Thread: Zotac mini-ITX motherboard

The never-ending quest for miniaturization has reached another milestone. Zotac's IONITX-A is the company's latest mini-ITX offering, but it's also a totally unique product for a number of reasons. First of all, the product is a combination of CPU and motherboard. Secondly, it uses an Intel Atom CPU for budget low-power processing, Third, it's the first to use Nvidia's new Ion platform for Atom CpUs. And last but not least, it uses a laptop-style 19-volt adapter rather than a traditional case-mounted computer PSU. Zotac's IONITX series is available in four variants (see table), and the one we got for testing is the cream of the crop.

Intel's low-powered Atom CPUs have long been considered adequate enough for non-intensive tasks such as Web surfing and document creation, but it's been held back: on the desktop by the fact that it only worked with one chipset-the relatively slow and power-hungry 945G series-till now. That has changed with the advent of Nvidia's lon, essentially a repackaged GeForce 9300 chipset. This brings not only cutting-edge integrated graphics performance to Atom-based computers, but also significant boosts in connectivity options and power savings, But the main advantage that Zotac and other manufacturers are also harping on is that the lon's integrated graphics can accelerate HD video, something that Atom CPUs simply can't do by themselves. Once the Ion really takes off, we'll see whole new categories of premium netbooks and nettops touting HD playback ability.

In addition to those, Zotac's Ion boards will allow enthusiasts to assemble their own relatively cheap Atom-based PCs, which would be ideal for media center functionality. Such a PC would be small, quiet, and unobtrusive even in a bedroom. It would do well for basic office and online tasks, general entertainment, and even a bit of light gaming-all thanks to the dual-core CPU and chipset with its beefed-up onboard graphics.



The CPU and Board:

The IONITX-A literally fits in a palm. The CPU embedded in it is an Atom N330, which runs at 1.6 GHz on a 533 MHz front-side bus, but has two cores unlike the ones found in most netbooks today.

The whole motherboard measures only 17 em square but manages to pack in an astonishing number of expansion and connectivity features,To start with, there's space for two RAM slots, allowing for a maximum of 4 GB of DDR2 RAM, There's also a mini PCle bracket, which in our model was occupied by a Wi-Fi N adapter. Three SATA ports allow for more than enough internal storage. The rear panel hosts six USB ports, one PS/2 port.

one eSATA port,coaxial and optical S/ PDIF digital audio out as well as regular analog audio in/out, one Gigabit LAN port, and three video output options: VGA, DVI, and HDMI. Four more USB ports and one serial port can be added via motherboard headers-pretty unbelievable for a board this size. The A variant we tested also has another trick up its sleeve: it comes with its own 19-volt DC adapter. You don't need a traditional PSU, you just plug the motherboard straight into your wall socket. This allows for a lot of creativity when it comes to mounting this board in a custom cabinet as part of a DIY or home modding project-something we're very excited to see. But it doesn't stop there. If you're wondering how your other devices will work without a PSU, the standard-looking Molex power plug on the motherboard actually passes current outwards so that you can power your hard drives as well! Zotac ships a splitter with three SATA-style power connectors to match the three SATA ports.

The Atom CPU and Ion chipset are covered by a rather large but squat heatsink. Zotac includes a slim 60mm fan in the package which you can choose to not screw in if you want a completely quiet system, though this will come at the cost of higher temperatures.

Performance:

Keeping in mind that the Atom CPU is intended to be a low-powered part, we were quite satisfied with the results we got. We found the scores to be on average about twice as high as those of the other netbooks and nettops we've tested, though this would be attributed more to the dual-core CPU than to the Ion chipset. Gaming scores were as expected-you'll be able to play older games with a fair amount of graphical detail, but definitely not the latest 3D screamers: somewhere between a nettop and a home desktop PC.

Temperatures ran very high without the fan screwed on. We'd recommend keeping it unless you have fans in your cabinet that blow enough air over the board to keep it cool.

Conclusion:

With Wi-Fi, HDMI, loads of expansion and even SATA RAID support, the Zotac IONITX-A could be the foundation of a very capable media center PC. You'll have to find a good cabinet or build one yourself, keeping in mind the board's unique power arrangement. If you're into bUilding your own machines, anyone of the four Zotac variants would be a good way to go.