AMD 5600G or Intel 12thgen DDR4 12100-12400

Hardware Build a PC
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Building the neighbors a new desktop. Decided to go just with last gen since no really major discounts on previous gen.
I can build a very similar machine in price using either 5600G/12100(cheapest-DDR4)/12400.

Is 12 gen stable enough at this point?
Or do people think i should go for a 5600G?

System is being used as a office/browser machine with maybe slight editing of pictures.
Both have their benefits of connectivity/GPU performance etc etc but the performance does not really matter , stability of the platform is more important.

Regards Ward.

Added list of current selection

AMD
5600G
16gb 2*8 3200DDR4 corsair ,(i could go less but already so cheap)
Gigabyte B550M- DS3H
SN WD 750 1TB

Intel
12100 (maybe 12400 , but i think it is overkill)
16gb 2*8 3200DDR4 corsair ,(i could go less but already so cheap)
Gigabyte B660M- DS3H DDR4
SN WD 750 1TB

PS And hello :slight_smile: new to these forums.

update : Final pick

5600G , A520 gigabyte S2H , 16gb(2*8) 3200 gskill , 400watt be quiet true power 11, CI-02B-OP chieftec , 512GB sn 570 WD , TP-Link Archer TX3000E

Went in the end for a 5600G build reasons:

-A520 board was only like 50-60euro vs the 100+euro H610 ones at the time of ordering , and then the H610 motherboard did barely offer more value in connectivity.

-The software stack on AMD side is surprisingly more intuitive than Intel. , very personal opinion ! AMD chipset drivers - well amd chipset drivers with lot of the board manufactures just using the ones directly from AMD , Intel felt like a mess of INTEL mangement firmware , Intel HID even filters etc

PS I avoided Asus in the end in all forms because they just repack drivers and threw their own version number on it, which just irritates me xD.

PSS : used a chieftec case which was like just 60 euro (no fan) but was very easy to build in. CI-02B-OP if anyone interested in a simple micro atx case.

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I’d say 16GB is a good point for PCs, every new windows version skyrockets ram usage and software uses more and more, 8 is no longer enough

5600G would be more rounded, it might be worth it to go with 3600mhz on it

The 12100 would probably be better ipc per watt and cheaper and the 12400 would probably have more CPU performance, but both will fall behind in GPU performance, which will be irrelevant for office use

On the Intel platform it’s gear 1 tops out at 3600, but that’s the top end I’d stick closer to 3400/3200 for compatibility

I’m gonna lean more towards the Intel build

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Welcome to the forum!

Stability, that’s a very normal thing to look for, but something I wasn’t expecting to be asked about. From what I see online, the Ryzen 5000s appear to still be a bit buggy in Windows 11, with the fTPM and other shenanigans that could impact the stability.

The 12th gen, on the other hand, is still pretty new, but I hear it’s been polished enough. I would say that in day to day use, especially for office stuff and web browsing, you will not notice a difference with either. However, if you, for some crazy reason, want to convert your neighbor to Linux and he’s ok with it, the Ryzen may be the better choice.

There is more performance on the table with the 5600G, because the 12100 is a quad core / 8 threaded CPU with no E cores, while the 5600G is a 6 core / 12 threaded CPU and has a better GPU. Again, probably won’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

I’ve used some mini-PCs with W11 with R5 5600G and they were performing well. I’d say that, because there may be some light photo editing involved, to go with the 5600G. It will give you enough power for multi-tasking.

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Vote for AMD here. Consider the 4600G instead: cheaper, not much performance loss, still 6c/12t like the 5600G. My desktop runs on a 4600G (recent swap over a R7 1700 (8c/16t)) which meant I could retire the ancient GT710 GPU I used. It’s plenty capable: 8-10 browser windows, each with an average of 8 tabs open, no latency. And enough spare power to play video* too. Mind, this is on Linux, Win-11 probably won’t allow you to have more then a singe browser window open anyway :stuck_out_tongue:

*actually, 2 video streams as well as a Google Earth instance. Ah yes, the benefits of multiple desktop windows you won’t find on, well, Win-OS :wink:

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I’d for for a mini PC for that. They often ship with lower power components and get the job more than done. I got my sister-in-law a Lenovo Thinkcentre M75q Gen2 and she’s really happy with it.

