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AMD Ryzen 5 3400G Review: First-Gen Zen Gets Refreshed

Zen and Vega go for round two.

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AMD Ryzen 5 3400G
(Image: © AMD)

Test Notes

All third-gen Ryzen entries with "PBO" indicate an auto-overclocked configuration with DDR4-3600 memory, while the Ryzen 5 3400G has an 4.2 GHz all-core overclock paired with DDR4-3466 memory and a 1700 MHz graphics clock. Intel's overclocked configurations use DDR4-3600. 

We tested the integrated graphics engine at 1080p and 720p gaming, along with putting the chips through our standardized suite of discrete GPU testing. It should go without saying, but the integrated graphics testing is far more impactful for this class of processor. We only included the Core i3-9100 in our integrated graphics testing, but rest assured: You can expect similar performance from other Intel chips that come with the same UHD Graphics 630 engine.  

Civilization VI Graphics Test

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Civilization VI benefits from higher clock rates and per-core performance when you're using a discrete graphics card, but the faster clocks do little for Intel's Core i3-9100 due to its underwhelming UHD 630 graphics engine. Here we see the i3-9100 trail far behind the other processors in both 1920x1080 and 1280x720 resolutions. 

The Ryzen 5 3400G dishes out solid performance at stock settings, and the $99 Ryzen 3 3200G is also surprisingly agile given its lesser allotment of 8 CUs. 

Dota 2

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We tested Dota 2 with the 'best-looking' preset at both 1080p and 720p resolutions, and the Ryzen 5 3400G easily took the crown with a smooth gaming experience. The Core i3-9100 delivered unplayable performance at a 1080p resolution, but its 34 fps looks passable in the 720p tests. However, we encountered regular hitching during our test sequence, while the Ryzen APUs soldiered on with smooth gaming performance. 

Far Cry 5 

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Most people wouldn't expect to be able to play a newer title like Far Cry 5 on integrated graphics, but the Ryzen APUs handled the 720p round of tests quite well, albeit with dialed-back settings. Our 1080p sequence of tests weren't quite as impressive, but the game was playable after overclocking. You also have the room to step back to a lower quality preset to unlock a few more fps. 

World of Tanks enCore

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The World of Tanks Encore benchmark also runs surprisingly well on the Ryzen APUs, with frame rates easily passing 60 fps during the 1080p tests. Switching over to the lighter presets exposed several hundred fps of performance from the Ryzen processors and 100+ fps the Intel Core i3-9100, but an unexplained issue with our data charts prevented us from charting out those results. Meanwhile, the Core i3-9100 struggled once again at 1080p and fell into unplayable territory.  

Discrete GPU Testing 

Gaming with a discrete graphics card almost defeats the purpose of a chip of this class, but we did put the processors through our standardized game suite. You'll find those results below, which show the Ryzen 3000-series APUs trailing Intel's processors in most of the graphics-intensive benchmarks. Notably, the Ryzen 5 3400G trades blows with the Core i3-9100 in many tests, particularly after overclocking, but the former pulls out a few big leads. However, be aware that these deltas will shrink appreciably with the lower-cost gaming cards we'd expect to find in a budget gaming system. 

VRMark and 3DMark

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Civilization VI AI and Stockfish

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Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation

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Civilization VI Graphics Test

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Dawn of War III

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Far Cry 5 

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Final Fantasy XV

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Hitman 2

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Project Cars 2

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World of Tanks enCore

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21 Comments Comment from the forums
  • yeti_yeti 31 January 2020 22:33
    i3-9350K on top in pretty much all of the gaming tests with a discrete gpu? From what I have seen, it is considered a terrible purchase at its MSRP. Didn't expect to see it perform this well in this review.
    Reply
  • alextheblue 01 February 2020 01:06
    yeti_yeti said:
    i3-9350K on top in pretty much all of the gaming tests with a discrete gpu? From what I have seen, it is considered a terrible purchase at its MSRP. Didn't expect to see it perform this well in this review.
    Yeah these are only a decent buy if you're looking for something with a strong iGPU. Even then, these are stopgaps until the Zen 2 powered APUs hit - although that might be a while, since they're wisely targeting mobile first. They've also been around for a while now, so it's not like a hot new release.
    Reply
  • Darkbreeze 01 February 2020 01:20
    alextheblue said:
    Yeah these are only a decent buy if you're looking for something with a strong iGPU. Even then, these are stopgaps until the Zen 2 powered APUs hit - although that might be a while, since they're wisely targeting mobile first. They've also been around for a while now, so it's not like a hot new release.

