When NVIDIA announced the Ion platform for the Intel Atom processor, I have to admit, I was intrigued.  The thought of coupling the Atom processor with the GeForce 9400M GPU was certainly enticing because one could finally build a system with decent 3D graphics and video performance..and one could potentially do it on the cheap.

Yet as the months went by, news related to the Ion platform was few and far between.. that is until now. A company called ZOTAC has announced a new Mini-ITX motherboard product coupling the NVIDIA Ion platform with a dual core Atom processor (the N330) called the IONITX-A-U. The full specs are as follows:

• Intel Atom N330 1.6GHz dual core processor
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M video
• Mini-ITX form factor
• D-Sub, DVI, HDMI video ports
• 10 USB ports (6 on back panel and 4 via pin header)
• 24 pin – 90 watt PSU included
• RAID 0, 1, 0+1
• 5.1 channel audio
• Measures 6.7 x 6.7 inches
• DDR2 667/800 MHz memory support (2 slots)

OK.. this all sounds great but how does it actually perform? Well two new reviews of the ZOTAC board are now out – one from TechReport and one from Anandtech.

TechReport’s review had this to say about the board:

“Were I looking to build an Atom-based desktop or home theater PC today, I’d use the IONITX-A in a heartbeat. It’s easily the best Atom-based motherboard around and thus TR Recommended.”

Anandtech had this to say about the new board:

“Zotac did a good job of delivering pretty much everything I’d want in a board like this, going even further than expected and offering a solution with an external power brick. I don’t like the external power option from a long-term replacement standpoint, but I do appreciate its convenience. My only complaint is the price, at $189 it’s a bit expensive for the performance you get but I do concede that there are some benefits in the convenience department. All you need to add is memory and some sort of storage and you’re good to go, you’ll have a system that’s easily capable of playing back high definition content (not to mention very power efficient while doing it).”

Well there you have it. It looks like the new ZOTAC board is a winner.. except it might be a bit pricey.

One thought – might be fun to build a Windows Home Server box around this board…

UPDATE:

(5/14/2009-1:40am) – It’s not quite the same board but Newegg is carrying a ZOTAC board with the Intel Atom N230 processor (single core)  and a 90W PSU for $169.99.

Technorati Tags: ZOTAC, IONITX-A-U, NVIDIA Ion, Intel Atom

Thanks to a new partnership between DTS, Inc. and ASUSTeK Computer Inc., computing enthusiasts will now be able to build PC systems with ASUSTeK motherboards featuring DTS Surround Sensation UltraPC technology. The technology, found in the latest P5Q Turbo and M4 series motherboards, deliver surround sound effects through just two speakers or headphones.

According to the press release:

“DTS Surround Sensation UltraPC uses advanced post-processing technology to deliver an incredible surround effect from just two speakers or headphones. The post-processing contains significant psycho-acoustic information that alters human perception, making one believe that sounds are actually occurring outside the boundaries of the two-speaker system or headphones. Developed with a key understanding of acoustics and years of knowledge in dealing with the properties of sound, DTS Surround Sensation UltraPC creates a three-dimensional wall of sound that exceeds the limitations of just two speakers for an optimal surround sound experience. DTS Surround Sensation UltraPC also supplements the weakened stereo image and ambience of digitally compressed audio, while keeping the monaural components (such as solo vocals) unchanged.”

Two of the latest ASUS mobos featuring DTS Surround Sensation UltraPC include the ASUS P5Q PRO Turbo:

and the ASUS M4A79T Deluxe:

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: DTS, Inc., ASUSTeK Computer, DTS Surround Sensation UltraPC, Motherboards, Surround Sound

If you’re looking for a small form factor motherboard with support for the AMD AM2+ socket, then you’ll be interested in the newly announced Albatron Mini-ITX KI780G motherboard. With this Mini-ITX board, you’ll be able to use triple-core or quad-core AMD Phenom processors. Other specs include:

• 2 DDR2 SO-DIMN slots
• Integrated ATI Radeon HD3200
• 1 PCIe 2.0 x16 slot
• 10 USB 2.0 ports
• Marvell Gigabit LAN
• Realtek 8 Channel HD Audio
• 1 ATA 133 Channel
• SATA RAID 0, 1, 0+1
• 4 SATA II 3Gb/s channels

[Check it out via DigiTimes]

