I'm planning a budget gaming PC with a Ryzen 5 8600G, MSI PRO B650M-A WIFI motherboard, 1TB Gen4 NVMe SSD, and a 550W Cooler Master Bronze power supply. I can currently afford only one 8GB DDR5-5600 or 6000 stick, but I'd add a second stick later. Would this setup handle 720p gaming reasonably well, or would I be better off switching to an AM4 build with a Ryzen 5 5600 and Radeon RX 6600 for about the same price?
3 Answers
It can run games at 720p, but the integrated Radeon 760M is the main limitation. Expect to use low settings in demanding games, and don’t assume high settings or consistently high frame rates. The 8600G’s CPU performance is also closer to a Ryzen 5 5600 than to faster chips such as the Ryzen 5 7600 or 7500F.
If the AM4 Ryzen 5 5600 plus RX 6600 costs about the same, that would be the much better gaming choice right now. The dedicated GPU is substantially faster than the 8600G’s integrated graphics and includes its own VRAM. The AM5 build gives you a newer upgrade platform, but you’d need to add the second memory stick soon and may still want a dedicated GPU later.
The single 8GB stick is a major problem. The integrated graphics use system memory, so single-channel RAM can significantly reduce performance, and 8GB is barely enough once the operating system and game are sharing it. Use two matching sticks, ideally 2x8GB at a minimum, though 2x16GB would be more comfortable.
I’m mainly considering AM5 because I hoped it would be more future-proof, but DDR5 is taking a large part of the budget. The RX 6600 build seems stronger for gaming at the same price.