NVIDIA: 40 Atom-based ION platforms by end of 2009
By Thomas Ricker 
posted April 29th 2009 7:38AM
posted April 29th 2009 7:38AM
[Via Tweaktown]
posted April 29th 2009 7:38AM
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Does Ion HAVE to be Atom?
Well in the unibody Macs, it certainly isn't.
Seriously.
How about using hardware that works for the task?
8000 different chips out there and they have to stick a rubber band powered one in EVERYTHING now?
Knock it off with the jackassery.
I'm looking forward to NOT hear about Atom-related news.
For the moment, yes. However, Ion will be supporting the LGA775 socket by the end of the year, so Pentiums and C2D will be paired up with it sometime next year.
I agree with AJ, whats happening in the iPhone world?
It supported VIA Nano from launch. Though as pointed out all Ion is is a CPU and 9400m, so anything could be an unofficial Ion. However it's more a GPU and netbook class CPU platform, so adding Core2/Pentium support would be a bit backwards when you may as well pick up a proper GPU for that kind of PC.
Ion is basically there to beef up the Atom in "good enough" computers. if you want something more powerful than an Atom buy a proper PC, but you cant stick most Core2 ATX(or Micro-ATX even) PC's on a VESA mount.
@superhobo: to me ION is just a term they use to market the combination of these two chips (ATOM + 9300m/9400m Nvidia Chipset). so yes, Ion HAS TO BE in relation w/ ATOM to Nvidia 9300m/9400m chipset IMO.
@smib: 9300m/9400m chipset already supports LGA775 as Zotac already has one on *egg.com in Mini-ITX form factor (6.7"x6.7") it also comes with Wifi and PCI-e, not the best, but check it out if interested.
@AJ: well one thing for sure - it's gonna make HTPC and many other forms of PC much smaller, so we should hear more about the latest development, you can always skip the commenting function to avoid wasting your own time w/ ATOM articles.
@Ebzy: nothing.
Bring it on!
The Revo look's promising, and at a decent price, though I'd want the dual-core Atom before I pick one up, the review only seemed to give favorable results on GPGPU programs.
Ion could really bring up the amount of HTPC's, it looks a really promising platform for that area.
I thought ION WAS the platform?
YES Ion was designed around the Atom so it could be TINY platform. The Nvidia sample was Pico-ITX which is way smaller than a laptop. I'm going to get one and call it the the aXXoBox. For all you peeps crying about how it don't play Hulu I can only say. Sorry bro this one obviously isn't for you.
+1 for aXXo
anyone tell us much about the asrock in the picture...
i mean it looks like a "decent" looking no thrills casings. Has a dvd drive... and being asrock should be rock bottom prices. .... just from the picture and know its got atom and ion instead makes it start looking better then the acer revo
Damn. I was really excited about the Ion platform. Now I’m afraid that the second I spend 300$ USD on an Ion system a slightly bigger and better nettop (or netbook) is going to come out and fix these shortcomings with a better CPU and more hardware features. Even the integrated DVD drive on the ASRock is tempting me away from having to buy an external USB DVD drive. I have to admit that other poster’s suggestions of buying a 2x-3x more powerful system for 100$ more is getting tempting. Should I just wait a few months?
When you see a dual-core Atom in one of these, pull the trigger. If you're going for low-power with reasonable capability, dual-core Atom + Ion seems like it will be sticking around for a while before something nudges it out of the way.
Unless you don't care about power consumption/size, then yeah, spend the extra $100 and grab something meaty.
That's what she said.
I agree. I was looking forward to the Revo, until it's Flash shortcomings were confirmed. I'm not so concerned about physical media, as I've got BR and DVD.
Asus' new Eee Box (B208?) is due out around June, and although it'll be more like $500 it'll have the dual core Atom 330 which should handle Flash video, and if the pics are right, a coax cable for capture (probably only standard def).
Alternatively, Adobe could stop sucking donkey balls and get their act together when it comes to enabling proper GPU support in Flash, and then we wouldn't HAVE to wait.
I quite like the idea of an Ion-based HTPC because it will be nice on the electricity bill and also quiet, while serving up sufficient performance to view 1080p stuff.
@ AVG - Thanks for the advice. You’re absolutely right, I just need to be patient and wait for a Atom 330 based Ion system. I should just grab the first released and decently reviewed system up to the task and not look back. I love the idea of having a tiny, underpowered pc that pulls double duty as an emulator-capable media center and nettop. Don't make me wait too long NVIDIA (and its partners)!
Fuck yeah! Core2 Quad Q9300 is working
what's wrong with atom? as long as it can handle 1080p content I will be happy to buy a cheap, fanless HTPC using atom based ion system.
What's wrong with the Atom is that the processor is too weak for a HTPC. Sure, it'll play 1080p in certain software...but what about those of us that like software that doesn't use graphic decoding? (VLC).
Also, the CPU is too weak for flash. XBMC/Boxee/Hulu are all out question, which pretty much makes it a crappy HTPC then. None of those offload onto the video card, so the stock 1.6ghz atom is not strong enough.
I'm interested to see how the 330 Dual Core ATOM can perform in XBMC/Hulu. If it works without a problem, i'll be picking it up!
@sean
Correct me if I'm wrong but, doesn't vlc use the GPU? I'm looking and in windows it has DirectX and OpenGL output modules and OpenGL in OSX. I'm running a 720p video and it seems that under OpenGL output, VLC is using my GPU.
?
So what do you think, we get one system in May (revo) one in June (asrock), and 38 in nov/dec?