News Headlines
- Mon, Aug 15
- Xotic PC introduces new line of gaming laptops powered by NVIDIA 10-series GPUs
- Affinix Software finally releases GBC RPG Infinity for free after 15 years
- PlayStation 4 firmware update 4.00 adds folders and an overhauled UI
- Final Fantasy XV delayed to November 29
- Fri, Aug 12
- Corsair and MSI team up to release liquid cooled GTX 1080 for $749
New Articles
Related Articles
The AMD Athlon and Sempron return... sort of! These new Athlon and Sempron parts (codenamed Kabini) are nothing like the ones of days past. These puppies sport an on-chip GPU (Radeon R3, Radeon HD 8400 graphics) making them APUs, AMD's System on Chip (SoC) innovation. It incorporates all of the I/O functionality that has traditionally been built into a separate south bridge chip, now in a brand new socket: the AM1.
AMD first released the Kabini last year as the quad core A4-5000,A6-5200 and the dual core E1-2100, E1-2500 , E2-3000. Kabini and it's sibling, Temash, by conventional definitions are the first System on Chip (SoC) released into the wild. These previously released Kabini APUs were designed for the laptop market while Temash was aimed at the tablet market. The new Kabini socket AM1 caters to the entry level desktop market and contains either 2 or 4 Jaguar cores depending on the model. As an aside, it may be interesting to note that both the Xbox One and the PS4 are powered by 8 Jaguar core chips from AMD.
In this review I be looking at the AMD Athlon 5350 APU and the new socket AM1 mini-ITX AM1I-A motherboard from Asus. Let's take a peek at the specs for both the Athlon 5350 and the ASUS AM1I-A.
These new Kabini chips represent a move to create an affordable, low cost desktop platform that can be had by anyone. With a MSRP of $54 for the Athlon 5300 and $60 for the ASUS AM1I-A motherboard, you could assemble an entry level computer for $300 to $400 depending on what you spend for a case, PSU, HDD, keyboard, monitor and maybe even speakers.
AMD Athlon 5350
|
CPU Cores |
4 “Jaguar” cores |
|
CPU Frequency |
2.05GHz |
|
GCN Radeon Cores |
128 |
|
GPU Frequency |
600MHz |
|
Memory |
DDR 3 1600MHz |
|
Total Cache |
2MB |
|
TDP |
25watt |
ASUS AM1I-A
|
CPU |
AMD Socket AM1 Athlon/Sempron Processors |
|
Chipset |
Build in AMD Sempron & Athlon-Series APUs |
|
Memory |
2 x DIMM, Max. 32GB, DDR3 1600/1333/1066 MHz Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory |
|
Graphics |
Integrated AMD Radeon R Series Graphics in the APU |
|
Expansion Slots |
1 x PCIe 2.0 x4 |
|
Storage |
2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), yellow |
|
LAN |
Realtek 8111GR, 1 x Gigabit LAN Controller(s) |
|
Audio |
Realtek ALC887-VD 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC |
|
USB Ports |
2 x USB 3.0/2.0 port(s) (2 at back panel, blue) 8 x USB 2.0/1.1 port(s) (4 at back panel, black, 4 at mid-board) |
|
Rear Panel I/O |
1 x PS/2 keyboard (purple) |
|
Internal I/O |
2 x USB 2.0 connector(s) support(s) additional 4 USB 2.0 port(s) |
|
BIOS |
64 Mb Flash ROM, UEFI AMI BIOS |
|
Form Factor |
Mini ITX Form Factor |
Specifications courtsey of ASUS https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AM1IA/specifications/
Article Index
|
|
I don't have the 5350 APU but i do have the A10-7850 x4 BE APU and for being integrated its a whole lot more powerful then you think it pulled 43fps on medium settings on Tomb Raider Survival Edition benchmark and that has to say something about its performance level, i mean the integrated solutions of the past you were lucky to have 15fps on the lowest settings on a really low resolution so the 5350 APU is going to be serious over kill for a tablet.
Also, I still say & my gut is telling me that AMD is going to pull something out of the hat and it wont be a wabbit, its going to be something that will link the APU into crossfire somehow or have the ability to enhance what hardware you already have, I mean I have the Radeon R7 250 and its dual graphics ready, it plays batman arkham city on ultra settings Dx11 at 32fps so its already powerful and i can't imagine linking the 7850 APU into the mix.