Is Kabini 3850 enough for web surfing and media?

[ShintaiDK]

I don't have a precise budget but my uncle agreed on a total and I can't go over that now and I don't have many choices cause the store I'll buy from won't allow me much freedom.
Consider he's coming from a Celeron 2.5 from 2003 with 512MB of RAM, no-brand VGA and Windows XP which is a pain to use. I was just worried that having a per-core lower frequency would cause lags! Even though we're talking of a 10y newer technology

The SIMS 3 seems to run fine on 5150 graphics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsr7r2g8gC0

Singlethreaded performance may be in the same range as his old one.

As time goes the CPU demand goes up in Sims 3. And you will really notice when you start to get the stop and go lags. or try to speed up time like at night etc.

 

[-sandro-]

So which Haswell based Celeron or Pentium CPUs would you suggest that's better than the Athlon 5150 in terms of graphics as well and that costs the least? So that I can propose a more expensive option if he wants one (and more future proof according to some).

 

[Abwx]

Singlethreaded performance may be in the same range as his old one.

As time goes the CPU demand goes up in Sims 3. And you will really notice when you start to get the stop and go lags. or try to speed up time like at night etc.

He has the core count in reserve and a good GPU to handle this game and also the flash trash that likely saturate his old IGP when he surf, out of curiosity i plugged one of my old laptops to write this post, it use a 1.6 ghz P4 Northwood and a dedicated radeon card that allow to surf correctly, i couldnt do the same with an equivalent laptop CPU wise but with a crappy IGP, CPU usage is quite low given the age, at 15-40%.

Besides i wouldnt be surprised if he s using WXP given his tight budget, this would cry even louder for an AM1 build if that s the case, also , he will have freesync capability as Kabini is compatible.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

I don't have a precise budget but my uncle agreed on a total and I can't go over that now and I don't have many choices cause the store I'll buy from won't allow me much freedom.
Consider he's coming from a Celeron 2.5 from 2003 with 512MB of RAM, no-brand VGA and Windows XP which is a pain to use. I was just worried that having a per-core lower frequency would cause lags! Even though we're talking of a 10y newer technology

The SIMS 3 seems to run fine on 5150 graphics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsr7r2g8gC0

Have no fear on that count. Frequency might be lower, but IPC will be two or three times greater then a Netburst Celeron. Not to mention the OS has 3 additional cores to play with.

I almost can't imagine running modern browsers with only 512MB RAM, ouch...

Singlethreaded performance may be in the same range as his old one.

Are you kidding? The Jaguar core has IPC somewhere between K8 and K10, which is almost two times Netburst. Also we're talking a Celeron here, complete with crippled L2 cache and perhaps shoddy chipset (perhaps even SiS... :|). They were completely useless when they where launched, and the last 10 years have not improved them.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Forget Kabini, specially for Sims 3. Its simply too demanding. Even Skype would put the Kabini to its knees.

Get a Haswell based Celeron/Pentium and get much faster CPU and even GPU.

For once, I agree with you. Although, I don't know if Sims 3 can take advantage of quad threads. If it can, I might disagree, as Kabini's iGPU is faster for gaming than Haswell Pentium iGPUs, I think. (128 GCN shaders?)

Well, at least the AMD drivers for their GPUs and APUs are miles ahead of Intel's iGPU drivers, still.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Have you tested skype with a Kabini..?.

I have, with the E1-2500. It sucks. Trying to listen to internet radio in Flash Player, in a video call on Skype, and browsing the web (Newegg, etc.) all at the same time is pretty-much nearly impossible on that CPU. Maybe it's better on a quad-core than a dual-core though.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Everybody "wants to spend the least possible", but it is false economy to cheap out and get a poorly performing system. I would definitely try everything possible to get a haswell system.

I know this all too well. Search in this forum for "going green" to read my sordid story of trying to make do with some C-70 APU NanoPCs. (Brazos 1.0 / 1.33 Ghz dual-cores)

 

[ShintaiDK]

For once, I agree with you. Although, I don't know if Sims 3 can take advantage of quad threads. If it can, I might disagree, as Kabini's iGPU is faster for gaming than Haswell Pentium iGPUs, I think. (128 GCN shaders?)

Well, at least the AMD drivers for their GPUs and APUs are miles ahead of Intel's iGPU drivers, still.

Its singlethreaded.

 

[ShintaiDK]

So which Haswell based Celeron or Pentium CPUs would you suggest that's better than the Athlon 5150 in terms of graphics as well and that costs the least? So that I can propose a more expensive option if he wants one (and more future proof according to some).

