AMD Athlon 5350 (Kabini AM1 Platform) FS1b APU Review (w/ Sapphire R7 240 Low Profile)

We measured the idle temperatures and power consumption levels with the system resting at the Windows 7 desktop.

The temperature of the Kabini CPU cores and power consumption of our entire test system (at the wall) is measured while loading only the CPU using Prime95′s Small FFTs setting.

As a more accurate interpretation of real-world performance, we also record power consumption and temperature readings while running Bioshock Infinite for 10 minutes and during a 10-minute run of 1080P media.

Power Consumption

System-wide power consumption numbers for the AM1 platform are impressive. Idling at just 15W, our entire AM1 test system uses not much more power than a typical light bulb. The highest energy usage that we measured was 31W.

Power consumption numbers do not necessarily scale heavily with load, either. Going from 1080P media playback to a stretching gaming run only results in a 3W (12%) increase in power consumption.

Temperatures

Note: AMD's inaccurate GPU/CPU temperature sensors are clearly displaying incorrect readings. The temperature difference between each usage scenario is the only parameter that is worth considering.

Temperature recordings were taken on an open bench, not inside a chassis. Ambient temperature was a toasty 24°C which, in some ways, compensates for the open-air test environment.

As already pointed out, the CPU/GPU temperature readings are incorrect due to AMD's inaccurate sensors.

Assuming that the temperature sensors' error is constant (and not a function of the actual or recorded temperature), going from an idle state to 1080P playback increases the CPU/GPU temperature by 6°C. Full CPU load results in a 16°C temperature rise over the idle state.

Although sensor inaccuracies make the results difficult to interpret, AMD's Athlon 5350 does not seem to be a difficult chip to cool. I would wager that many small-sized passive solutions will cool the chip without resulting in any temperature-related issues.

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