AMD Athlon 5350 And AM1 Platform Review: Kabini In A Socket

[jlwtech]

what i need is intel haswell processor + gtx 750 ti combine on a single SoC with TDP not more than 100W then i am set.

That would be an amazing combo. It'd be even more amazing if they included 8GB of DDR3 on-die.
Especially in a small, lightweight, chassis that I could mount to the back of my TV with a few zip ties, or something.
250GB Msata SSD. 4TB HDD or two. Built-in 802.11AC with external antennae's. Bluetooth. IR. 4k support. 3d and G-sync ready. Plus a few USB3.0 ports.
Perfect media machine, with optional gaming prowess. (for when I'm too lazy to go downstairs and fire-up my gaming rig)

 

[u6jPUQE]

The ASRock AM1H-ITX manual lists these 19v DC adapters as compatible, but I can't find these specific models available anywhere.

DELTA-ADP-90CD DBB
DELTA-ADP-90CD DBD
DELTA-ADP-65JH DBH
LITEON-PA-1900-36PK
LITEON-PA-1900-32P1

 

[tomfreak]

I'm a FAIL. Where is the test against the predecessor Bobcat? Multi-core test? single threaded test?

 

[damric]

Temperature readings. I seriously doubt you had sub 13'C ambient temperatures. Try using the motherboard software or AMD Overdrive next time.

Edit: No Cleeve, YOU ARE A FAIL. You can't even take constructive criticism. Instead you edit in: "I'm a FAIL"

But since you want to play that way, perhaps you should know that your reviews suck, as does your knowledge of PCs. To seriously think that you have a temperature of 13'C, lol, what kind of dumbass are you?

 

[Warpedxykee]

Why does this exist. Buy a tablet and play Angry Birds, this thing can't play any PC game of merit. If AMD is lucky they can sell some of these to Kindle readers....

 

[rdc85]

i'm planning to build a download only machine, will this be a viable solution? or should i go with a netbook?

I'm avoiding netbook. they are over priced, has low ram and slow hdd... go to mini pc will give u more flexibility..

U lose the battery (power backup) but i don't think it important (the batt tends to died/lower cap after couple years of usage anyways)

 

[scout62]

Newegg is running a deal right now for $99 if anyone wants to try these out on the cheap.

Cooler Master Elite 130 - Mini-ITX Computer Case with Mesh Front Panel and Water Cooling Support
bundled with:
1x AMD Sempron 3850 Kabini 1.3GHz Socket AM1 25W ...
1x ASRock AM1B-ITX AM1 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI Mini

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1594348

 

[AnEwG]

Why is a 850 W PSU is used to power these systems in this review?

 

[Calculatron]

At first, I was wary of such a step, but after thinking about it, I think it is a good market step.

A lot of my co-workers have smart phones of some variety, but when it comes to owning and using a desktop computer, only part of them are proficient. Even then, most people limit themselves to social networking and youtube.

Similarly, I went on a bus trip recently, and a friend let me borrow their crap-top, which was powered by a C-60 Processor (bobcat cores!). A dual-core 1.0 ghz processor. It had a really crappy harddrive, so boot-up times and opening certain applications could be miserable, but when surfing the web, listening to music, and looking at youtube videos, it was fine. (Don't a lot of newer phones have more powerful processors?)

So, while from an enthusiast perspective this may be a silly move, in reality this is pretty smart move, since it enables the same "enthusiast" access to beginning-to-mainstream users. Modern processors have more computing power than what people give them credit for. I know people who won't recommend anything below an Intel I5, but an I3 is more than capable for the average user and can serve the gamer quite well.

 

[__Miguel_]

Interesting read.

There's still something I don't get, though... Right now, I can get my hands on a Celeron G1610/1620 for under €40, and €40 will also get me a very basic LGA 1155 uATX board; €3 more gets me a G1820 and LGA 1150 board with HDMI out.

My point is, unless something very odd happens this time around (not likely), in Portugal we will get these AMD CPUs and motherboards at a 1:1 post-tax ratio, as usual. Which means that, for all intents and purposes, these CPUs and mobos will compete, pricewise, with MUCH faster (except maybe when it comes to games, though neither platform can really work too well with them, as seen in benchmarks here or on Anandtech) and upgradeable systems (both when talking about available CPUs and expansion). Sure, TDP is twice as much for my reference system, but we're still talking under 100W max total system power draw, and most likely well under 60W on normal tasks, so noise won't be an issue in any case.

At the end of the day, I'm just not sure if a buyer will go with an AM1 system... Which is a shame, because I do like AMD's approach, especially when it comes to heterogenous computing...

 

[chesterman]

Would they be a hit to make a media center pc?

 

[__Miguel_]

Would they be a hit to make a media center pc?

