Low-Power Gaming: AMD's E-350 Vs. Intel Atom D525 And Ion 2

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Low-power PC platforms are obviously not built for gaming, but we punish two AMD and Intel systems with popular 3D titles anyway. The results don't shock and awe, but sometimes pleasantly surprise.

Benchmark Results: Fallout 3

Since Metro 2033 doesn’t work, let’s try a slightly older title with a similar post-apocalyptic theme: Fallout 3.

At low settings this game is playable, and as an RPG that relies more on stats and gear than pure action, you might even want to kick the graphical settings up a notch on the E-350. The D525/Ion 2 is playable, but not as smooth, and there’s less wiggle room for tweaking the settings. The game looks good, but the loss of visual fidelity versus the maximum setting is quite noticeable.

Verdict:

Fallout 3 is playable on the E-350 at 720p and on the verge of playable on the D525/Ion 2 at this resolution.

Don Woligroski
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Don Woligroski was a former senior hardware editor for Tom's Hardware. He has covered a wide range of PC hardware topics, including CPUs, GPUs, system building, and emerging technologies.