2400g as well.



Thing is, the people who are looking at this type of CPU for the system are not going to be the type who are into overclocking , so its a feature that's not really  needed for basic everyday computer tasks, which clearly this CPU is aimed at.

There are plenty of other cheap CPU choices to suit an overclockers needs, im guessing people who are really into overclocking their systems are more likely to buy a better CPU in the first place.

so for general computer need its a cheap all in one SoC

For example i could overclock the cpu i have using AMD overdrive but i don't need to, it still does what i need it to do, even today, and considering most people slag off an APU and would never recommend one to their gaming friends, its still a good little APU for what I need, and probs will be for quite some time yet.

not everyone needs the fastest, best PC in the world, and not everyone is into overclocking, ask ya granny when was the last time she benchmarked her PC and what the score was? and would she even give a sh!t ?
Convince her it will improve her chances at online bingo then you might get her attention.

It would be interesting to read How you younger lot are still bitching,braging best benchmarks and overclocking score when your in your 70's lol 

will you even be overcolcking? is the question.

well I can tell ya now, you wont give a monkeys about any of it.

 Tust Me.


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## Assimilator (Oct 18, 2018)

W1zzard said:


> The higher power draw compared to the non-APU Ryzens is because of the integrated graphics



I know that, but it's still higher than the Intel chips with iGPUs.


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## jabbadap (Oct 18, 2018)

How is video codecs support on these? I know intel igpus are good on those but how is vega?


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## mcraygsx (Oct 18, 2018)

I need to replace my Core 2 Duo X6800 along with nFORCE 570 SLIT-A motherboard which is still an excellent gaming machine when paired with GTX 1050 Ti. This seems like a good cheap alternative. Memory prices are the main reason I have not upgraded yet.


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## StrayKAT (Oct 18, 2018)

Is that the same GPU in the Hades' NUCs?

Sorry if this was said somewhere already.


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## W1zzard (Oct 18, 2018)

StrayKAT said:


> Is that the same GPU in the Hades' NUCs?
> 
> Sorry if this was said somewhere already.


It's not. Hades Canyon has 1536 shaders, this one has 192


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## StrayKAT (Oct 18, 2018)

W1zzard said:


> It's not. Hades Canyon has 1536 shaders, this one has 192



lol.. I should have seen that. Big difference.


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## Toss (Oct 18, 2018)

2 cores in 2k19 LUL


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## agello24 (Oct 18, 2018)

was thinking about buying one for my daughters athlon 5350 replacement. then i realized i can use my ryzen 5 1600. clock it down to 3.3ghz and turn off 4 cores.  that will give me the 35 watts im looking for.


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## FYFI13 (Oct 18, 2018)

Toss said:


> 2 cores in 2k19 LUL


4 threads for 60USD. I'm still using an i5 4570T in my HTPC and it's more than enough for this task, but back in a day it was much more expensive. Also, it's 2K18 FYI.


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## GoldenX (Oct 19, 2018)

Toss said:


> 2 cores in 2k19 LUL


Like any other Core based Pentium and Celeron.


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## carex (Oct 19, 2018)

$30 is enough for the kind of perf it gives...especially in single thread


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## mcraygsx (Oct 19, 2018)

Divide Overflow said:


> Kinda feels sad having my image of AMD's Athlon diluted by such a low tier part.



Same can be said for Intel's Pentium Brand.


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## GoldenX (Oct 19, 2018)

Yeah, the "Pentium Gold" brand is OK, it's just a cut down 2-cores 4-threads Core without AVX. But the "Pentium Silver", the quad core Atom... That's not nice.
Ah, case in point, this Athlon has AVX and AVX2, something no Pentium can say.


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## Kissamies (Oct 19, 2018)

Toss said:


> 2 cores in 2k19 LUL


4 threads like Pentiums, and more features.


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## TheGuruStud (Oct 19, 2018)

GoldenX said:


> The AM1 Athlons were worse, like the Atom Pentiums.



But they used almost no power when undervolted. These puppies are the same way. Rocking an OCed sempron in my NAS. Idk why, even 1.4 ghz is multiple times too fast.


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## GoldenX (Oct 19, 2018)

TheGuruStud said:


> But they used almost no power when undervolted. These puppies are the same way. Rocking an OCed sempron in my NAS. Idk why, even 1.4 ghz is multiple times too fast.


A quad Sempron or a dual one?


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## TheGuruStud (Oct 19, 2018)

GoldenX said:


> A quad Sempron or a dual one?



Quad


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## GoldenX (Oct 19, 2018)

TheGuruStud said:


> Quad


Never ever try the dual one.