G1840 is the cheapest. 43$ at newegg. And H81 board is 40$. If you want future proof in any way you forget Kabini and Baytrail right away. They was obsolete before they was even sold. The G1840 is around 3 times faster in 1-2 threads. And you can always add a discrete GPU later.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Besides i wouldnt be surprised if he s using WXP given his tight budget, this would cry even louder for an AM1 build if that s the case, also , he will have freesync capability as Kabini is compatible.

This is true. Haswell's IGP doesn't (officially) support XP.

 

[Abwx]

I have, with the E1-2500. It sucks. Trying to listen to internet radio in Flash Player, in a video call on Skype, and browsing the web (Newegg, etc.) all at the same time is pretty-much nearly impossible on that CPU. Maybe it's better on a quad-core than a dual-core though.

This is dual core 1-1.4 turbo..

It s like using a single core Haswell,with lower frequency, as experience to estimate a higher clocked such dual core processor....

I know this all too well. Search in this forum for "going green" to read my sordid story of trying to make do with some C-70 APU NanoPCs. (Brazos 1.0 / 1.33 Ghz dual-cores)

Seriously.??..

I see that you are raising some PC herds, well if you have the opportunity try a 4C AM1 plateform, i guess that you ll be surprised, give it a cheap 64-128GB SSD if possible....:thumbsup:

 

[Vesku]

If you don't need mITX form factor or <30W power draw I agree that a Celeron or Pentium with cheap H81 mATX or ATX motherboard is the best option. A Richland with FM2 board is also in the same price range but the future drop in CPU upgrade options are superior for Intel socket 1150.

If mITX or low power is a concern the AM1 platform is pretty good, I'd personally aim for Athlon 5150 or better.

 

[ShintaiDK]

If you don't need mITX form factor or <30W power draw I agree that a Celeron or Pentium with cheap H81 mATX or ATX motherboard is the best option. A Richland with FM2 board is also in the same price range but the future drop in CPU upgrade options are superior for Intel socket 1150.

If mITX or low power is a concern the AM1 platform is pretty good, I'd personally aim for Athlon 5150 or better.

MiniITX is not an issue in any way. My MiniITX houses both a GTX680 and an i5 4670.

 

[Abwx]

If you don't need mITX form factor or <30W power draw I agree that a Celeron or Pentium with cheap H81 mATX or ATX motherboard is the best option. A Richland with FM2 board is also in the same price range but the future drop in CPU upgrade options are superior for Intel socket 1150.

If mITX or low power is a concern the AM1 platform is pretty good, I'd personally aim for Athlon 5150 or better.

Actualy a 5150 with a 64GB SSD would be better than any other proposition made in this thread but then the absence of mass storage could be annoying, as for upgrades it doesnt worth it, thoses little form factors have the advantage that on the long term it cost less to replace the MB + APU than starting at higher price with the hope of future upgrades, the MB+APU is about 75$ after all, what 75$ will get you in 6-7 years is what matters, and this will be much better than the CPUs you ll buy to upgrade a plateform that will be obsolete by the time.

 

[Vesku]

MiniITX is not an issue in any way. My MiniITX houses both a GTX680 and an i5 4670.

It is if they are on such a tight budget. Although it looks like Asrock has a mini-ITX H81 for $60 so they might be able to squeeze it in if size is a consideration. As for power, it's not at the top of the list for most budget desktop people but for a few the 20-30W vs 40-60W will matter. Then Kabini or BayTrail is worth considering.

 

[Vesku]

as for upgrades it doesnt worth it, thoses little form factors have the advantage that on the long term it cost less to replace the MB + APU than starting at higher price with the hope of future upgrades

The Celeron+H81 isn't going to be much more than the AM1 options and if they happen to find they underspecced the CPU they can easily drop in a better retail s1150 CPU within the next 2-3 years. I expect Haswell to have a similar lifespan overlap with the next gen processor as IvyBridge has now with Haswell.

 

[Abwx]

It is if they are on such a tight budget. Although it looks like Asrock has a mini-ITX H81 for $60 so they might be able to squeeze it in if size is a consideration.

This is surely the expensive AMIH ITX DC supplied MB, this is the one i used but Asrock does another mini ITX for about 35$ that also has a second USB3 and SATA 3 controler, the AM1B ITX as well as extensive bios features, if his PSU is 24pinit can be re used to reduce the bill.

