Why pick a AMD E350 for a desktop?

LoneNinja

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Jan 5, 2009
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It's all about the low power draw, not every computer needs to be fast, some are on 24/7 and energy efficiency is important.
 

Chiropteran

Diamond Member
Nov 14, 2003
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I agree, not much purpose for it on a desktop, I can't imagine there being too many cases where the extra couple watts from a llano or whatever would make a big difference. But for a netbook, the E-450 (really just the new revision of the 350) is pretty awesome.
 

frostedflakes

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Mar 1, 2005
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Would be OK for HTPC, file server, other situations where low cost and/or low power consumption are more important than raw CPU performance.

My old E-350 ultraportable was pretty snappy with with an SSD. It wouldn't be a terrible processor for web browsing and other basic usage, although I wouldn't want one in my primary system. And if you did more processor intensive stuff like video encoding, it would crawl.

edit: E-450 does boost speed a bit, but not enough IMO. GPU gains are solid thanks to the graphics turbo and DDR3-1333 support, but CPU only gains 50MHz. GPU was already fast enough on the E-350, it wasn't that unusual for the CPU to bottleneck you in games instead of the HD 6310. That's my biggest complaint with Zacate, it's terribly unbalanced. I'd rather have the CPU clocked at 1.8-2GHz, even if it meant having to downclock the GPU a bit and sacrifice some performance there.
 
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dma0991

Platinum Member
Mar 17, 2011
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It fits in the "good enough to do basic tasks" category while being power efficient. It certainly is better than Atom when it first came out. It can easily be passively cooled, making it a good choice if you want a silent HTPC.
 

NTMBK

Lifer
Nov 14, 2011
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I'm personally tempted to get one of those Zotac Z-Boxes with one in to mount on the back of a monitor.
 

JEDI

Lifer
Sep 25, 2001
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I agree, not much purpose for it on a desktop, I can't imagine there being too many cases where the extra couple watts from a llano or whatever would make a big difference. But for a netbook, the E-450 (really just the new revision of the 350) is pretty awesome.

yeah, the e350 makes sense for a laptop.

but today i saw the e350+mobo for $50 after rebate at newegg.
I was like WTF? thus this thread.

a better bang for the $ would be a 940T quad core black edition + mobo for $100 TOTAL. unlock to 6cores at 3.5ghz on stock hsf.


edit:
$100 total for 940T + mobo
 
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jacktesterson

Diamond Member
Sep 28, 2001
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Ran a E-350 HTPC for a while.

Not being capable of playing Netflix HD drove me nuts, sold it.

Now using a i5 2500. Not having any troubles now.
 

Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
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Ran a E-350 HTPC for a while.

Not being capable of playing Netflix HD drove me nuts, sold it.

Now using a i5 2500. Not having any troubles now.

Hahah that's like saying that a wheelchair with a failing motor and battery were too slow, so you bought a lambo reventon to replace it, and it's now fast enough :D
 

JEDI

Lifer
Sep 25, 2001
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Ran a E-350 HTPC for a while.

Not being capable of playing Netflix HD drove me nuts, sold it.

Now using a i5 2500. Not having any troubles now.

lol.. i5-2500k overclocked to 4.5ghz on air might be a *little* overkill just to play a Netflix HD :D
 

Binky

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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a better bang for the $ would be a 940T quad core black edition + mobo for $100. unlock to 6cores at 3.5ghz on stock hsf.
Your comment is incomplete and/or just plain wrong. It is not a better bang for the buck if you don't need more power than the E350 can provide. How is a $100 CPU plus a $100 motherboard "better" than a $50 CPU+MB combo? In some cases, sure its better. In some cases, it's not better but its much more expensive.

You're thinking like a gamer, not an old lady that only emails and plays solitaire. About 80% of my family uses their computer in ways that make an E350 a viable choice. My woman runs an Atom 525 with 2gb of memory and she's oblivious to how slow it is. Spending more money for her is a complete waste.
 

JEDI

Lifer
Sep 25, 2001
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Your comment is incomplete and/or just plain wrong. It is not a better bang for the buck if you don't need more power than the E350 can provide. How is a $100 CPU plus a $100 motherboard "better" than a $50 CPU+MB combo? In some cases, sure its better. In some cases, it's not better but its much more expensive.

You're thinking like a gamer, not an old lady that only emails and plays solitaire. About 80% of my family uses their computer in ways that make an E350 a viable choice. My woman runs an Atom 525 with 2gb of memory and she's oblivious to how slow it is. Spending more money for her is a complete waste.

$100 total for 940T + mobo.
edited that post to reflect this.

for $50 more than the e350 combo you future proof the PC for the next decade for low end users.
and incase u want to watch HD dvds, the onboard Radeon 3000 will work just fine.
 