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Thx for all the feedback so far , I don’t think i can convince my old neighbors to spend time on learning Linux ;p (Also I am too novice too teach). It took them a few years to get used to a smartphone , and the entire point is to get them something they semi familiar with to do the administration for like the next 7+years.

@Exard3k , I looked into those , but sadly price/performance they kinda are disappointing for my area. But good idea!

@Dutch_Master Also here the price or deals for a new 4600G are disappointing ( 4600G 170-180euro vs 180-200euro 5600G), plus not available in local store which they would prefer all parts coming from :slight_smile:

Overall atm I am leaning towards the 12100 , a tiny bit better connectivity , enough performance , 50-60 euro cheaper , looking at bios/firmware updates the usual first wave has passed?

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CPU

From those listed, anything will do just nice performance wise - my grandma has an i5-10400, my mom has i5-4460 with a 1650, both are very happy with their computers, I use them on occasion (usually for help or maintenance) and can say the performance is perfectly adequate. One time I even played some Vampire Survivor on that 10400’s iGPU and it was just fine.

RAM

For the use case you mention, it depends on how much they multitask, how many open tabs and documents they have. My friend mentioned his father only does browser and MS Office, but the sheer amount of multitasking he’s doing forced him above 16 GiB of RAM (multiple tabs and documents kept open).

For AMD, do get a 3600 MT/s memory - the performance difference is just that big.

Wireless!

One important point to note, if they want WiFi or Bluetooth, you will definitely want to buy a motherboard with those integrated. The integrated wireless cards are almost always Intel, damn solid and the best PC BT around.

SSD

For the SSD, if you’re in Europe (as using Euros seems to suggest), I personally recommend Kioxia Exceria Gen1.

  • they’re dirt cheap: in Poland a 1 TB Exceria Gen1 costs 55% of that WD you selected, about 80 eur less
  • the performance of the drive doesn’t matter for this use case, as long as it is an NVMe with a normal amount of DRAM cache
  • Kioxia is the spun-out flash division of Toshiba, so it’s not a noname brand.
  • the drive does have a five-year warranty

Stability

Alder Lake came to market over half a year ago, so everything should be stable, especially for CPUs with only P cores.

Windows: 10 or 11

For now, I’d stay on Win10. Win11 is fresh and still evolving, while Windows 10 still has three years until EOL.

TPMs are expensive, and I’m not sure I trust fTPM. I don’t know about Intel side, but I’ve heard AMD can wipe out the encryption keys when doing a firmware update, and if you don’t have backup keys you can sometimes get screwed.

Assuming you are in Europe, let me remind you that buying used software keys is perfectly legal here. So you don’t pay 100eur for a Win10 license, but 15, maybe 20.

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Currently I would pick the following combo:

Part Component Price
CPU Ryzen 5 5600G €167
Memory TeamGroup T-Force Vulcan Z 2x8 GB DDR4-3600 CL18 €59
Motherboard Asrock A520M-ITX/ac €109
Storage Kioxia Excercia 1TB NVMe €75
Case In Win Chopin Pro €115
PSU 200W (Included in case) €0
Total €525

12400 costs slightly more than the 5600G, and while the 12100 is cheaper the A520 is enough to comfortably drive a 5600G and A520 is significantly cheaper than the B660, ergo, all savings are cancelled by the more expensive chipset. For a no upgrades machine this is the better option, and AMD is still more stable than Intel right now.

As Always, your money, your time, your decision. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Thx all for the input :slight_smile: , updated first post with the final pick.

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Solid picks overall, nice build! There are always improvements to make, of course, but should last for at least 3-5 years depending on use cases! :slight_smile:

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As far as video drivers goes Intel is by far better supported than AMD if you’re looking for stability especially on Linux/BSD

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