Amd Processor Choice

search4f

I'm very confused by the ryzen 7 and 5. i understand the 7 is older but hsas more cores?
i can buy a 7 2700x or a 5 3400g for similar money.
what more important the 5 or 7 or the clock speed?
thanks

TSNickW

@search4f That is a great question. The 5/7 is really just a name. If you are looking at these 2 cpu(s) specifically the 2700x will perform much better, but it would require a graphics card. If you are starting out and don't have a graphics card the 3400g will be a great budget gaming CPU. The specs I would look at for gaming is going to be core count (4 is the sweet spot) and clock speed.

If you are using this for someone other than gaming other things can be equally if not more important.

If you really want a Ryzen 7, but are worried that its last gen you can look at the Ryzen 7 3700x or 3800x.
https://www.microcenter.com/product/608318/amd-ryzen-7-3700x-36ghz-8-core-am4-boxed-processor-with-wraith-prism-cooler
https://www.microcenter.com/product/608317/amd-ryzen-7-3800x-39ghz-8-core-am4-boxed-processor-with-wraith-prism-cooler

PowerSpec_MichaelB

To add to this, the 3400G can be pretty tricky based on it's name. Despite it being a 3400G, it's actually based on the Ryzen 2000 series processors 12nm Zen+ architecture: https://www.amd.com/en/products/apu/amd-ryzen-5-3400g. The Ryzen 3 3200G is the same way. The other Ryzen 3000 series CPU's are using the new 7nm Zen 2 architecture: https://www.amd.com/en/products/cpu/amd-ryzen-7-3700x.

In summary, the 3200G and 3400G are actually based on the Ryzen 2000 series, and should offer identical performance while including integrated graphics. The other Ryzen 3000 CPU's (Non-G) should perform faster but do not offer integrated graphics. Hope this helps.