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## TheGuruStud (Oct 19, 2018)

GoldenX said:


> Never ever try the dual one.


I had a FM2 dual core and it was plenty good, but ate power....wait, nvm, wad quad and I disabled two cores lol.


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## StrayKAT (Oct 19, 2018)

AMD should make little kits for something like this (NUC like or even Pi like).

Funnily tho, even the Pi (3) has 4 cores.


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## bogda (Oct 19, 2018)

Unless one is absolutely desperate for cache, it is definitely worth spending 45$ more and buying proper Ryzen 3 2200G. If you look at the total system price, you pay 10-15% more for the system but get 33% more performance and 100% improvement in gaming which makes gaming at 720p and sometimes 900p viable.


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## diatribe (Oct 19, 2018)

Vya Domus said:


> Too bad it's locked. And it's a dual-core...
> 
> 
> 
> Highly doubt that, I never saw even the G4560 at MSRP.



I bought one March 1st for $61.99 from Newegg.


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## Kissamies (Oct 19, 2018)

My G4560 was 73eur almost immediately when it was released.


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## GoldenX (Oct 19, 2018)

I managed to buy one G4560 at MRSP here, next week, it was a nice 50% higher.


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## GoldenX (Oct 25, 2018)

Shots fired.


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## GLD (Nov 7, 2018)

I bought a Athlon 200GE and paired it with a MSI B450M PRO-VHD, updated to latest bios. I connect it to the monitor in my system specs with hdmi. It will not let me get in to my bios pressing the delete key. It hangs saying out of range. Even on a clean boot, it doesn't show the post screen, just goes straight to Windows. Quite frustrating. I have a d-sub cable hanging off my monitor to swap out with the motherboards hdmi when I need to get in to my bios. More frustration. I did try different hdmi cables. Argh!

Edit: I knew it wasn't a power house APU (are any really). It is my low watt daily driver. It is great for the web, and what I bought it for. I don't burn up the juice surfing the web on my game rig, and I wouldn't want to put my gamer at risk of any questionable sites. I am happy with the build and the $ spent.


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## TheGuruStud (Nov 7, 2018)

GLD said:


> I bought a Athlon 200GE and paired it with a MSI B450M PRO-VHD, updated to latest bios. I connect it to the monitor in my system specs with hdmi. It will not let me get in to my bios pressing the delete key. It hangs saying out of range. Even on a clean boot, it doesn't show the post screen, just goes straight to Windows. Quite frustrating. I have a d-sub cable hanging off my monitor to swap out with the motherboards hdmi when I need to get in to my bios. More frustration. I did try different hdmi cables. Argh!



Is it an old monitor? I've seen early HDMI monitors do this even on high end vid cards. Although, perhaps that's a bug due to low resolution?


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## GLD (Nov 7, 2018)

TheGuruStud said:


> Is it an old monitor? I've seen early HDMI monitors do this even on high end vid cards. Although, perhaps that's a bug due to low resolution?



Its a new ASUS 75hz refresh 1080p freesync monitor. Game rig on it with display port. (shared monitor/keyboard/mouse)


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## TheGuruStud (Nov 7, 2018)

GLD said:


> Its a new ASUS 75hz refresh 1080p freesync monitor. Game rig on it with display port. (shared monitor/keyboard/mouse)



HDMI to DVI adapter worky in bios (I assume it has DVI)? Oh, I see MB has dvi, so I guess monitor doesn't.


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## GoldenX (Nov 7, 2018)

GLD said:


> I bought a Athlon 200GE and paired it with a MSI B450M PRO-VHD, updated to latest bios. I connect it to the monitor in my system specs with hdmi. It will not let me get in to my bios pressing the delete key. It hangs saying out of range. Even on a clean boot, it doesn't show the post screen, just goes straight to Windows. Quite frustrating. I have a d-sub cable hanging off my monitor to swap out with the motherboards hdmi when I need to get in to my bios. More frustration. I did try different hdmi cables. Argh!
> 
> Edit: I knew it wasn't a power house APU (are any really). It is my low watt daily driver. It is great for the web, and what I bought it for. I don't burn up the juice surfing the web on my game rig, and I wouldn't want to put my gamer at risk of any questionable sites. I am happy with the build and the $ spent.


Check your boot options, sometimes "fast boot" or "very fast boot" does that.


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## TheGuruStud (Nov 7, 2018)

GoldenX said:


> Check your boot options, sometimes "fast boot" or "very fast boot" does that.



Possible for sure.

And I just noticed...did he say he uses it for porn? LMAO. Brah, just use a VM loooooool.


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