Power Consumption
The Ryzen 5 3400G is a 4c/8t CPU using a 12nm FinFET process with a TDP of 65watts. As a result, it’s relatively efficient. I will say that the efficiency numbers you will see are going to be excessively high compared to other reviews out there for this CPU. I’m using an MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE and as a result, it uses a ton of power. AMD’s X570 motherboards are not known for their power efficiency, so the numbers here will reflect that. Still, it is the same motherboard all the other Ryzen CPUs we’ve tested were used with so on that front, the numbers will be comparable.
It is a similar situation for the Intel Core i5 9400, which was tested using the Maximus XI APEX. As a result, it too is running on a platform that represents a potential worst-case scenario for power consumption. However, the main reason these types of motherboards are used is to take VRM limitations out of the equation when pushing the performance of these CPUs. That said, the two motherboards are built very differently and the AMD platform is more power-hungry given its chipset and the increased amount of integrated hardware compared to the comparatively stripped ASUS Maximus XI APEX board.
Power Consumption Stock
Interestingly, we can see that the 3600X is actually slightly more efficient at load than the 3400G is. The reason for this almost certainly comes down to the Ryzen 3600X being based on a 7nm process and not having an APU using at least some power. The difference isn’t enormous by any standard. However, this is in a multi-threaded workload. At first glance while idle, the Core i5 9400 and AMD Ryzen 5 3400G use the same amount of power. Of course, this isn’t entirely true as the MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE likely uses more power than the Maximus XI APEX. However, overall power draw is virtually identical in these configurations.
Power Consumption – Overclocked
As you can see, the Ryzen 5 3400G is extremely efficient compared to other CPU’s we’ve tested here. The Core i5 9400 wasn’t overclocked for this review, and as such, no results for it are provided here. This was an oversight on my part, which I will correct in the future. I am not too concerned for direct power comparisons here for the simple reason that actual power figures are hard to obtain for a specific motherboard and I do not have a Z390 motherboard that would pull anywhere near as much power as the beastly MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE.
While AMD’s 3000 series are certainly relatively efficient power-wise Intel has the more efficient motherboard platform as its chipset’s published TDP specs are less than half AMD’s X570. Of course, even that has to be taken with a grain of salt as TDP measurement methods may differ between the two companies.