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• Zotac's Ion Board On Windows 7: Nvidia Re-Arms Intel’s Atom

  We’ve done a ton of Atom-oriented content, from reviewing the processor’s merits on its own, to pitting it against Athlon and Nano, to testing it in a ready-made machine and evaluating performance under Windows Vista. When we say the CPU is an enabler in the netbook market, but sorely lacking as a solution to your desktop needs, we’re basing that judgment on almost a year’s worth of power and performance data. Of course, we’re also grouping Intel’s accompanying 945G-series chipsets in with that opinion, since they have been, up until now, the only core logic accompanying Atom processors. Earlier this year, we were able to take a sneak peek at the first platform with Atom support able to go up against Intel’s own anemic Atom-oriented chipsets: Nvidia’s Ion. First encountered at this year’s CES, we were impressed by just how much modern connectivity and GPU muscle the company had crammed into its proof-of-concept design. We were told to expect more Ion-related news in the months to come. Now, almost six months later (and after the announcement of Acer’s AspireRevo nettop), we’re seeing the first mini-ITX motherboard based on the Ion concept, which means the do-it-yourselfers out there now have their own path to pursing an Ion-based platform. Will they want to, though? That’s the question we’re setting out to answer here. Nvidia’s Ion: Stepping Out That first Ion concept was truly stacked. It included lots of USB 2.0, analog 7.1-channel output, optical output, DVI, HDMI, Gigabit Ethernet, and SATA storage connectivity. As you already know, that box’s capabilities come from the Nvidia GeForce 9300 chipset, which the company is now calling its Ion Graphics Processor (IGP—get it?). As a quick recap, the GeForce 9300 (or IGP as we’ll call it from here on out) is a single-chip solution that combines the functionality common to most northbridge and southbridge chipset components. Exceptional I/O includes support for up to five PCI slots, six SATA 3 Gb/s ports, a total of 20 PCI Express 2.0 lanes across five links (1 x 16-lane and 4 x 1-lane), integrated Gigabit Ethernet, 12 USB 2.0 ports, and HD Audio. The northbridge-y features include a dual-channel memory controller able to accommodate either DDR2-800 modules or DDR3 at speeds of up to 1,333 MHz. Nvidia claims front side bus speeds of up to 1,333 MHz, supporting Atom, Celeron, Pentium 4, and Core 2 processors. Temper your excitement about those modern memory and bus settings, though. The Atom 330 soldered onto Zotac’s board sports a 533 MHz FSB and communicates with DDR2 modules-only. And then there’s the integrated graphics. Derived from Nvidia’s G86 GPU, the IGP sports 16 shader processors and relies on shared system memory. The graphics core runs at 450 MHz while the shaders operate at 1,100 MHz—down a bit, actually, from the GeForce 9300 we reviewed last October. With the chipset specifics out of the way, let’s take a look at how Zotac has turned Nvidia’s IGP into a mini-ITX motherboard.

