AMD Ryzen 7 8700G

1080p gaming with integrated graphics? Hell, yes

- CHRIS SZEWCZYK

IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T noticed, graphics cards are expensive, but AMD has a solution. Maybe. The Ryzen 8000-series APUs include the most powerful integrated graphics ever, and this Ryzen 7 8700G is the top chip of the lot. The basic idea? You won't need a graphics card for entry-level 1080p gaming.

This is the same Phoenix chip that first appeared in laptops about a year ago, and more recently in handheld gaming PCs. The latter application is intriguing. If Phoenix can deliver decent performance in a power-restricted handheld form factor, what is its fully unleashed potential in a desktop?

This $329 eight-core Ryzen 7 8700G with Radeon 780M graphics is joined by the $229 six-core Ryzen 5 8600G with 760M graphics, the $176 hybrid six-core Ryzen 5 8500G, and four-core 8300G. The latter two come with 740M graphics and a mix of Zen 4 and Zen 4c cores. It's a full range of CPUs, then. But can this rangetopper deliver on that 1080p promise?