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ZOTAC prepping two NVIDIA ION mini-ITX mainboards?

by Tarinder Sandhu on 22 April 2009, 11:49

Tags: ZOTAC Atom, Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), ZOTAC

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qarxo

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ZOTAC's pedigree in launching bespoke micro-ATX and mini-ITX boards looks to be reinforced as it's busy reading a mini-ITX board based on NVIDIA's ION platform, reports say.

We've already seen ION shoehorned into a desktop box with the Acer Aspire Revo, but this is the first time that an established NVIDIA partner has put forward a motherboard design. Images from Expreview.






Based on two boards, the feature-rich model, on the left, will strap in a dual-core Intel Atom N330 chip and feature the GeForce 9400M graphics clocked in at 450MHz core and 1,100MHz memory. Expansion-wise, three SATA ports, eSATA, mini-PCIe, WiFi, and 10 USB2.0 sound tasty. Outputs include VGA, HDMI, and DVI. Interestingly, it will also have an on-board power supply (DC/DC).

The cheaper variant, listed on the right, will make do with a single-core Atom N230 and eschew the on-board power. Other than that, they appear to be the same. There isn't a whole heap of space on a mini-ITX board but we'd like to have seen a single PCIe x1 slot, too.

The crucial question is pricing, and reports indicate you won't get much change out of $200. If true, it goes completely against what this kind of system is trying to achieve. Then there's always Intel's own 945GSE and, even, VIA's Nano to consider....


HEXUS Forums :: 6 Comments

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Posted by Biscuit - Wed 22 Apr 2009 12:16
Even if it was around $200 your getting a lot of functionality, i mean it does include the CPU, a decent GPU Wifi and all the normal I/O on a tiny tiny motherboard. You always do pay premium for miniaturization.

Has the ion platform prooved to be better on power than intels archaic one?
Posted by Breezey - Wed 22 Apr 2009 13:16
Biscuit
Even if it was around $200 your getting a lot of functionality, i mean it does include the CPU, a decent GPU Wifi and all the normal I/O on a tiny tiny motherboard. You always do pay premium for miniaturization.

Has the ion platform prooved to be better on power than intels archaic one?

Couldnt agree more, i think the ion uses a few more watts but you doo get alot more performance so its worth the small compromise, although i cant see it making any difference in the desktop market.
Posted by Biscuit - Wed 22 Apr 2009 13:26
i can see it making quite a difference in HTPCs.
Something like this would be pretty portable too so it would be handy for me when im out doing visuals as i could use it as media storage and a back up machine.
Posted by s_kinton - Wed 22 Apr 2009 15:06
Look fantastic for a HTPC, makes my low profile uATX HTPC look massive!!!

I also noticed that play.com have dropped the price on the most basic Acer Revo to £165 and its not even out yet. All thats required is a USB DVB-T tuner. Not sure what space, if any there is inside for a HDD though.
Posted by Methanoid - Thu 23 Apr 2009 07:58
If Hexus is gonna copy other sites stories (which everyone does) at least give the whole story or link to the source report

Pricing on the source story says $200-off for the single core and $300 for dual core Atom. Quite why an extra $100 for dual core is beyond me. How much extra does Intel charge for a dual core Atom 330? Not $100 for sure…

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