[SOLVED] Is it viable/advisable to upgrade an Atom ION 330 mini-ITX system?

[jmss]

Hello,

Approximate Purchase Date: this week
Budget Range: minimum
System Usage from Most to Least Important: watching movies, Internet
Are you buying a monitor: no
Parts to Upgrade: CPU and motherboard?
Do you need to buy OS: no
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Portugal
Location: Portugal
Parts Preferences: none
Overclocking: maybe
SLI or Crossfire: no
Your Monitor Resolution: it's a 32" TV (1366x768)
Additional Comments: mainly for watching movies in the living room
And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: it's a slow system, it has performance issues playing PopcornTime movies

Is it worth upgrading a system like this? It's an Intel Atom 330 with an Nvidia graphics card. It has 2 GB of RAM and a mechanical disk.

Would it be possible to upgrade the CPU+motherboard and leave the rest?

Ah, I use GNU/Linux of course. Otherwise the system would be unusable.

Thanks.

 

[tennis2]

You certainly don't need much for your needs. Heck, a Raspberry Pi 4 can do everything you're asking.

 

[jmss]

Thanks.

Hum, with the Raspberry Pi there's not much freedom with the Operating System. I use Linux Mint and this was not an unreflected choice: I have tried dozens of GNU/Linux distros, some of them several times.

Moreover, the hardware compatibility may give me some headaches and although I've spend 3 years of my life working professionally with SBCs (single board computers) I don't want to do that in this particular case.

I would not be able to reuse most of the hardware and also the hard disk without more pain.

 

[tennis2]

Understandable. Just thought since you're using Linux already...

Can you give SOME budget idea?

Also, I can't find what type of RAM the Atom 330 used. Also, is this a board with SODIMM (laptop) RAM?

 

[jmss]

Less than 100 EUR.

It uses DDR3 1066: https://www.asrock.com/mb/NVIDIA/A330ION/

 

[tennis2]

https://www.newegg.com/global/pt-en/asrock-j4105b-itx-mini-itx/p/N82E16813157805
Gonna need DDR4 SODIMM RAM though.

What case do you have? Although it may be mITX, does it have room for a dual slot GPU?
AsRock makes boards like this (mini DTX-ish) that would mount to mITX holes, but have a second expansion slot that you could put a Pentium G5400 and 2x4GB DDR4-2400 RAM onto.

 

[jmss]

Interesting, thanks.

I was thinking in one of these: https://www.chiptec.net/componentes-para-computadores/motherboards/motherboards-com-processador, all of them with integrated CPU.

But didn't know if upgrading CPU+m/b was the way to go.

I don't believe I have use for dual-head. I just use the HDMI output to connect to the TV.

The case is relatively small, it fits the m/b and has a frontal volume for the disk with some space for cables. It's 6 cm x 22 cm x 31 cm outside.

 

[jmss]

Yeah, from my link only 2 are mini-ITX and one of them is equal to the one you pointed to. So it means there are not many choices. And I'd have to replace the memory... It seems that I should hold on to this system while I can and later replace it completely. It has served well for many years.

 

[tennis2]

The switch to DDR4 happened in 2015, so anything newer than that is not going to allow you to carry over your DDR3 RAM.
Even with the J4105 would give you a considerable performance boost, but I'd personally go the Pentium route if it's physically possible in your case. That would be another considerable jump.