Redefining entry level computing comes hand-in-hand with the ability to adapt for the ever changing consumer needs. Being able to stream seamless HD content, move around large files as well as coping with the latest internet and productivity tasks that have become standard in everyday work and leisure life, is something that the Athlon was simply capable of. There may be a few extreme exceptions that may cause a struggle, generally though, the Athlon 5350 is geared to do most of the heavy lifting that is expected from a modern PC while being smooth and snappy. No more Atom-ic stutter, freezes or lock ups and competent multitasking make the Athlon a perfect choice for a home computer or HTPC.



Yes the performance is low in regards to frame rates and gaming, and it may not be worth throwing in a discrete graphics card either to try and make it so, though, in real life scenarios such as browsing the internet and watching movies, the response is little different to what you would expect from any other higher end system. It is easy to forget that this is not a platform that is made to game or replace the workstation, and when it does come to some more demanding tasks or heavy multitasking, some slow down will occur and it may even surprise you when it does. Regardless I didn't experience any significant freezes or lockups while doing so. This could be due to the architecture of the Athlon APU, the competence of the R3 GCN based GPU or even the full library of instruction sets on the CPU. In summary, the Athlon 5350 is a product that can easily satisfy the majority of home computing needs. Considering a full system based on this platform could potentially be had for around £150, the price of a mid-range graphics card, What's not to like?

Low power, low price and seamless performance, the Athlon 5350 gets a Vortez Gold and Amazing Value.





Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net. Thanks to AMD for providing today’s review sample.