Gigabyte GA-E350N-USB3 Review

Test Setup: Multimedia Benchmarks

Gigabyte GA-E350N-USB3:

• AMD E-350 APU: 1.6GHz, 1MB L2 cache, dual core
  
• 4GB DDR3 1,333MHz (single-channel, two DIMM)
  
• AMD Radeon HD 6310 GPU
  
• AMD Catalyst 11.1 WHQL
  
• Microsoft Windows Home Premium x64, Aero Disabled

VIA Nano Dual-Core (VIA VT8591B reference board):

• VIA Nano Dual-Core: 1.8GHz, 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 cache, dual core
  
• 4GB DDR3 1,066MHz (dual-channel, two DIMM)
  
• VIA VN1000 chipset with Chrome 520 IGP
  
• VIA pre-release GPU driver
  
• Microsoft Windows Home Premium x64, Aero Disabled

VIA Nano (VIA Artigo A1100 barebones):

• VIA Nano U2500: 1.2GHz, 800MHz FSB
  
• 2GB DDR2 800MHz SO-DIMM (single channel, single DIMM)
  
• VIA VX855 with VIA Chrome9 HCM DX9 IGP
  
• VIA 241004j GPU Driver
  
• Microsoft Windows Home Premium x64, Aero Disabled

Intel Atom (Intel D330 mini-ITX reference board):

• Intel Atom D330: 1.6GHz, 533MHz FSB, 512KB L2 cache (per core), dual core with HyperThreading
  
• Intel 945GC chipset with GMA950 IGP
  
• 2GB DDR2 800MHz SO-DIMM (single channel)
  
• Microsoft Windows Home Premium x64, Aero Disabled

Intel CULV (Dell Inspiron Ultra-thin notebook):

• Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300, 1.3 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 3 MB L2 cache, dual core
  
• 4GB DDR2 800MHz SO-DIMM (dual channel, two DIMM)
  
• Intel GMA 4500MHD IGP
  
• Intel 15.12.75.50.64.2023 GPU driver
  
• Microsoft Windows Home Premium x64, Aero Disabled

AMD V Series (ASUS Eee PC 1015T netbook):

• AMD V105: 1.2GHz, 1GHz CPU-NB, 512KB L2 cache, single core
  
• 2GB DDR3 800MHz SO-DIMM (single channel, single DIMM)
  
• AMD M880G chipset with Radeon HD4250 GPU
  
• AMD Catalyst 9.10 WHQL driver
  
• Microsoft Windows Home Premium x64, Aero Disabled

Test Setup: Game Benchmarks

Since the integrated graphics market is very far from being uniform, we've not just displayed the total frame rate generated by each platform, but also the cost of each frame per second.

We had to turn off power saving and TurboBoost states in order to obtain more consistent and reliable results. We also matched the systems in terms of their memory, storage, power and OS.

• AMD E-350 APU: 1.6GHz, 1MB L2 cache, dual core
  
• Gigabyte GA-E350N-USB3 (F1 BIOS)
  
• 4GB DDR3 1,333MHz (single-channel, two DIMM)
  
• AMD Radeon HD 6310 GPU
  
• Crucial C300 RealSSD 128GB SATA 6Gbps
  
• Seasonic X-Series 650W PSU
  
• AMD Catalyst 11.1 WHQL
  
• Microsoft Windows Home Premium x64

CPU and motherboard cost: £125.85

• Intel Core i5-2500K (3.3GHz) 4 core, 4 thread
  
• Intel HD Graphics 3000, 12 EU (1,100MHz and 1,700MHz OC)
  
• Gigabyte GA-H67MA-UD2H (F6a BIOS)
  
• 4GB DDR3 1,333MHz CL9 dual-channel
  
• Crucial C300 RealSSD 128GB SATA 6Gbps
  
• Seasonic X-Series 650W PSU
  
• Windows 7 Home Premium x64

CPU and motherboard cost: £176.70 + £100.67 = £277.37

• Intel Core i5-661 (3.3GHz) 2 core, 4 thread
  
• Intel GMA HD, 12 EU (900MHz and 733MHz)
  
• Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3 (f4 BIOS)
  
• 4GB DDR3 1,333MHz CL9 dual-channel
  
• Crucial C300 RealSSD 128GB SATA 3Gbps
  
• Seasonic X-Series 650W PSU
  
• Windows 7 Home Premium x64

CPU and motherboard cost: £161.85 + £80.73 = £242.58

• AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition (3.4GHz) 4 core, 4 thread
  
• Radeon HD 4250 (560MHz)
  
• ASRock 880GXH/USB3
  
• 4GB DDR3 1,333MHz CL9 dual-channel
  
• Crucial C300 RealSSD 128GB SATA 6Gbps
  
• Seasonic X-Series 650W PSU
  
• Windows 7 Home Premium x64

CPU and motherboard cost: £71.99 + £128.35 = £200.34