AMD Kabini 5350 APU Review: Pure budget

AMD Kabini 5350 APU detailed review

Kabini is AMD's answer to Intel's Bay Trail. Both are aimed at the low power desktop computing segment. The processor we received was the Athlon 5350 which is a 4 core APU based on the Jaguar architecture. AMD has the potential of livening up the segment if it carries on with the same socket, targeting the budget segment. This is part of the AMD R3 line. OpenGL benchmark LuxMark gave a score of 108 when just the IGP was run and 128 when run along with the CPU. This puts the 5350 behind mainstream desktop processor IGPs but we can't comment on how it stands against Bay Trail since we haven't received a test unit from Intel. This processor isn't about gaming, forget full HD gaming altogether when you even think of SoCs but when you switch off AA and bring the details a little lower you can manage with the top end games out today at a resolution of 1024x1280 or lower.
 
Processing performance of the 5350 puts it slightly ahead of the AMD A6-5200 which also has a 25W TDP. The main advantage AMD has over the competition is, as anyone would have guessed, the pricing. Bay Trail, however, is much cooler in comparison since it's TDP is at 10W. Do remember, this is an embedded solution and the score is to reflect a comparison against similar solutions. Overall, the 5350 is a pretty good SoC if you want to assemble a computer for very less money, the fact that you're likely to be able to upgrade the SoC in the future adds to its advantage.
 
Specifications
 
CPU Cores: 4
Frequency: 2.05 GHz
GPU Cores: 128
GPU Frequency: 600 MHz
L2 Cache: 2 MB
TDP: 25 W