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

Engadget has posted a review of the Acer AspireRevo nettop that was announced recently.

They were impressed with the NVIDIA ION graphics performance, but not with the performance of the Atom 230 CPU, with some performance issues with web browsing or non hardware accelerated video.

This is really a tale of two chips: the CPU and the GPU. Sadly, while we were very impressed with NVIDIA Ion’s performance (it’s basically the GeForce 9400m for cheap and low-power computers), the sluggish Atom 230 processor almost ruins it for everybody.

Read the full article here.

Technorati Tags: Acer, Atom 230, eSATA, HDMI, Ion, mini motherboard, nettop, NVIDIA, review

TweakTown has posted a review of the ZOTAC GeForce 8200-ITX WiFi Mini-ITX motherboard. They tested the board with an AMD Phenom X4 9350e CPU and compared it to the ZOTAC nForce 630i-ITX WiFi Mini-ITX motherboard (with Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 CPU) they reviewed previously.

The GeForce 8200-ITX WiFi is an extremely impressive board, to say the least. [...] Thanks to the AM2+ socket, the board can accommodate any AMD K8 or K10 processor designed to use DDR2 memory. The NVIDIA GeForce 8200 chipset may not be the fastest or newest on the market, but its performance is still acceptable for a HTPC environment thanks to its support for HDMI.

Read the full article here.

Technorati Tags: GeForce 8200, mini motherboard, mini-itx, phenom, review, ZOTAC

Those interested in the Jetway NC92-230-LF Mini-ITX motherboard can read the reviews of this board at Phoronix and Modders-Inc. Both reviews provide ample detailed pictures of the board, with Phoronix having published the benchmark results in their previous article Intel Atom On Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSuSE, Mandriva.

Read the review at Phoronix: Jetway NC92 Atom IPC Motherboard

Read the review at Modders-Inc: Jetway NC92 Series Mini-ITX

You can buy this motherboard from Newegg (under the JetWay JNC92-230-LF reference).

As a reminder, the Jetway NC92 Mini-ITX motherboard is available with either a single core Atom CPU (NC92-230-LF) or the new dual core Atom 330 CPU (NC92-330-LF). See my previous post for more details.

Technorati Tags: 945gc, atom, Jetway, mini motherboard, mini-itx, review

TweakTown has posted a review of the ZOTAC nForce 630i-ITX WiFi Mini-ITX motherboard. They tested the board with an Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 CPU and compared it to a VIA EPIA SN2 Nano board.

Read the full article here.

Technorati Tags: Core 2 Duo, mini motherboard, mini-itx, nForce 630i, review, WiFi, ZOTAC

TweakTown has posted a review of the Albatron KI780G Mini-ITX motherboard. They tested the board with an AMD Phenom X4 9350e CPU and compared it to a VIA EPIA SN2 Nano board.

Their tests covered integrated graphics (IGP) as well as discrete graphics with a Gigabyte 9800GX2.

Today Albatron have sent us their Mini-ITX KI780G board based around AMD’s very popular IGP chipset, the 780G. Let’s see just how well it’s able to perform compared to VIA’s Nano platform.

Read the full article here.

Technorati Tags: 780g, albatron, mini motherboard, mini-itx, phenom, review