Test Bed and Setup

As per our processor testing policy, we take a premium category motherboard suitable for the socket, and equip the system with a suitable amount of memory running at the manufacturer's maximum supported frequency. This is also typically run at JEDEC subtimings where possible. It is noted that some users are not keen on this policy, stating that sometimes the maximum supported frequency is quite low, or faster memory is available at a similar price, or that the JEDEC speeds can be prohibitive for performance. While these comments make sense, ultimately very few users apply memory profiles (either XMP or other) as they require interaction with the BIOS, and most users will fall back on JEDEC supported speeds - this includes home users as well as industry who might want to shave off a cent or two from the cost or stay within the margins set by the manufacturer. Where possible, we will extend out testing to include faster memory modules either at the same time as the review or a later date.

Test Setup
  AMD Intel Core
Processor Ryzen 5 2400G
Ryzen 3 2200G
A10-8750
A8-7870K
i7-8700
i3-8350K
i5-7400
i3-7350K
i3-7100
Motherboards MSI B350I
Pro AC
ASUS
A88X-Pro
ASRock
Z370 Gaming i7
GIGABYTE
X170 Gaming ECC
Cooling AMD Wraith Stealth Arctic Freezer 13 ICO Silverstone AR10-115XS
Power Supply Corsair AX760i PSU 
Memory G.Skill
TridentZ
2x8GB
DDR4-3200 
@ 2933
G.Skill
RipjawsX
2x8GB
DDR3-2133
Crucial
Ballistix
4x8GB
DR4-2666
G.Skill
RipjawsV
2x16GB
DDR4-2400
Video Drivers Ryzen APU: 17.7 beta
NVIDIA GT 1030: 388.52
Intel IGP: 15.60.2.4901
Hard Drive Crucial MX200 1TB
Optical Drive LG GH22NS50
Case Open Test Bed
Operating System Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

Many thanks to...

We must thank the following companies for kindly providing hardware for our multiple test beds. Some of this hardware is not in this test bed specifically, but is used in other testing.

 

Thank you to Crucial for providing us with MX200 SSDs. Crucial stepped up to the plate as our benchmark list grows larger with newer benchmarks and titles, and the 1TB MX200 units are strong performers. Based on Marvell's 88SS9189 controller and using Micron's 16nm 128Gbit MLC flash, these are 7mm high, 2.5-inch drives rated for 100K random read IOPs and 555/500 MB/s sequential read and write speeds. The 1TB models we are using here support TCG Opal 2.0 and IEEE-1667 (eDrive) encryption and have a 320TB rated endurance with a three-year warranty.

Further Reading: AnandTech's Crucial MX200 (250 GB, 500 GB & 1TB) Review

Thank you to Corsair for providing us with an AX1200i PSU. The AX1200i was the first power supply to offer digital control and management via Corsair's Link system, but under the hood it commands a 1200W rating at 50C with 80 PLUS Platinum certification. This allows for a minimum 89-92% efficiency at 115V and 90-94% at 230V. The AX1200i is completely modular, running the larger 200mm design, with a dual ball bearing 140mm fan to assist high-performance use. The AX1200i is designed to be a workhorse, with up to 8 PCIe connectors for suitable four-way GPU setups. The AX1200i also comes with a Zero RPM mode for the fan, which due to the design allows the fan to be switched off when the power supply is under 30% load.

Further Reading: AnandTech's Corsair AX1500i Power Supply Review

Thank you to G.Skill for providing us with memory. G.Skill has been a long-time supporter of AnandTech over the years, for testing beyond our CPU and motherboard memory reviews. We've reported on their high capacity and high-frequency kits, and every year at Computex G.Skill holds a world overclocking tournament with liquid nitrogen right on the show floor.

Further Reading: AnandTech's Memory Scaling on Haswell Review, with G.Skill DDR3-3000

Competition: AMD vs Intel, AMD vs AMD Benchmark Overview
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  • HStewart - Monday, February 12, 2018 - link

    I don't get the idea of desktops except if you want ultimate gaming PC - go with High End CPU a long with High End GPU. Otherwise go mobile. You can pretty much go that route unless you desired extreme top end performance

    If you primary into game get a Xbox One X or S and HDTV are cheap or PS 4,

    But lower end desktop PC - I see no need them for now. Times have changed
  • Lolimaster - Monday, February 12, 2018 - link

    If you wanna upgrade a laptop, be prepared for a bunch of cabling.

    Have 3-4 drives on mobile?
    Dedicated capture/sound card?
    Keep your thermals in check?
    Upgrade your cpu/apu whenever you like?
  • mikato - Saturday, February 17, 2018 - link

    To me laptops are annoying, and only convenient for basic tasks with their mobility. Otherwise they are slow, have a small screen, often don’t a have mouse, and no number pad on keyboard. As a result, typing is slower, pointing is slower, app speed is slower, and gaming performance is worse. With the smaller screen, juggling things, dragging files, etc is more difficult. I just can’t get stuff done as well on a laptop as a desktop.
  • oldschool_75 - Monday, February 12, 2018 - link

    Why do the Intel systems have 32 gigs of ram while the AMD systems only have 16?

    Also bulldozer was not 2 cores 4 threads, it was two modules with two cores sharing the modules so 4 cores.
  • Lolimaster - Monday, February 12, 2018 - link

    Why use 2933 memory?

    As far as i know AMD send 3200 CL14 Flare X to pretty much everyone for the sake of testing the gpu at 3200 CL14 !!!!
  • jjj - Monday, February 12, 2018 - link

    They use the frequencies officially supported , anything above that is OC and would fall into the OC section. It's debatable how right or wrong that is but that's what AT does.
  • Lolimaster - Monday, February 12, 2018 - link

    Guru3d got the reviewer's kit with 3200 cl14 flare-x as 100% of the techtoubers too.
  • ScottSoapbox - Monday, February 12, 2018 - link

    The number of typos in the first two sentences was enough for me to stop reading.
  • Lolimaster - Monday, February 12, 2018 - link

    The avrg l3 latency for non-APU multiple CCX Ryzen's was around 11-12ns, on the single CCX APU is aroun 9.5ns.

    Memory latency Ryzen
    91ns DDR4 2400
    77ns DDR4 3200

    2400G
    66ns DDR4 3200
  • Macpoedel - Monday, February 12, 2018 - link

    Good to see you started testing CPU's with maximum supported RAM speed instead of JEDEC frequency. These APU's would have really suffered if tested with 2133MHz DDR4 RAM.

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