I have yet to see reviews focusing on HTPC duties, but as far as I can tell, the UVD block is still present, and it's slightly actually better than past generations.

Which means that it should perform really well. You might not have too many post-processing options, but it should be able to handle everything you can throw at it, short of h.265 and 10bit content.

 

[chesterman]

Would they be a hit to make a media center pc?

 

[cleeve]

Why is a 850 W PSU is used to power these systems in this review?

Because the system needs power in order to test it...

 

[iceman26]

i'm planning to build a download only machine, will this be a viable solution? or should i go with a netbook?

I'm avoiding netbook. they are over priced, has low ram and slow hdd... go to mini pc will give u more flexibility..

U lose the battery (power backup) but i don't think it important (the batt tends to died/lower cap after couple years of usage anyways)

thanks for the advice but here in the Philippines you can buy a used netbook for less than 120 dollars, but your right there are some people who sell a mini pc (atom single core) for 60-70 dollars

[/list]

 

[FuzzyIce]

Sounds like these APUs would be able to handle streaming videos and playing movies well without adding a dedicated GPU... Is AMD possibly trying to target/corner the HTPC market with this line?

I think so... and on top of that, there is also a market for home cloud through the use of cheap NAS. With the configuration I described for 99 dollars in US, it is just perfect for a FreeNAS using those four SATA ports in ZFS, in other words, software RAID that could relativelly grow up in time, when you reach the physical HD limits... just replace one of them for something bigger and let the system rebuild itself on it.
But if you want a nice HTPC, I would probably try to find something that could allow you to use a GPU to deliver at least 1920x1080 resolution, so you would have the equivalent to your TV High Definition.

 

[Eruanion Nolaquen]

As a worker in a public library, i can see using these for business use and public use, since our PC's are used primarily for internet browsing. If someone can offer a prebuilt system for @200, that would be cheaper than the 300-400 we normally spend, and, since most of my systems sit idle for hours, the low power usage is great. It'd save me money on both the front and back end. In an enterprise system with either preimaged computers, or thin clients, this would also be good, since it has enough power and memory to run most business applications. Specialized applications usually have specialist computers (imaging software at one company was run on a "desktop" server at the artists desk)

 

[AnEwG]

Why is a 850 W PSU is used to power these systems in this review?

Because the system needs power in order to test it...

Really? I thought they are low power consumption systems, I mean who would buy a 850 watt PSU to power any of these systems seriously. I just felt it was a strange decision to use a 850 w PSU in this review.

 

[logainofhades]

It is the same PSU they use in almost every review lately. Why have multiple PSU's if one will suffice? From a business standpoint, it is kinda silly to have a bunch of lower wattage ones on hand over one quality and very powerful one.

 

[TerryFawkes]

Something very wrong about the power measurements. A J1900 should be idling around 6 watts so around 10/11 watts for the entire board with ram/disks/etc . Your power supply is extremely inefficient at low power. I'd love to know th real power draw of the kabini with a pico psu or similar. Also the J1900 is fanless. Is this possible with the kabini.

 

[BulkZerker]

To Toms:

What was the ambient temperature during the testing ? Surely Toms is not testing in an refrigerator ? That idle GPU and CPU temperature at 13 degrees Celsius seems about 10 degrees too low, given that they have to be necessarily above ambient conditions to make physical sense. Perhaps the sensors are not read correctly (wrong offset) ?

On-die sensors are notoriously inaccurate at low temperatures. In this case that's obvious, but we can only report what the sensors tell us.

Here I figured it was a IR sensor pointed at the HSF base and this was just a delta above ambient reading.

Maybe next time Toms does any temp reading on low power systems they could test in a warmer room? 26-27* c perhaps?

 

[cd000]

Kabini seems quite able to satisfy a large portion of the non gaming public. Certainly good enough for Grandma's email and Facebook needs.

Thanks Scout62 for the heads up on that great deal!

 

[rdc85]

...thanks for the advice but here in the Philippines you can buy a used netbook for less than 120 dollars, but your right there are some people who sell a mini pc (atom single core) for 60-70 dollars ...

Avoid used laptop/net book if u can,
In my experience the used one usually will have battery and heat problems soon.. it a natural thing but heat problems may require u to disassemble the notebook and clean dust that collected inside the body, sometimes u will also need to replace the thermal pad/paste... (worse if the previous owner not do regular cleaning of the laptop/net book)

but if the price/deal is damn good and u not afraid for extra work in maintenance/cleaning then go ahead, just make sure u using cooling pads to helps improve the netbook/laptop lifetime .

 

[EdgeT]

i'm planning to build a download only machine, will this be a viable solution? or should i go with a netbook?

Yeah the performance is good enough. Even a single core Atom would be enough.

 

[Drejeck]

I'd like a game benchmark with a discrete GPU. does it support dual graphics?