Zotac's Ion Board On Windows 7: Nvidia Re-Arms Intel’s Atom

[Lans]

Never mind... you have to use the 90W power brick and jack and can't use the 5 pin molex (which is for SATA drives only).

As already pointed out, not the best setup for comparison of power efficiency and this make it even worst (780G/Athlon X2 7850: idle at ~15% and ~35% of 405W PSU; not the best matching PSU).

Oh well that is not the focus of the article and 25W idle and 35W load for the Ion platform is still pretty nice, independent of how other platform does.

 

[zodiacfml]

low power indeed. i want this as a 24 hour nettop computer than can serve, backup and download files. (with windows xp on a usb drive)

 

[Guest]

why the board manufacturers don't make a miniitx board with a more efficient chipset is confusing. They can get the processor down to 4W tdp, why can't they put other efficient components? These boards should really be down to 15-20W max with idle at 10watts or less. I feel that they aren't putting enough effort into energy efficiency of the whole system.

 

[basicspecifics]

[citation][nom]Anonymous[/nom]@Crashman:Your definition of an HTPC doesn't have to fit everyone else's, you realize that don't you.Myself, I'm still running XBMC on an old Xbox Classic. It's my primary video player and it's used on a regular basis to play anything I get from the internet, and it has my music on it which is streamed to tiny streaming media player with a nice display, that I don't want to put in my AV cabinet but in full view so I can see what's playing. I don't need an optical drive, I don't need a TV tuner and I don't need to play games on it, because that's what I have my set-top decoder/DVR and my PS3 for. I wouldn't even be able to use a DIY HTPC for that anyway because here all digital TV is encrypted, and the games I like are primarily console-only.With a box based on this platform I will finally be able to replace that old Xbox, without having to resort to putting a desktop PC next to my TV. That box will do 1080p, will make less noise, will run a fully featured Linux OS and anything I want to throw at it, and will do all of that much better than the Xbox.[/citation]
I’m sorry but I have to respectfully disagree with this statement. Provided I don't know anything about "home theaters" on the level you're talking about but for me... This device adds a lot of functionality I wouldn't have with a simple TV in my living room. I can only assume what you're talking about is something that would normally cost thousands of dollars but for me that's just not what I had in mind because I don't need to spend that much money on sitting on my ass. here's a list of the things I can do w/ this device and windows 7 w/ $100 JBL computer speakers (2/ subwoofer) plugged into it.

1. Browse the internet
2. Work on basic word documents / spreadsheets as needed.
3. Watch downloaded movies and keep them in a library of movies brows able with my remote.
4. Listen to music (also brows able with my remote both with the gyration remote mouse display and with the media center software)
5. Look at pictures and or listen to music while pictures scroll across my screen.
6. Watch Netflix or the new cinema now movies streamed from the internet.
7. Watch DVD’s if I want to plug an externally attached DVD
8. DVR (record, watch, keep a library)- with a TV tuner I believe they include an FM/AM tuner.

For those of us that want to spend a maximum of $600 (w/ gyration remote and JBL speakers & TV / radio tuner) it's a lot more than another toy. It easily replaces Tivo / DVR, amplifier / speakers / music player / web TV and then it adds functionality like basic gaming, picture viewer, digital cable (even on demand is replaced by cinema now) and I’m sure a bunch of other things I’m not thinking of.

In other words this product has a market for people that;
1. Aren’t looking to spend a lot of money and
2. are willing to sacrifice power for limited space and power utilization.

I hated looking at my huge PC sitting in my living room that was loud and unnecessary. If you ask me these people are on to something. Perhaps it’s not what you would call “real home theater” but it’s a lot more than trash.

