An easy way to trim the cost of a lower end system is to skip Windows and install Linux, along with picking a less expensive AMD chip to power your system. AMD has recently gifted us with new Kabini based Sempron and Athlon chips, the most expensive of which is available for less that $70. For testing Phoronix used Ubuntu 14.04, the 3.14 kernel and Mesa 10.2 along with the Radeon 7.3.99 driver. You will be glad to know that there were no compatibility problems with Linux whatsoever, all CPUs performed more or less as expected as you can see for yourself in the full review.
"It's been a busy past few days since AMD launched their "AM1" Socketed Kabini APUs. After the initial Athlon 5350 Linux review on launch-day, I did some tests involving a faster kernel and newer Mesa code along with some reference DDR3 memory scaling benchmarks for these APUs with Jaguar processor cores. Since then the Athlon 5150 and Sempron 3850/2650 APUs arrived."
Here are some more Processor articles from around the web:
- AMD Athlon 5350 APU On Linux @ Phoronix
- AMD Athlon 5350 APU and AM1 Platform Review @ Legit Reviews
- AMD Athlon 5350 @ Kitguru
- AMD “Kabini” AM1 Athlon 5350 @ eTeknix
- AMD Athlon 5350 Kabini AM1 APU Review @ Modders-Inc
- The Workstation & Server CPU Comparison Guide @ Tech ARP
So it’s Phoronix that was
So it’s Phoronix that was gifted the AMD product and not PCper?.
The hyperlink should include the Article name, and other information, and not just the words “In the full review” underlined.
Still unsure if PcPer has some testing on their own, if they have the Kabini SKUs, but maybe test Steam OS and not just Ubuntu. Would love to see these tested with Steam OS, and the Steam client.
Us, as in users of PCs in
Us, as in users of PCs in general not a review site in particular. At the bottom of every post you will see the source and link as well as inline with the text, that's just how we roll here at PCPer.
The Steambox idea is interesting, but these chips are not for gaming without help from a GPU … so it would be more of a GPU review than a chip review. Still might be fun to try at some point.
Thanks, If anyone at PcPer
Thanks, If anyone at PcPer reads any Steam OS, benchmarks or reviews for these AMD SKUs, or any other CPUs/GPUs/SOCs please let the readers know. most Linux reviews are usually for Ubuntu and Mint, with very little Steam OS at the moment. When is Steam OS expected to be released, or is the OS going to remain in BETA for longer?
Also I have seen users take Raspberry PIs, and LAN them up into home computing clusters with many PIs, and these AMD SKUs may be great for a home computing cluster, especially the quad core SKUs and boards for around $120.00 with memory. These SKUs with their ability to do GPGPU computations on their GPUs would make a great expermential home computing cluster, with 4 or 5 these motherboards/SOCs LANed up for raytracing/render farm or other uses. There are some great Linux based expermential distros out there built around HPC computing that have been scaled down for the home expermenters, and it would be great if someone would develop a cluster gaming OS, maybe a modified Steam OS, for gaming.
Glad to hear. This is the low
Glad to hear. This is the low cost low power solution I was looking for to build an Edubuntu PC for my 4 year old.
Someone at techpowerup forums
Someone at techpowerup forums took a 5150 put it on a Asus AM1I-A and then overclocked it at over 2.1GHz. Considering that the ASUS board is really cheap the overclocking part for this platform is the icing on the cake. I thought that there where no overclocking options on this platform, but I was wrong.
I am getting more and more interested in this platform. I think I will grab one in the near future.