Mini Computer World |

Phoronix has posted a review of the ASRock ION 330 nettop.

Running it through their Phoronix test suite, the ASRock ION 330 nettop performed favorably with Ubuntu 9.04, compared to a ION/Atom 230-based system.

As in TweakTown’s review, they were impressed with the NVIDIA ION graphics performance when playing 1080p HD content (using VDPAU for hardware acceleration), and got some additional performance out of the system by overclocking the Atom 330 from 1.6GHz to 2.1GHz.

Not only does the ASRock Nettop perform well thanks to its NVIDIA ION GPU and Intel Atom 330 dual-core processor, but also the system has a very small form factor, runs cool and quiet, and comes with a great set of features.

Read the full article here.

ION 330 specifications:

• CPU: Intel Atom 330 CPU (1.6GHz dual-core)
• Chipset: NVIDIA ION
• RAM: 2GB of DDR2 800 RAM, up to 4GB
• Display: NVIDIA ION Integrated Graphics, 1 x VGA output, 1 x HDMI output
• Audio: 5.1 Channel HD Audio, 1 x S/PDIF output
• Storage: 320GB 2.5in SATA hard drive
• LAN: 1 x Gigabit
• I/O: 6 x USB 2.0
• Other: slim super-multi DVD player

Technorati Tags: ASRock, Atom 330, HDMI, Ion, mini motherboard, nettop, NVIDIA, review

Anantech is reporting that Zotac has released revised PCB versions of its NVIDIA ION-based Mini-ITX motherboards, which address the wake-on-USB problem that did exist with these boards.

Zotac has since redesigned the PCB (Printed Circuit Board) and connected standby power to the USB ports. Now when the motherboard enters S3, the USB ports still have power and can wake the system up if there’s any activity on a USB device.

The revised Zotac Ion boards can be identified thanks to the last 4 characters of their part number: J10F.

It may however not be easy to figure out if you have the new board unless you look at the motherboard itself.

Full article here.

Technorati Tags: atom, GeForce 9400M, Ion, mini motherboard, mini-itx, NVIDIA, wake-on-USB, ZOTAC