AMD Athlon Now Features Zen Cores – $55 US Athlon 200GE Announced, A Dual Core, 35W CPU With Vega 3 Graphics For Entry Level PCs

Today, AMD is announcing their first Athlon processor to feature the Zen core architecture, the Athlon 200GE. The iconic Athlon brand has been part of AMD's CPU family for as long as you can think and has been updated with their modern Zen cores in an entry-level package aiming at the budget tier.

AMD Athlon 200GE With Zen Cores Launched - 2 Cores, 4 Threads, Vega 3 Graphics, 35W TDP, and a $55 US Price

There has been little to no action in the sub-$100 US market for a while. The last processor we can think of that was aimed at this volume shipments market was the Ryzen 5 2200G which launched earlier this year but lower priced parts have been missing for a while. Well not anymore as AMD is now introducing their Athlon 200 series parts which will feature three SKUs. One SKU is launching today which is called the Athlon 200GE.

This is the most entry-level chip based on the Zen core architecture. It features 2 cores, 4 threads and when I say Zen core, I mean the 14nm FinFET based design and not the latest Zen+ revision that is based on the 12nm process node. The chip has a base clock of 3.20 GHz and comes with no boost clocks which is the tradition with recent Athlon series processors. It also doesn't feature any overclocking support.

The chip ships with 5 MB of L3 cache and the Radeon Vega 3 graphics engine which comprises of 3 CUs of 192 stream units. The Athlon 200GE will ship with a 35W TDP and feature a price of $55 US.

AMD Athlon 200GE Processor with Radeon Vega Graphics

The highly efficient “Zen” architecture helps the AMD Athlon 200GE processor stay cool and quiet for reliable computing experiences, while its “Zen” processor and graphics cores enable responsive PC performance and fluid experiences for games or HD movies.

In addition, the AMD Athlon 200GE processor is supported by the existing Socket AM4 infrastructure for a platform that delivers the latest PC features including DDR4 memory, NVMe storage, 4K display support, USB 3.1 Gen2 support, and that offers an easy upgrade path to even more performance with AMD Ryzen processors and discrete graphics cards.

The Athlon 200GE desktop processor offers: 

Up to 169 percent more responsive computing than AMD’s previous generation A6-9500E

Up to 67 percent more GPU performance and up to 2X greater power efficiency than the competition

Up to 84 percent faster high-definition PC gaming than the competition

There are two more models under the Zen-based Athlon family, the Athlon 220GE and the Athlon 240GE. There are no specifications listed for these parts but details and prices are expected to be disclosed in Q4 2018. All Athlon 200 series processors will be compatible with AM4 socket boards which start at $50 US and support features such as USB 3.1 Gen2, NVMe, DDR4 memory which does make for a compelling budget PC which is worthy for offices, casual gaming, and even Esports titles such as Overwatch and Fortnite.

amd ryzen 3 2200g fortnite

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Availability

The AMD Athlon 200GE processor will be available from global retailers and system integrators starting Sept. 18, 2018, and the Athlon 220GE and 240GE processor models are slated for launch in Q4 2018.

AMD Athlon Desktop Processors with Radeon Vega Graphics Spec

MODEL	CPU Cores	Threads	Processor Frequency	Graphics Compute Units [vii]	TDP (Watts)	SEP (USD)
Athlon 200GE	2	4	3.2GHz	3 (192 SPs)	35W	$55
Athlon 220GE	Details to be disclosed at availability in Q4 2018
Athlon 240GE	Details to be disclosed at availability in Q4 2018

Just wondering if this can run aaa games smoothly even with very low settings, because im having huge fps drop and stutter (not sure if its stutter or screen tear) in games like fortnite and apex legends (very low settings) which makes. Compare amd ryzen 3 2200g against other cpus using the compare dropdown above. The ryzen 3 2200g sits between ryzen 3 3200g and ryzen 3 1300x.

Do you think the new AMD Zen based Athlon CPUs are a great choice for budget PC builders?