Ryzen 8600G vs 8700G: Which APU Fits a PC Without a Graphics Card?

Decide whether integrated graphics are the finished build

A small desktop with no room for a graphics card gives the 8700G a clear purpose: its Radeon 780M is the graphics hardware you will keep using. A larger tower awaiting a graphics-card purchase presents a different spending decision. Money invested in the APU’s stronger graphics today does not expand the connection available to that future card.

For the first build, compare the 8600G and 8700G after setting aside enough for memory, storage and a suitable motherboard. For the second, also price a conventional Ryzen CPU and the planned card. Both APUs arrived in 2024. This is a configuration comparison using specifications checked on October 30, 2026, and the identified 2024 benchmark tests below.

My default choice is the 8600G when the budget is tight. I would move to the 8700G for additional performance in a PC staying on integrated graphics, provided the upgrade does not force a poorer memory configuration.

What the 8700G premium changes

AMD’s 8600G specification and 8700G specification show additional CPU and GPU resources, with the same L3 capacity.

The compute-unit increase is 50%. Games also depend on the CPU and the memory supplying the integrated GPU with data, so that does not establish the frame-rate increase.

Additional CPU cores give the 8700G another reason to exist in a mixed-use machine. Windows Central’s CPU-focused tests placed the 8600G roughly 20–30% below the 8700G. A workload using multiple CPU cores, such as CPU rendering, makes that difference more relevant than ordinary browsing does. Those CPU results are a separate comparison from game performance.

Read the gaming gap with the memory settings attached

In Tom’s Hardware’s 1080p aggregate, the stock 8700G was about 10% faster than the stock 8600G. Its test setup used DDR5-5200 for stock results. The stronger chip leads, but its larger GPU does not translate into a 50% gaming advantage.

The practical question is whether that extra performance matters at your chosen settings. If the cheaper APU already meets your target, the premium has less value. If the PC cannot take a card and you want every available increment, the 8700G becomes more attractive. An aggregate does not establish the difference in a particular game, so applying a flat 10% deduction to predict every 8600G frame rate would be misleading.

For context, TechSpot measured the 8700G at 1080p low settings with 32GB of DDR5-6400 CL32. Its 2024 results included 49fps in Baldur’s Gate 3, 119fps in Counter-Strike 2 and 41fps in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty. APU gaming spans very different performance levels, even before comparing processors.

Also check upscaling. PC Gamer’s 1080p examples include FSR. The output resolution alone does not tell you the internal rendering resolution or image quality. A result using upscaling answers a different settings question from a native-resolution result.

Fund the memory configuration before the CPU upgrade

For a fresh gaming build, I would start the parts list with a 32GB kit containing two 16GB modules. This is a build recommendation, not an AMD minimum requirement. It budgets for a shared pool serving the operating system, game and integrated GPU, while using both memory channels.

Keep capacity and speed as separate choices. AMD lists DDR5-5200 with two DIMMs for both processors, falling to DDR5-3600 with four. EXPO settings such as 6000 or 6400 exceed those official speeds. Buying a kit carrying a faster rating does not establish that a particular CPU, motherboard and firmware combination will run it stably.

TechSpot’s memory testing illustrates why this belongs in the purchase decision: moving its 8700G from 6400 to 5200 reduced performance by 15% in Fortnite, 8% in F1 2023 and 22% in Spider-Man Remastered. Moving to 7200 did not improve every game. These results describe its configuration.

I would therefore preserve the two-module configuration and sufficient capacity, then choose an affordable supported EXPO kit if tuning is part of the plan. That is different from spending indiscriminately on the highest advertised memory speed. Nor can the memory percentages above be subtracted from another publication’s CPU comparison to invent a measured CPU-versus-RAM upgrade result.

A BIOS memory-reservation setting is another matter. AMD’s UMA guidance recommends Auto for most workloads and discusses manual adjustment for particular texture or graphics-memory detection problems. Reserving more RAM does not add compute units or increase memory bandwidth.

Check the physical parts that make the small PC usable

Before paying for the faster APU, verify that the motherboard has the video outputs your monitors need. A processor’s display specification is not a list of connectors guaranteed on every board. Likewise, a USB-C socket alone establishes neither a second display output nor USB4 support.

As a concrete specification-reading example, the ASRock A620I Lightning WiFi lists one HDMI output and a rear 10Gbps USB-C port. ASRock marks that board as discontinued in April 2025, so this is an example rather than a current new-build recommendation. The important purchase question is whether the particular board supplies your required connections.

Cooling can change the total as well. PC Gamer’s boxed-parts table lists a Wraith Stealth for the 8600G and a Wraith Spire for the 8700G. Check what the actual listing includes and compare cooler height with the case clearance. A replacement cooler needed to fit the case belongs in the upgrade cost. The shared 65W TDP specification is not a measurement of complete-PC power or noise.

The 8700G does not buy a wider future graphics connection

Both APUs connect a discrete graphics card through PCIe 4.0 x8. ASRock’s CPU-dependent bandwidth table distinguishes the Phoenix 1 configuration from CPUs providing wider links. A physically long x16 slot does not establish the active lane count with every processor.

The impact of that link depends on the card and workload. The 8700G premium leaves this expansion condition unchanged, so buy its extra integrated-graphics and CPU resources because you expect to use them.

If a discrete card purchase is already planned and the immediate need is simply a working display, compare conventional Ryzen builds too. Conversely, if the chosen enclosure cannot take a card, a graphics-card upgrade is not the same escape route. The permanent APU build and the staged tower deserve separate budgets.

Compare the complete-build premium

Hold the motherboard, memory, storage, case and power supply constant when comparing quotes. Add any cooler change. Then calculate both the CPU premium and the increase in the completed PC’s cost.

For example, if the cheaper CPU accounts for one-third of the starting build cost, a 30% CPU premium raises the whole build by 10%, assuming every other part stays the same. This is an illustrative calculation. A matching 10% benchmark gap would still not prove equal value for your games and applications.

When the CPU upgrade leaves too little for the memory kit, I would keep the 8600G. With the same two-module configuration funded, the 8700G is a reasonable way to buy extra performance in a PC intended to stay without a graphics card.