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

TweakTown has posted a review of the ASRock ION 330-BD nettop.

They were impressed with the NVIDIA ION graphics performance when playing 1080p HD Blu-ray content and power comsumption. While still being limited with its Atom CPU, the ability to overclock the Atom 330 from 1.6GHz to 2.1GHz delivers some additional performance out of this little system.

We really enjoyed the ASRock ION 330-BD nettop - it has plenty going for it and easily gets our recommendation for consumers wanting an affordable, but capable home theater PC or simply a small PC that doesn’t use a lot of power, but still has some decent hardware under the hood to do more than a standard low-end nettop, which is only for basic office computing.

Read the full article here.

ION 330-BD specifications:

• CPU: Intel Atom 330 CPU (1.6GHz dual-core)
• Chipset: NVIDIA ION
• RAM: 2GB of DDR2 800 RAMup 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: Sony BC-5500S SATA Blu-ray slim player

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

BSO* has reportedly overclocked the Intel Atom 330 dual-core CPU to 2.2GHz on a Zotac ION-ITX-A Mini-ITX Mini-ITX Motherboard. This is a good jump from the stock 1.6GHz the Atom 330 delivers.

For our overclocking experiment on the Atom 330 processor, we used a dual-channel kit of 2GB DDR2-6400 rated CAS5, and were able to hit as much as 2.2 GHz using air cooling - which is a nice 600 MHz boost from the standard operating speed [1.6 GHz].

Full article here.

Technorati Tags: Atom 330, Ion, mini motherboard, NVIDIA, overclock, ZOTAC

Expreview is reporting that Zotac is going to offer two NVIDIA ION-based Mini-ITX motherboards.

One of the Mini-ITX board will feature the 1.6GHz Atom 230 CPU (single core), the other the dual-core 1.6GHz Atom 330 CPU. The boards are expected to be named IONITX-B-E and IONITX-A-U respectively.

Other features include NVIDIA ION integrated graphics, 3 SATA ports, 1 eSATA port, WiFi, HDMI and DVI output. There is no mention of PCIe slot - only Mini PCIe.

IONITX-A-U/IONITX-B-E specifications (to be confirmed):

• CPU: Intel Atom 230 CPU (1.6GHz - IONITX-B-E) / Intel Atom 330 CPU (1.6GHz dual core - IONITX-A-U)
• Chipset: NVIDIA ION
• RAM: 2 x 240pin DIMM slots, up to 4 GB of DDR2 667/800 RAM 
• Storage: 3 x SATA ports, 1 x eSATA port
• Expansion slots: 1 x Mini PCIe slot (used by WiFi module if present)
• Display: NVIDIA ION Integrated Graphics, 1 x VGA output, 1 x DVI output, 1 x HDMI output
• Audio: 5.1 Channel HD Audio, 2 x S/PDIF output (1 x coaxial, 1 x optical)
• LAN: 1 x Gigabit Ethernet
• WLAN: 1 x 802.11b/g (or n - TBC - may be optional)
• I/O: 10 x USB 2.0 (6 x external, 4 x internal), PS/2 port

Read the full article here including picture of one of the boards [via bit-tech.net].

Check the user manual here.

[Updated: added user manual link, storage specifications]

[Updated x2: corrected product names]

Technorati Tags: Atom 230, Atom 330, eSATA, HDMI, Ion, mini motherboard, NVIDIA, ZOTAC

SiteGround web hosting company has announced a new managed dedicated server offering based on the dual core Intel Atom 330 processor.

This is the first shared web hosting provider with such an offer.

The new Intel Atom 330 server is a new energy-saving concept that was happily adopted by the SiteGround team. The machine is designed to be both nature-friendly and yet very powerful while keeping a very low price. It sharply reduces the energy consumption by 75% as compared to other servers with similar characteristics. It also uses the dual core technology that guarantees the better speed and response time of the server as compared to its low-cost competitors.

The atom based servers run CentOS, and comes with 2 GB RAM, 320 GB disk and allow for 3,000 GB of monthly traffic. The technical details regarding the servers are not communicated.

Details of the offering here.

Technorati Tags: atom, Atom 330, dual core, Hosting, Intel