With DC input and ATX power connector but somewhat pricey generaly :

http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/AM1H-ITX/

With ATX connector only but cheap and with 4 USB3 as well as 4 SATA III :

http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/AM1B-ITX/

 

[-sandro-]

He has the core count in reserve and a good GPU to handle this game and also the flash trash that likely saturate his old IGP when he surf, out of curiosity i plugged one of my old laptops to write this post, it use a 1.6 ghz P4 Northwood and a dedicated radeon card that allow to surf correctly, i couldnt do the same with an equivalent laptop CPU wise but with a crappy IGP, CPU usage is quite low given the age, at 15-40%.

Besides i wouldnt be surprised if he s using WXP given his tight budget, this would cry even louder for an AM1 build if that s the case, also , he will have freesync capability as Kabini is compatible.

Honestly I didn't get what you meant

 

[-sandro-]

Have no fear on that count. Frequency might be lower, but IPC will be two or three times greater then a Netburst Celeron. Not to mention the OS has 3 additional cores to play with.

I almost can't imagine running modern browsers with only 512MB RAM, ouch...



Are you kidding? The Jaguar core has IPC somewhere between K8 and K10, which is almost two times Netburst. Also we're talking a Celeron here, complete with crippled L2 cache and perhaps shoddy chipset (perhaps even SiS... :|). They were completely useless when they where launched, and the last 10 years have not improved them.

Tell me about it! I can imagine it since I used it, it's impossible! And yes, it's a SiS chipset!

 

[monstercameron]

the sempron is a decent performer for the price and power. If it is just for a browsing machine then go for it.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sempron+3850
^see for yourself

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyOHIRNF3F8&list=UUZQPAMU6uVWIgcg2PWC7Dlg
^Counter Strike Global Offensive on AMD Sempron 3850 Real FPS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0hbS5YnxUI
^cpu OCed to 1.6 and memory 1.666

 

[-sandro-]

the sempron is a decent performer for the price and power. If it is just for a browsing machine then go for it.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sempron+3850
^see for yourself

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyOHIRNF3F8&list=UUZQPAMU6uVWIgcg2PWC7Dlg
^Counter Strike Global Offensive on AMD Sempron 3850 Real FPS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0hbS5YnxUI
^cpu OCed to 1.6 and memory 1.666

I already tried to find some video reviews showing basic usage like browsing but it seems like it's used for gaming ONLY?

G1840 is the cheapest. 43$ at newegg. And H81 board is 40$. If you want future proof in any way you forget Kabini and Baytrail right away. They was obsolete before they was even sold. The G1840 is around 3 times faster in 1-2 threads. And you can always add a discrete GPU later.

OK so this configuration would cost &#8364;20 more than the 5150. Is the GPU on this Intel better or on par? Consider that the main usage is YouTube, 720p movies and browsing, word/excel. Nothing else expect for The Sims 3 (if) but we've already seen that the 5150 can play it just fine.

 

[ShintaiDK]

OK so this configuration would cost €20 more than the 5150. Is the GPU on this Intel better or on par? Consider that the main usage is YouTube, 720p movies and browsing, word/excel. Nothing else expect for The Sims 3 (if) but we've already seen that the 5150 can play it just fine.

What shop do you use? In europe if you use €. The G1840 is cheaper than the 5150 by 10€

http://geizhals.at/?fs=5150&in=
http://geizhals.at/?fs=G1840&in=


The board is vice versa:
http://geizhals.at/biostar-h81mhv3-a1134913.html
http://geizhals.at/asrock-am1b-itx-90-mxgt50-a0uayz-a1079579.html

Well if you are satisfied with performance anno 2004 or so. Then the AM1 is fine.

 

[ShintaiDK]

It is if they are on such a tight budget. Although it looks like Asrock has a mini-ITX H81 for $60 so they might be able to squeeze it in if size is a consideration. As for power, it's not at the top of the list for most budget desktop people but for a few the 20-30W vs 40-60W will matter. Then Kabini or BayTrail is worth considering.

There is 2 MiniITX 40$ H81 on newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-407-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-360-_-Product

 

[VirtualLarry]

There is 2 MiniITX 40$ H81 on newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-407-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-360-_-Product

Uhh, hate to break it to ya Shintai, but you need to get your eyes checked. Those boards are microATX, they have two slots. Seems to be all the rage these days.

Edit: You had me going, though. I wanted to get one if they were mITX, and could OC a G3258.

 

[-sandro-]

Are there any benchmarks that compare the Haswell Celeron (G1840 in this case) with the Kabini?