Used this to upgrade my 7 year old Zotac HTPC, coupled with a AM1H-ITX motherboard. Despite being 3-4 times faster than my old Intel ProDuo-based laptop at encoding x265 video, which itself was at least twice as fast as the integrated Intel quad-core Atom of the Zotac motherboard, Windoze only gives it a 4.9 rating - just marginally higher than it rated the Zotac! According to PC-Mark, the integrated graphics of the 5350 are between 3-5 times faster than that of the onboard Nvidia graphics of the Zotac - hence my scepticism.
The one thing I'm unhappy about is the thermal readings. I don't know if this is down to the mobo or the 5350, but the readings are often times nonsensical. With an ambient temperature of 18-20degC, I often get readings of 1-5degC!!! Put the CPU under load and the temperature shoots up, maxing out at around 48degC. But within a few seconds of going from Max to min load, the temperature reading will plummet by 20-30degC - the real world doesn't operate like this! To add to the confusion, the motherboard's own BIOS temperature monitoring seems to measure correctly, it's just the half dozen or so applications available for doing this that seem to have problems!
This in no way seems to affect performanace though. I've had a chequered history with AMD CPU's, this being my third Athlon. The other two had serious temperature-related stability problems, crashes being a normal occurrence. But these were of 2002-2004 vintage, so probably not a concern. Given the insanely high max operating temperature of the 5350 (90degC), coupled with the max (apparent!) temperatures of 48degC that I'm seeing, it should not be a problem.
One other point. Although the 5350 has not much overhead as far as overclocking is concerned, a little latitude does exist, but I have failed miserably to exploit it. When I have tried increasing any of frequencies, even marginally, I am left with OS's that will not even boot - so I'm not sure what is going on there! The old Athlon's could be overclocked nearly to oblivion.
But so far, so good. Seems a perfectly adequate processor for a HTPC, capable of playing 720p x265 (HEVC) videos with only 30-40% CPU load, or 1080p x265 @ 60-70%. The Intel quad-core Atom/Zotac/Nvidia setup would choke & die within a few seconds with 720p videos (never mind 1080p), when trying the same thing. The fact that it will encode them as well, and 3-4 times faster than I'm used to, is an added bonus!
| Brand | AMD |
|---|---|
| Product Dimensions | 7.62 x 6.35 x 7.62 cm; 181.44 Grams |
| Item model number | AD5350JAHMBOX |
| Manufacturer | AMD |
| Series | AD5350JAHMBOX |
| Processor Brand | AMD |
| Processor Type | Athlon |
| Processor Speed | 2 GHz |
| Processor Socket | Socket AM1 |
| Processor Count | 4 |
| Computer Memory Type | DDR3 SDRAM |
| Wattage | 25 watts |
| Are Batteries Included | No |
| Item Weight | 181 g |
