Gaming Performance Re-Wa
For our testing, we will focus on the 1080p gameplay experience for every game. However, we will test at several different game quality preset settings, from Low to Medium, to High to Ultra as the performance demands. This will give us a clear picture of how the Ryzen 7 8700G and Ryzen 5 8600G up and down game quality settings. We will also turn on the highest quality mode of FSR upscaling in the games that support it, at each graphics setting. This means we will have several graphs, per-game, to show and we will divide them up in alphabetical order on each page as you go through the review.
Returnal
Returnal came out on the PC a year ago in 2023. This game on the PC is extremely demanding for these APUs, in fact, it requires FSR upscaling just to provide some sort of playable experience on the 8700G and 8600G. At “Low” quality preset the 8700G is 100% faster than the 5700G and the 8600G is 82% faster. The difference between the 8700G and 8600G is just 10%. FSR adds 32% more performance to the 8700G making it the only option really for playability.
There wasn’t much difference in performance moving to the “Medium” quality preset here, and so the same thing applies where you need FSR upscaling to make the 8700G playable, somewhat. The 8700G is 94% faster than the 5700G and the 8600G is 71% faster. The difference between the 8700G and 8600G is 14%. FSR adds 33% more performance.
At “High” quality, nothing is playable here, even with FSR upscaling. The 8700G is 114% faster than the 5700G and the 8600G is 86% faster. The difference between the 8700G and 8600G is 15%.
Starfield
Starfield came out in September of 2023, and above we are running the latest patch which improves several graphics features, patch 1.9.51.0. This game is demanding on these APUs, to say the least. Like Returnal, the only way this game is playable is with FSR upscaling, and even then it’s in the 40’s, and this is on the “Low” quality preset, so the lowest graphics settings. We have FSR upscaling set at 50% render resolution, so the image quality is quite low, and even with that, we are only hitting in the 40s in this game. The 8700G is 120% faster than the 5700G and the 8600G is 93% faster. The difference between the 8700G and 8600G is 14%. FSR adds about 42% more performance.
The Callisto Protocol
The Callisto Protocol came out at the end of 2022 and is a demanding game. This game is only playable on “Low” quality without upscaling on the 8700G and with FSR upscaling on the 8600G. The 8700G is 107% faster than the 5700G and the 8600G is 71% faster than the 5700G. The difference between the 8700G and 8600G is 21% in this game. FSR adds about 20% more performance.
This game becomes unplayable at “Medium” quality settings, the 8700G is the closest to playable only with FSR upscaling. The 8700G is 124% faster than the 5700G and the 8600G is 84% faster. The difference between the 8700G and 8600G is 22%. FSR adds about 24% more performance.
At “Ultra” settings the new APUs are quite bottlenecked, the 8700G is 160% faster than the 5700G and the 8600G is 100% faster. The difference between the 8700G and 8600G is 30%.
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction came out in early 2022 and is an easygoing game graphically, and does not support FSR upscaling. The 8700G and 8600G are very playable at “Low” quality settings in this game, above to provide above 60FPS. The 8700G is 105% faster than the 5700G and the 8600G is 79% faster. The difference between the 8700G and 8600G is 15%.
We jumped straight up to the “High” setting here, since the game performs so well. Even at “High” the 8700G and 8600G are still playable, whereas the 5700G is not. The 8700G is 106% faster than the 5700G and the 8600G is 78% faster. The difference between the 8700G and 8600G is 16%.
This game remains playable on the 8700G, while the 8600G starts to become not as playable at “Very High” quality preset. The 8700G is 115% faster than the 5700G and the 8600G is 85% faster. The difference between the 8700G and 8600G is 17%. 
Finally, in “Ultra” quality the game is unplayable on the 8600G, and iffy on the 8700G for this type of gameplay. The 8700G is 108% faster than the 5700G and the 8600G is 83% faster. The difference between the 8700G and 8600G is 14%.
Watch Dogs Legion
Watch Dogs Legion came out in 2020, but can still be graphically demanding at the higher quality levels, and supports ray tracing, this game is known for utiilzing high amounts of VRAM. This game is actually playable on the 8700G and 8600G at “Low” quality preset. The 8700G is 126% faster than the 5700G and the 8600G is 93% faster. The difference between the 8700G and 8600G is 17%. 
At “Medium” quality the 8600G becomes less playable, but the 8700G is actually still playable. The 8700G is 129% faster than the 5700G and the 8600G is 96% faster. The difference between the 8700G and 8600G is 17%. 
At “High” quality the 8600G is not playable, and the 8700G becomes more iffy. The 8700G is 124% faster than the 5700G and the 8600G is 90% faster. The difference between the 8700G and 8600G is 18%.
Generally, this game is unplayable at the “Very High” setting on these new APUs. The 8700G is 128% faster than the 5700G and the 8600G is 89% faster. The difference between the 8700G and 8600G is 21%.