    Which is exactly what makes it surprising that we're seeing a review of it at this late date. But I guess ANY review of actual hardware is a good thing. Better than another "this is on sale" or "check out these deals" piece of clutter.
    Reply
  • domih 01 February 2020 02:46
    I happen to have i5 9600K, R5 3400g, R3 3200g as generic Linux servers.

    Using InfiniBand FDR (56Gbps) translating into theoretical max ~48Gbe for IPoIB (Internet over InfiniBand) I get the following the iperf3 results:

    44.5 Gbits/sec for the i5 9600K ($243 on NewEgg) on ASRock Z390M-ITX-ac, 32GB mem @ 3200.
    46.1 Gbits/sec for the R3 3200g ($95 on NewEgg) on ASRock B450M Pro4, 32GB mem @ 3200.
    46.5 Gbits/sec for the R5 3400g ($150 on NewEgg) on ASRock B450M Pro4, 32GB mem @ 3200.
    Kind of statistically similar with a 4% advantage to the R5 3400g over the i5 9600K.
    So while the i5 9600K has 6C/6T, the R5 3400g with 4C/8T can rival the i5 9600K in specific tasks.

    Network cards: Mellanox ConnectX-3 VPI MCX354A-FCBT (about $50 on eBay)
    Switch: Mellanox InfiniBand SX6790 (about $200 on eBay)
    Cables: Mellanox QSFP+ DAC or AOC (for about $25 to $90 unit depending on type or length on eBay)

    CONCLUSION: If you want a fast 40Gbe NAS (SMB IPoIB, NFS IPoIB or RDMA) you must go with recent hardware BUT you do not need to spend thousands of $$$.

    OTHER CONCLUSION: I can hardly wait for the R5 4400g.
    Reply
  • linuxdude 01 February 2020 08:35
    I don't get it - the 3400G has been released to market over a year ago - why review it now?
    Reply
  • Nick_C 01 February 2020 12:42
    linuxdude said:
    I don't get it - the 3400G has been released to market over a year ago - why review it now?
    Planting a "refreshed AMD APUs aren't that much better than the older version" message in the readers' consciousness might me seen as an attempt to detract a little from the upcoming release of the 4000 series APUs - which are expected to be rather good....
    Reply
  • piquard4567 01 February 2020 19:33
    is it true that due to the quirks of on chip memory bandwith, an overclocked R3 3200G pretty much matches an overclocked R5 3400G in integrated gaming performance? is that why AMD WON'T LET BIG REVIEWERS PIT OVERCLOCKED R3 APUs AGAINST R5 APUs?

    please, for us budget gamers out here, will you PLEASE TEST AN OVERCLOCKED RYZEN 3 APU!!!!
    Reply
  • piquard4567 01 February 2020 19:53
    WHAT'S GOING ON WITH TOM'S HARDWARE'S REVIEWS?

    The whole freaking point of these APUs in this class of processors is all about gaming on the built in graphics, without having to buy an additional graphics card. So, what does Tom's do?

    This is what they do: they only give us just a few games on the iGPU. And then proceed to bore us to tears with a ton of predictable ray tracing and compression and encoding benchmarks. What, a 6c/12t will smoke a 4c/4t in Handbrake?!?! COLOR ME SHOCKED :eek:

    at LEAST run the same tests on the iGPU as you did on discrete cards.
    Reply
  • piquard4567 01 February 2020 21:28
    please fix your POV-RAY Single Core charts already!

    you are using different versions of POV-RAY without noting it, which is a no-no in benchmarking
    Reply
  • bit_user 01 February 2020 21:36
    Darkbreeze said:
    Which is exactly what makes it surprising that we're seeing a review of it at this late date.
    Exactly. Seeing this review, with no apparent acknowledgement of its lateness, sent my head spinning.

    As I thought, it seems the Ryzen 5 3400 G has been available since July, 2019. Retail boxed, no less.

    https://pcpartpicker.com/product/XP6qqs/amd-ryzen-5-3400g-37-ghz-quad-core-processor-yd3400c5fhbox?history_days=365
    Reply