Technorati Tags: Albatron KI780G, Mini-ITX, AM2

One other VIA Technologies related news note – DigiTimes reported that VIA plans to launch an even smaller board than the Pico-ITX board called the Mobile-ITX motherboard somewhere between the end of 2008 and during the first quarter of next year. The Mobile-ITX form factor will supposedly be one half the size of the Pico-ITX form factor which is already super small – coming in at 100 x 72 mm. The Mobile-ITX board will support VIA Eden, C-7, and Nano processors. Great stuff for folks looking to build super small systems.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: VIA Technologies, Mobile-ITX

Continuing to push miniature motherboard form factors, VIA Technologies introduced on Friday their first Nano-ITX motherboard to feature the VIA VX800 media system processor. The motherboard, known as the EPIA N700, features either a 1.5GHz VIA C7 processor or a 500MHz VIA Eden processor, and comes with nearly everything you need to build a low heat, compact system.

The EPIA N700 board has two SATA ports, one Gigabit Ethernet port, one COM port, two USB 2.0 ports, and a single VGA port. On-board headers are also available for additional COM, LVDS, and IDE connections.

Other specs include:

• Support for up to 2GB of memory
• One mini PCI slot
• Support for Windows XP, Linux, Windows CE, XPe
• Measures 12 x 12 cm

The VIA VX800 media system processor is an integrated digital media IGP chipset featuring:

• Integrated VIA Chrome 9 graphics with full DX9 support
• VIA Chromotion video engine for hardware acceleration of MPEG-2, MPEG-4, WMV9, VC1, and DivX video formats
• VMR capable HD video processor
• Integrated multi-configuration 24 bit dual channel LVDS transmitter – enables display connections to embedded panels

The EPIA N700 is available now for developers and will be available through distributors starting around the middle of Sept.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: VIA EPIA N700, Nano-ITX, VX800 Media System Processor

VIA Technologies announced a new Pico-ITX motherboard today called the VIA EPIA PX5000EG. The PX5000EG features the 500 MHz VIA Eden ULV processor which has a maximum power draw of just one watt! The board is ideal for applications and environments that are space constrained and heat-sensitive. The PX5000EG measures 10 x 7.2 cm and includes both LVDS/DVI and VGA support, integrated 5.1 channel sound, 10/100 Ethernet, IDE/SATA drive support, and up to six USB ports and a COM port.

VIA Technologies is also running a contest called the “Naked Pico Challenge” over at VIA Arena where you can get a chance to win a VIA ARTiGO Pico-ITX Builder Kit. They’ll have a VIA EPIA PX5000EG board running under full load without any cooling whatsoever. All you need to do is guess how long the board can take the strain. Check out VIA Arena for more info.

Other specs for the VIA EPIA PX5000EG include:

• Fanless 500MHz VIA Eden ULV processor
• Supports up to 1GB of DDR2 memory
• VIA UniChrome Pro II IGP 3D/2D graphics
• MPEG2/4 and WMV9 hardware decoding acceleration
• Pin support for LVDS, DVI, and VGA
• Onboard IDE and SATA connectors
• Integrated 10/100 Fast Ethernet
• PS/2 keyboard and mouse
• Multimedia connector to support external TV out
• Video capture port interface
• LPC interface
• Audio connector for line out, line in, mic-in, S/PDIF in and 5.1 channel audio output

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: VIA Technologies, EPIA PX5000EG, Pico-ITX,

Some of you may not realize this but today marks the beginning of the end for the long running AMD K8 CPU. That’s right – today marks the day that we officially hear about the new AMD Phenom processors as well as the new AMD “SPIDER” platform. Thus – everything should be fine and dandy for AMD right? Well.. the early results are in and they’re not necessarily great for the company but more on that in a bit (maybe the recent infusion of cash will help AMD after all!).

