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.
- Introduction
- Zotac’s Ion-Series Motherboard: Added Value
- Ion As A Desktop PC (Nettop)
- Ion As An HTPC
- Ion As A Gaming PC
- Test Setup And Benchmarks
- Benchmark Results: Synthetics
- Benchmark Results: Encoding Apps
- Benchmark Results: Productivity
- Benchmark Results: Gaming
- Power Consumption And Pricing
- Conclusion


If you knew you could have done better with a 45W not a 95W processor .. what gives? The supplier didn't have it in stock or why go for the obvious power monster?
On a different note, I'm looking forward to the transcoding article.
If you knew you could have done better with a 45W not a 95W processor .. what gives? The supplier didn't have it in stock or why go for the obvious power monster?
On a different note, I'm looking forward to the transcoding article.
Just wanted to help: transcoding
How many people will use this as a satellite PC in their homes, and what ever happened to Windows Home Server? I would think you let your central PC/server handle the computing and just use this guy as a remote terminal to stream media to.
First, I put all of the above mentioned components and put them into the case from the original Xbox (while maintaning totally stock appearances except for the back.
Second, the board boots lightning fast, and is a pleasure to work with.
Third, before we put the 9800GT into the build, using the same 9300 chipset as the Ion platform, we were running HL2 on max settings at 1680x1050 resolution (except with only 2x AA) and getting 35-45 FPS. We also played Halo 2 on medium settings and that played very well also. Obviously, after the 9800 was added, the computer flies. That just goes to show you that the Atom really is what is holding back the capabilities of the 9300 chipset.
All of this was accomplished with about $500, so it is a good budget computer that is inside of an Xbox. My i7 system has nothing on the "coolness" factor of this computer.
The difference between 9300 and 9400 is clock speed. This one is slower than the 9300, even.
Thanks sub: fixed!
Yes, you'll be fine with Hulu videos.
GPU power is one of the main advantages that Nvidia has over Intel's Atom-oriented platforms--it's worth looking at, even if you aren't going to be able to run much on it.
As long as you're not planning to use it as a file server or HTPC, you might as well get a netbook and a docking station of some sort. There really wont be much difference in real use performance, but you'll get the added option of portability.
At least officially, there are no Linux drivers for Ion yet. That'd make the review a little tough to write ;-)
ok, let's pick this statement apart. Tom's has really lost it's way of late, and this is yet another example of what's really wrong. Ok the first obvious mind blowing error here is 5050e @2.8ghz. Unless you plan to overclock it, negating it's 45 TDP effectiveness, it arrives to you at 2.6 ghz.I own one, that's exactly how I know. Course if Tom's had done a review of it, they'd know this..but they didn't...I suppose their too busy writing boatloads of I7 reviews... Now to go farther with this, yeah this might sting a bit I grant ya, but oh well, a person who's considering an Atom Platform or a Low Energy AMD platform, their NOT EVEN LOOKING at a Kuma 95 watt core. Their looking at 45 watt, at most, like that 5050E, or maybe some LE-1600 series. I've said this before, but Tom's needs to start comparing oranges to oranges...what they really did here was compare a kiwi to a grapefruit. Tom's better start thinking or this site will lose it relevance very soon. Hard times are here, and shoppers are indeed shopping like this too. I fully recommend that Tom's redo this article with a proper watt AMD cpu, in this case 5050e or an LE-1600 series. Geeezzzzz..........95 watt kuma??? Roflao!!
I actually *used* this board. Why put a bunch of anemic platforms up against each other, suggesting, "Hey, if you're fine with creeping along at 2 MPH, here are five different solutions that'll make you pull your hair out as an anti-virus runs in the background?" The point is that, on the desktop or in a gaming situation, *you can do much, much better.*
Thanks for the feedback, though! =)
That's us sending a message that we don't like it. Why post a comment with a link to the article we just read on the same page?