Where we recently reviewed an AMD video card that cost over $1500 / £1200 / ?1300, today we'll be discussing a series of products which is considerably more value-oriented. The new AMD AM1 platform allows you to purchase a small motherboard and a processor for a little over $80 / £50 / ?60. The platform is mainly marketed towards economically developing countries that have a large demand for extremely cheap PCs. However, according to AMD, the Western world should also find the platform to be an interesting choice, due to its low price, low power consumption and capable performance. We tested the new AMD Athlon 5350 and compared it to the Bay Trail-D platform which Intel offers as an alternative, and more specifically, to the Celeron J1900.

The AMD AM1 platform consists of new processors and motherboards, the latter of which features a new processor socket and does not contain a traditional chipset, as the AM1 processors are actually so-called SoCs (System on a Chip). This means that the tasks of the CPU, the GPU and the chipset are all being taken care of by a single chip.

These processors are not entirely new. The AM1 processors are based on the Kabini processors for laptops, with which we are already familiar. What's new is that these Kabini chips have been made suitable for use in desktops and have thus been released onto the market as a separate component..