How To Build A Gaming PC For Under $500 With AMD's New APUs
I think Jefferz linked the early benchmarks in some thread already, but I looked more closely today, and decided this processor is amazing:
https://www.anandtech.com/show/12425/marrying-vega-and-zen-the-amd-ryzen-5-2400g-review
http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/AMD-Ryzen-5-2400G-vs-AMD-Ryzen-5-1600X/m433194vs3920
The above is UserBenchmark's CPU comparison tool, of course, and while the 2400G will get a little bit out of its superior graphics processing in their benchmarks, the boost is nominal, since everything about their CPU benchmark suite is for the purpose of comparing CPUs to CPUs. Just look at that! It performs only ~20% worse than the R5-1600X, and ~15% worse than the R5-1600. It trails by a mere 4% in single core performance as it is tuned to 3.9GHz which is already close to the ceiling for Ryzen. You could add a budget ~$30 cooler, but from the reviews I've perused, it doesn't look worth it, especially since the R5-2400G comes bundled with the Wraith cooler:
http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/amd-ryzen-5-2400g-review,34.html
Additionally, this onboard GPU is more powerful than the discrete RX 550. Thus, MMO/F2P-class gaming is now under $500 again. In fact, the $400 range is achievable if you really stretch your dollars, and drop Windows (going Linux, such as
Dota or
CS:GO gamers might go, or installing it yourself from another source). This build doesn't include an SSD, but you could opt for a 250GB SSD instead of the 1TB HDD for ~$30 more:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Jb8FfH
The R5-2400G will also max
League of Legends in Ultra 1080p to the 144Hz ceiling. Normally, I'd balk at even offering a comparison with a crappy GT 130 in it, since those are such a terrible value and offer so little for their cost over the onboard GPUs, but first, we're talking about the
baseline possible price in a viable gaming PC, and second, even if we weren't, the fact that the typical mainstream discrete GPUs are starting at $150 or more these days when normally they start around $80-$90 means even in terms of value the GT 130 is a relevant GPU for comparison in this market moment. A GTX 1050 or even an RX 550(!) will cost you nearly as much as the R5-2400G itself.
I also want to point out that the R5-2400G can be expected to enjoy longer relevance as a gaming CPU than the Pentium due to the fact it is quad core, not dual core, and can multi-thread, so it has a lot of power left in the tank despite its single thread performance disadvantage.