I built a Ryzen 5 2400G HTPC – because Ryzen 5 2400G was “making news” and I wanted to try one. This is a summary of how it turned out.

I’m not selling these and I’m not saying anyone else would be happy with a system like I built.

My goal was a cheap system (under $500) that played high end games smoothly to my eyes – also for watching TV on-line in my basement work area. Total cost of everything listed below including W10: $443.

Overall, my subjective goals for a cheap, “adequate” (not average, not great) gaming system were met.

Components:

Ryzen 5 2400G APU, Gigabyte B350 Gaming 3 micro-ATX motherboard, Corsair DDR4 3200MHz 8GB, Seagate 1TB hard drive, Corsair CX430 430W PSU, Rosewill SRM-01 case, Rosewill silent case fan, Windows 10 Home Premium 64bit.


Problems Along the Way:

I needed to use my Ryzen 7 1800X to flash the motherboard BIOS to accept Ryzen 5 2400G. Any older socket AM4 CPU would do the flash job, I’ve read -- AMD also provides a flash kit, if one asks. Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 would not install using the latest BIOS (Linux and W10 did install).

Overclocking:

Memory clocked to its rated 3200MHz and timings simply by clicking X.M.P. in BIOS. CPU overclocked to 4GHz all cores all the time simply by setting the multiplier in BIOS. I did not OC the GPU portion -- however, articles say its easy. The standard cooling does not support long time stress tests at 4GHz.

Game Tests:

I ran the tests on well known games I play. Resolution at 1080p and all games graphical settings to maximum/ultra (except X-Plane). Other exceptions were AA 0 and AF 8 because I always use those numbers.

I go by what I see with my eyes. What looks smooth and playable to me won’t satisfy those who value high measured FPS. Also, the numbers are for the game areas I played.

Diablo III: Played smooth at ultra settings. No FPS number available.

Grim Dawn: Played smooth at ultra settings. FPS varied 25 to 40 usually.

Fallout 4: Played smooth at ultra settings. FPS above 20 but low 20s in slow spots.

Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition: Played smooth at ultra settings. FPS usually above 50, sometimes in 40s.

X-Plane 11: Played smooth at minimum settings – over 30FPS. Also played smooth at high detail, very low texture setting – over 20FPS.

The pictures attached don't show much -- just "black on black".

Looks excellent to me. I'm jealous.!

I shopped sale-pricing much more than usual. Usually, I buy everything at Amazon and Newegg -- at their sale-prices. This time I Googled and looked for lowest prices.

Some items were bought a while ago -- when on a good sale. Since I build a lot of stuff, I pre-buy components on good sales and put them on the shelf (literally).

For example, the attachment shows the Newegg invoice for 3 PSUs bought in 2014 (one of which got used in this system). Note the average price of each is under $40. Plus, I got rebates on all of them -- probably $10 each or I wouldn't have bothered. The one I used probably was under $25 -- maybe $20, but I couldn't get the price I paid or proof of the rebate (only the price for the 3); so, I used $30 towards the $443 (i.e. probably cost less than $443).

i was going to upgrade to a rysen but a saw a lot of posts like yours, that the mobo needed a previous cpu in order to unlock it for the rysen, who has a spare cpu if you are building a system.....that is ridiculous

Agree. The warning applies ONLY to R5 2400G and 2200G APU models. All Ryzen 1000 series CPUs work with all the motherboards. The rest of the 2000 series arrives around April 19. I imagine the 2000 series CPU versions will work with any AM4 motherboard BIOS. The APUs needed a special BIOS to account for the built in RXVega GPU.

Last I read, the motherboard I picked is now being sold at some sites with the NEW BIOS for the APU.

Meantime, this system has not disappointed. Its 4C/8T CPU part is on a par with last year's Intel CPU and beats older generations -- at same frequency, cores, threads -- based on my limited testing. As noted above, mine runs at 4.0GHz base frequency (a mild OC requiring no voltage changes).

This APU is really part of the new "2000" generation. It's really supposed to be used with the "new motherboards" -- which add some performance, it is said. Those should all have the right BIOS out of the BOX. Arriving April 19.

Meantime, I'm about finished with my wife's new Ryzen 5 1600X system. Got the CPU and other parts on sale (e.g. very nice $100 gaming case $19.97 delivered). Full up ASUS gaming MB. Runs at 4.0Ghz all cores all the time with 16GB 3200MHz DDR4 and matches the per core performance of my 1800X. I've not tried OC higher -- 4.0Ghz has a "nice ring to it" and requires no manual voltage boost

At current prices, I won't be upgrading my wife's GPU card (HD7970). Works for the games she plays.