• The board’s most endearing quality is, arguably, its size. Conforming to the mini-ITX specification means dimensions of 17 cm by 17 cm. Right off the bat, we’re thinking of this platform as a potential HTPC contender. Naturally, a mini-ITX form factor also means limited PCB real estate for enabling features that the chipset natively supports, too. But Zotac doesn’t seem to have a problem there. Most of the board’s space is consumed by a large passive heatsink, which covers the dual-core Atom processor and IGP core logic. There’s a fan included in the retail package; however, installing it is optional. We went ahead and used the fan, since it really didn’t generate much noise. Two 240-pin DDR2 memory slots accommodate up to 4 GB (2 x 2 GB) of RAM running at up to 800 MHz. They’re arranged in a dual-channel configuration (2 x 64-bit), so you’ll want to be sure and populate them at the same time. There isn’t enough room for expansion via full-sized PCI or PCI Express slots, but Zotac does enable a mini-PCIe slot populated by an 802.11b/g/n wireless adapter. This’ll undoubtedly serve as a huge boon for folks who want to put diminutive Ion boxes in the kitchen, living room, or den—spots likely to be lacking Gigabit Ethernet jacks nearby. The Ion board’s I/O panel is loaded with ports and plugs normally found on full-sized ATX platforms. Six USB 2.0 ports accommodate plenty of peripherals (there’s a PS/2 keyboard port too, just in case). You also get optical/coaxial digital audio output, along with analog line in/line out/mix in 1/8” jacks. Display outputs include standard VGA, dual-link DVI (our 30” test platform originally only ran at 1280x800, unless we had it connected to an HDTV; Nvidia subsequently sent us a BIOS to enable all of the board's available resolutions, right up to 2560x1600), and HDMI 1.3. Gigabit Ethernet and eSATA round out the feature list around back. The last connector you see is a power jack—the board (and all attached storage) is powered by a 90W power brick. Zotac’s minimalist bundle includes a custom I/O panel, one SATA cable, the aforementioned fan, an instruction manual, and an adapter able to turn one four-pin Molex connector into three SATA power plugs. More Than A Motherboard Zotac’s retail price for this Ion-based board is $189—an almost insane price tag for a motherboard alone. But you don’t get just the motherboard. There’s also an Atom processor soldered on and the power brick, which keeps you from having to buy a separate power supply. All told, the combination is supposed to enable high-performance sub-$400 PCs. Back when we first looked at Intel’s Atom processor in Shuttle’s X27 (and found it a cumbersome configuration), it was a single-core CPU running at 1.6 GHz. Granted, Hyper-Threading gave that Atom 230 CPU the ability to execute two threads in parallel, but it was still painfully slow. The Atom 330 is yet another model from the Diamondville family, running at the exact same clock speed and sporting the same 533 MHz front side bus. The only difference is a doubling of on-package die, resulting in a dual-core CPU with Hyper-Threading able to address four threads at once. It uses the same .9-1.1625V range, and thus consumes exactly twice as much power: 8W instead of 4. Those low-ball power figures are what lets Zotac bundle its 90W external power brick. We’ll get into the actual power figures shortly, but suffice to say, energy efficiency is going to be one of this board’s greatest selling points versus true desktop architectures re-purposed for this nettop space.

• We removed the Ion platform from its box with a certain amount of excitement; it’s an object that inspires fascination. Being accustomed to the Mac mini, we were genuinely surprised by its compactness—we couldn’t believe such a complete platform could fit in there. Of course, we got out our screwdriver and took a look inside. First came the cover panel that protects the hard disk--a 200 GB Seagate Momentus 7200.2. The main entrance, though, is via the other side of the micro-case. You slide back the top cover, and then the motherboard becomes visible. The Ion is, in fact, made up of two PCBs stacked on top of each other inside the chassis. The first is the motherboard itself. The Atom processor is mounted on it, next to the chipset. They’re both covered by a thin aluminum radiator with a 40 mm x 10 mm fan in its center. Judging from its size, we can already surmise that the cooling system will provide minimal heat dissipation. In addition to the processor and chipset, mounted on the motherboard are the necessary connectors for making this a standalone PC: Serial ATA (SATA), Gigabit Ethernet, Dual-Link DVI and USB 2.0 ports, and even an HDMI port. What about the RAM? It goes into the back of the motherboard, in a SO-DIMM slot. To suit the occasion, Nvidia has used DDR3 memory. While still more expensive than DDR2, DDR3 is a good choice here. Its higher frequency guarantees increased bandwidth to the CPU, and more importantly to the chipset and its integrated graphics core, the main memory is used as the video frame buffer. It’s also more power-friendly, which is right on target for a platform touted for its low power consumption. One final connector on the motherboard, which we couldn't immediately identify, serves to connect the motherboard with its daughterboard on the level below. Despite its proprietary physical format, this port is surely a PCI Express. It has to supply enough bandwidth for all possible connections to the daughterboard—and there’s a number of them: SATA (used by the internal hard disk), two eSATA, six USB, eight-channel analog audio, and digital optical. This port also supplies power to the motherboard, so the latter isn’t entirely autonomous. In all, our Ion reference PC has no less than: 2 internal SATA ports 2 eSATA ports 7 USB 2.0 ports 6 analog audio jacks 1 S/PDIF audio connector 1 DVI Dual Link connector 1 VGA connector 1 HDMI connector 1 Gigabit Ethernet connector It’s a pleasure to see such complete connectivity on such a small PC. Let’s hope that the nettops based on the Ion platform will keep this decisive advantage of the reference design.