CPU-centric tests
The all-round Geekbench test shows us which type of PC is boss. Distancing itself from a dual-core Atom, the Gigabyte is left trailing in the desktop Core i5 750's wake.
And hammering home that point is relative performance in the multi-CPU CINEBENCH render test. Two Bobcat cores just about sneak ahead of the dual-core, four-threaded Atom D510 chip found in the Sapphire box.
Fancy a bit of video encoding driven by CPU grunt? You'll be waiting a while.
And the encryption/decryption benchmark also shows that, at best, the Bobcat (E-350) cores perform at around 25 per cent of the level of a mid-priced desktop chip.
Good enough
The benchmark numbers don't paint the E-350 chip in a hugely positive light; it just edges out a top-line Atom. But what is good enough? I ran through the usual stuff one would expect to do with a desktop machine - browse the Internet, play music files, log-on to social media sites and movie playback. Conceding that I've used an SSD as the boot drive, giving a creamy-smooth feel, the system felt nippy and responsive at all times, helped out by the UVD3 block when watching high-def content.
In fact, I've written some of this review with the Gigabyte as the host PC. For me, writing means having several apps and a whole slew of tabs open. Could I tell the difference between it and a Core i5 750 chip? Yup, especially when running basic image-manipulation in Photoshop, but it's no major deal-breaker: you get used to the slight wait. Ideally you'd want more performance, maybe 2x what's on offer here, but it feels good enough for Joe Average.
But the E350N-USB3's forte revolves around the graphics more than CPU power.