First off – what exactly is the AMD SPIDER platform? It’s a new “enthusiast” platform bringing together three new core components from AMD:

• AMD Phenom 9000 Series Quad-Core processor
• ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series GPU
• AMD 7-Series chipset

OK.. so those are the elements to SPIDER.. but what the heck is the AMD Phenom 9000 Series Quad-Core processor? Well think of the Phenom (and don’t laugh at the name.. man I thought Celeron was bad..) as an evolutionary step from the K8 platform. AMD likes to call the Phenom a “true quad core processor” as opposed to the first incarnations of quad core processors from Intel where they simply slapped together two dual core processors on a single die and called it a quad core processor. OK.. so that might have been a little bit of a cheap from Intel but I still count four processors there (though yes it produces a sub-optimal solution). Ok.. so onto the features of the Phenom processor:

• Native quad core design
• 65 nm manufacturing process
• Enhanced Power Management technology
• Integrated memory controller

So what’s coming out first? After much speculation,AMD is only releasing initially a 2.2 GHz and 2.3GHz part – *shakes head*.  Thus for the here and now, the new AMD Phenom is available only as a quad core processor. There will eventually be a dual core version as well as a triple-core Phenom but right now – it’s all about fours. This also means that if you want a dual core AMD processor, you’ll have to stick with the K8 lineage for now..  at least until 2008.

So with that said, here are some initial reviews of the Phenom processor.

First up, we have Anandtech’s look at the Phenom here and here is the verdict:

If you were looking for a changing of the guard today it’s just not going to happen. Phenom is, clock for clock, slower than Core 2 and the chips aren’t yet yielding well enough to boost clock speeds above what Intel is capable of. While AMD just introduced its first 2.2GHz and 2.3GHz quad-core CPUs today, Intel previewed its first 3.2GHz quad-core chips. We were expecting Intel to retain the high end performance crown, but also expected AMD to chip away at the lower end of the quad-core market – today’s launch confirms that Intel is still the king of the quad-core market.

Here’s ExtremeTech’s preview of the Phenom and then a comparison of Intel’s QX9770 vs the AMD Phenom 9900 here. Here’s a quote from the preview article:

The question used to be—will AMD’s new CPUs help them regain the performance crown they lost after Intel’s launch of the Core 2 Duo? The answer is clearly “no.”

PC World published their first  tests here and find:

With no way to regain the CPU performance crown, AMD has been trying to focus the media’s attention on its peripheral technologies. This isn’t all misdirection, since performance in games often relies more heavily on a system’s GPU than its CPU.

Finally, the folks at the TechReport have a look at the new AMD 790FX chipset here. Here’s what they find:

In the end, the 790FX is a bandwidth-rich new north bridge chip held back by a dated south bridge and flaky motherboard implementations. AMD will have to do better if it expects the Spider platform to take off with enthusiasts. In its current state, we simply can’t recommend the 790FX

Not the greatest initial news for AMD’s new platform and processors.. but hey – it’s still early right? One thing is for sure – this will at the very least keep Intel on its toes.. for a little bit at least.

Technorati Tags: AMD SPIDER, AMD Phenom,

Geek.com has a new article checking out the EPIA PX10000, one of the new Pico-ITX motherboards floating around. With a embedded Via C7 1GHz processor and a single DDR2 RAM slot, the motherboard doesn’t offer much in terms of computing power. Nor does it offer much in size; the footprint of the board is a mere 10mm x 7.2mm, about the size of a 2.5″ hard drive. And this includes a graphics processor with DVI and VGA outputs, an ethernet port, and four USB ports.

I could probably fit 50 of these in my current computer case to build my own computer cluster.

More at Geek.com.

Technorati Tags: EPIA PX10000 Pico ITX, PicoITX, Via C7

You learn something new everyday I tell you – even on a Sunday morning. Case in point – I’ve never heard of a company called Advansus but they’re apparently a joint venture company between ASUS and Advantech. Advansus just recently announced a new mini-ITX motherboard called the i915GV2-LEI designed to target the “multimedia networking application” market. The board utilizes either the Intel Pentium M or Celeron M processor and is designed for low power consumption and high energy efficiency. Specs include:

• Supports Socket 478 or 479 Pentium M/Celeron M processors
• Intel 82915GV Express Chipset
• ASUS A8000B-NW system chipset
• 1 – 240 pin DIMM socket for up to 1GB memory
• One PCI slot
• 8 USB 2.0 ports
• Intel GMA 900 graphics
• Realtek ALC650 audio
• Dual gigabit LAN ports
• Measures 6.69 x 6.69 inches and weighs only 0.88 lbs

I love mini-ITX boards for the small form factor but I just wish this board supported a Core 2 Duo processor instead.  My ideal mini-ITX board would support a Core 2 Duo processor, come with integrated HDMI port, have HDCP support, and come with an integrated NTSC/ATSC TV tuner. Yup – it’s all about the home theater!

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Advansus, i915GV2-LEI, Mini-ITX, Pentium M, Celeron M, motherboards