Nvidia Ion vs. 945g Atom...Need some Help!

[Guest]

The problem I'm faced with is I would like to use my IDE dvd drive and harddrive for a new low power build. Problem is the Nvidia Ion boards don't have an IDE port. I don't think the 945g chipset will run compiz very well and I know it doesn't have any video processing capability. (320gb western digital, brand new )

The two options are, get a Nvidia Ion board and grab a IDE/PCI card. Would I be able to boot from it and would it affect performance? Would it be reliable and run with Ubuntu by default?

How about taking a 945g base board and adding a 9400gt into the PCI slot. How badly would that bottle neck the card? The rig would be used for some light gaming (GTA:SA, etc) and mainly web browsing.

Also having 2gb of ram would be very handy compared to the P4 and 384mb I have now. I'm used to a 7600 based card and Don't want to be limited by the GPU.

 

[gkay09]

IF you are not very specific about the form factor, then you can check out this combo...Has a powerful CPU compared to the ATOM and a very powerful; onboard video...
And you get an IDE port too...Also there is a possibility that the CPU can be unlocked into a dual core CPU...check its reviews...
1. AMD Sempron 140 Sargas + 2. GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM-US2H AM3/AM2+/AM2
Combo Price: $99.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.262556

 

[Guest]

I'm fine with using a matx board. I would put it into a old sony vaio case I have so form factor isn't an issue.
Yes, it probably would make more sense just to go with the sempron/785g then the atom. Some undervolting and I might be able to go passive anyways. Just want something to replace my P4 rig that doesn't chew up 100 watts idle seeing I leave it on 24/7.

 

[djbrad007]

Hi shuffman,

the 945g chipset will run compiz, you can look at some youtube video for a demo (search D945GCLF2 compiz).

The 945G will do 720p fine with coreavc, but is not enough for 1080p (I had this board).

You could get some ide to sata adapters, but I don't recommend it.

The only ION board with pci slot that I know is the Asus AT3N7A-I. You could add an ide card to it, most of them should boot (have their own bios). Just choose wisely. It will run ubuntu very well.

The 945G + 9400gt in pci slot = bad idea.

Before switching to the zotac ion board, I had the D945GCLF2 + Sparkle 9400GT.

The card is so long that it covers the reset/power pins, so you have to bent them to plug your cables.

The pci slot is a huge bottleneck for the 9400GT. I had trouble with dxva for 1080p video, was not working as good as it should.

Games are a big no, it was not able to run TF2 at 1024 or 1280 at low details. I don't know about GTA:SA however.

For very light gaming and no troubles, go for the asus ion board.

An AMD solution could be great too.

Brad

 

[Guest]

Thanks Brad^
Stuff I needed to know.