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]basicspecifics[/nom]I’m sorry but I have to respectfully disagree with this statement. Provided I don't know anything about "home theaters" on the level you're talking about but for me... This device adds a lot of functionality I wouldn't have with a simple TV in my living room. I can only assume what you're talking about is something that would normally cost thousands of dollars but for me that's just not what I had in mind because I don't need to spend that much money on sitting on my ass. here's a list of the things I can do w/ this device and windows 7 w/ $100 JBL computer speakers (2/ subwoofer) plugged into it. 1. Browse the internet2. Work on basic word documents / spreadsheets as needed. 3. Watch downloaded movies and keep them in a library of movies brows able with my remote. 4. Listen to music (also brows able with my remote both with the gyration remote mouse display and with the media center software) 5. Look at pictures and or listen to music while pictures scroll across my screen. 6. Watch Netflix or the new cinema now movies streamed from the internet. 7. Watch DVD’s if I want to plug an externally attached DVD 8. DVR (record, watch, keep a library)- with a TV tuner I believe they include an FM/AM tuner. For those of us that want to spend a maximum of $600 (w/ gyration remote and JBL speakers & TV / radio tuner) it's a lot more than another toy. It easily replaces Tivo / DVR, amplifier / speakers / music player / web TV and then it adds functionality like basic gaming, picture viewer, digital cable (even on demand is replaced by cinema now) and I’m sure a bunch of other things I’m not thinking of. In other words this product has a market for people that;1. Aren’t looking to spend a lot of money and 2. are willing to sacrifice power for limited space and power utilization. I hated looking at my huge PC sitting in my living room that was loud and unnecessary. If you ask me these people are on to something. Perhaps it’s not what you would call “real home theater” but it’s a lot more than trash.[/citation]

Wow, WebTV plus DVR! W00T! I don't see how anything like that replaces your amplifier (unamplified PC audio) or speakers (PC speaker?), but hey at least you can ditch the $300 netbook.

 

[basicspecifics]

[citation][nom]Crashman[/nom]Wow, WebTV plus DVR! W00T! I don't see how anything like that replaces your amplifier (unamplified PC audio) or speakers (PC speaker?), but hey at least you can ditch the $300 netbook.[/citation]


Well... it's simple, the PC has a line in jack and you plug your TV into that and you got better sound coming from your TV and anything else plugged into it like your game console or DVD / bluray.

it's obvious i mentioned more than webtv and DVR but I realize i'm being quoted as a comment on an article and prefer not to get involved in a sarcasm war.

the fact i can browse my entire music and movie collection from my TV alone has added a lot of benefit in comparison to my lolely TV, DVD, Wii combo w/ out surround sound speakers. Most speaker setups i've seen that don't cost 1000's are a real eyesore so my small JBL speakers that work for everything work perfectly for my 650 square foot nyc apartment.

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]basicspecifics[/nom]Well... it's simple, the PC has a line in jack and you plug your TV into that and you got better sound coming from your TV and anything else plugged into it like your game console or DVD / bluray. it's obvious i mentioned more than webtv and DVR but I realize i'm being quoted as a comment on an article and prefer not to get involved in a sarcasm war. the fact i can browse my entire music and movie collection from my TV alone has added a lot of benefit in comparison to my lolely TV, DVD, Wii combo w/ out surround sound speakers. Most speaker setups i've seen that don't cost 1000's are a real eyesore so my small JBL speakers that work for everything work perfectly for my 650 square foot nyc apartment.[/citation]


OH, your PC has line-in! So do your amplified speakers. You'd only need an amplifier if you were using REAL speakers.

 

[basicspecifics]

[citation][nom]Crashman[/nom]OH, your PC has line-in! So do your amplified speakers. You'd only need an amplifier if you were using REAL speakers.[/citation]

maybe it's best to look at the zotac as a media center pc and not a home theater pc... i never had the intention of trying to argue that this was anything other than what it is... perhaps you consider it trash but for me it completely replaced my P4 PC almost 3 times the size and 4 times the power sucking power supply and 1/10th the noise which worked out for me... to each their own.

as far as my not so real speakers they sound infinitely better than the tv speaker. i'll let you enjoy the life of an owner of REAL speakers

 

[Guest]

Wheres the CPU overclocking? I imagine getting the atom to about 2ghz would get WoW up to about 60 fps or higher and get those games running close to playable at minimum settings.

 

[Guest]

Would windows 2000 run on this?