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VirtualLarry

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Aug 25, 2001
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$100 total for 940T + mobo.
edited that post to reflect this.

for $50 more you future proof the PC for the next decade.
and incase u want to watch HD dvds, the onboard Radeon 3000 will work just fine.

"Best way to future proof, is to save money for future upgrades."
(See Zap's sig)
 
Aug 11, 2008
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I agree, not much purpose for it on a desktop, I can't imagine there being too many cases where the extra couple watts from a llano or whatever would make a big difference. But for a netbook, the E-450 (really just the new revision of the 350) is pretty awesome.

I agree. I really like the hp dm1z or whatever it was renamed to, i.e. the E450 in a netbook chassis. I dont know why there not more like it from other makers. Unfortunately most of the times I see the E-450 it is in a full size laptop or even a desktop, neither of which I think it is really suited for.
 

Smartazz

Diamond Member
Dec 29, 2005
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"Best way to future proof, is to save money for future upgrades."
(See Zap's sig)

While I think that quote is true most of the time, the difference in performance between the E-450 and Phenom II X4 is tremendous and easily worth the extra cost. The E-450 struggles with HD video now, so imagine how terrible it will be in the next few years. I think the E-350/450 are great for specific applications, such as a file server or netbook.
 

CTho9305

Elite Member
Jul 26, 2000
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They make decent set top boxes. I don't have Netflix and I avoid Silverlight... if you get your content from Amazon Instant Video (which I use quite a bit), you get hardware acceleration, so it's smooth. Some of those systems can be completely fanless.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
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While I think that quote is true most of the time, the difference in performance between the E-450 and Phenom II X4 is tremendous and easily worth the extra cost. The E-450 struggles with HD video now, so imagine how terrible it will be in the next few years. I think the E-350/450 are great for specific applications, such as a file server or netbook.

Yes, but which would you rather have - spend $50 now, and $50 5-6 years from now, or spend $100 now, and nothing for another 10 years. Which is better, for a long-term solution, given how Moore's law changes PC technology.
 

Smartazz

Diamond Member
Dec 29, 2005
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Yes, but which would you rather have - spend $50 now, and $50 5-6 years from now, or spend $100 now, and nothing for another 10 years. Which is better, for a long-term solution, given how Moore's law changes PC technology.

Let's assume a perfect doubling of performance every two years(which is unrealistic). In 6 years, $50 will get you something 8x faster than what is available today for $50. The Phenom II X4 is more than 8x faster than the E-350/450. Also keep in mind that historic exponential gains have slowed down lately so 8x gains in 6 years is very optimistic.
 

Dman8777

Senior member
Mar 28, 2011
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I agree. I really like the hp dm1z or whatever it was renamed to, i.e. the E450 in a netbook chassis. I dont know why there not more like it from other makers. Unfortunately most of the times I see the E-450 it is in a full size laptop or even a desktop, neither of which I think it is really suited for.

That's something I don't really get either. The whole Brazo's platform is perfect for the netbook space but there are very few netbooks using it. Instead, most OEM's throw the E350/450 into a 15 inches chassis and price it in competition with pentiums and celerons. It makes little sense.
 

Binky

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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$100 total for 940T + mobo.
edited that post to reflect this.
That's a quad core chip with 95W TDP. If you unlock it, it's probably a 125W TDP chip. This is nowhere near comparable to much smaller fanless CPU. If the user needs the extra power, then more power is better. If they don't need it, you're just trying to impose your view of the world on somebody that doesn't share your needs or opinion.

And your price is unproven. Where can you buy this magical 940T $100 MB+CPU combo for that price?
 

anikhtos

Senior member
May 1, 2011
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that machines are far than slow
you know how many people at work use ancient computers!?!?!?
so the atom/brazos sounds a great upgrade???
even from a p4 2.8gz single core the feeling of the machine is so better.
maybe because the igpu is much better.
for someone that upgrades every 6+ years i do not think that the atom or brazos will be that odd choice.
maybe it will not be that great jumb at speed
but it will be able to make a fanlees one system or a very low noice one
and that consumes much less power.
for a profesonal i had to order a card from usa cause his old machine had agp slot 4x if i remebmer. the cost of the card with the shipping make it somewhere 100euro.
for that money i could get an atom 330 and a memory module.
so there is a market for those machines.
by the way i have 2 atom 330 machines to go around
i was thinking for a brazos but the perfomance was not that diferent from the 330 to justify a buy
 

jacktesterson

Diamond Member
Sep 28, 2001
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Hahah that's like saying that a wheelchair with a failing motor and battery were too slow, so you bought a lambo reventon to replace it, and it's now fast enough :D

haha i know.

I said it to be funny, but its true.

Sadly I don't have the "k" edition as I picked up the CPU and Motherboard combo for $200.00. Not bad and its not like a stock 2500k isn't capable :)

I just picked up the 7850 for it too.... Pretty strong system for playing at 1366x768 TV..... but should last a while.