Which budget AMD CPU is best for a basic home office PC?

Question

My current prebuilt Dell with this awful pentium processor is driving me absolutely insane. It takes like ten seconds just to open a basic Word document and if I try to run a Zoom call while having more than three Chrome tabs open the whole system just freezes up and I have to hard reboot. I am so done with this piece of junk, I literally want to throw it out the window at this point. I need to build a simple, reliable home office PC this weekend because I cant keep working like this.

Im looking at AMD because everyone says they have better value right now but I am totally lost with all their naming schemes. I have a really tight budget, trying to keep the CPU under 100 dollars if possible since the whole build needs to be under 400. I just need something that can handle everyday office tasks, tons of multitasking, and spreadsheet stuff without lagging.

Should I go with something like the Ryzen 5 4600G or is it worth stretching for the 5600G? What is the absolute best budget AMD CPU for just a basic home office setup that wont make me want to tear my hair out?

Zachh · Accepted Answer

Are you reusing the Dell storage? If buying all new, the AMD Ryzen 5 4600G 6-Core 12-Thread Desktop Processor with Radeon Graphics is a solid $75 pick that'll fit your budget.

journey_friend9425 · Answer

Jumped on PCPartPicker quick to check prices! You should compare these two:

AMD Ryzen 5 5600G 6-Core 12-Thread Desktop Processor - fantastic value, super reliable, handles multitasking like a beast.

AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT 6-Core 12-Thread Desktop Processor - slightly faster clock speeds, sometimes cheaper than the 5600G depending on sales! Check the PCPartPicker system builder to map out the rest of your budget, it makes avoiding compatibility issues so easy!

Warlock · Answer

Oh man, I totally feel your pain! Anything is going to feel like a literal rocket ship compared to that old Pentium. Honestly, you should definitely stretch just a tiny bit for the AMD Ryzen 5 5600G 6-Core 12-Thread Desktop Processor with Radeon Graphics if you can find it on sale. I built a budget office machine with it last year and it is absolutely fantastic! It handles like fifty Chrome tabs, Zoom, and heavy Excel sheets at the exact same time without even breaking a sweat. But hey, if you need to keep every single dollar in your pocket for the rest of the build, the AMD Ryzen 5 4600G 6-Core 12-Thread Desktop Processor with Radeon Graphics is still an amazing value and will easily do the job. Just make sure you get 16GB of RAM, that makes a massive difference for multitasking. You got this!