ZOTAC IONITX-P-E: Can Intel's CULV Processors Reinvigorate Interest in NVIDIA's ION?
by Rajinder Gill on August 26, 2010 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Intel
- Mini ITX
- ZOTAC
- NVIDIA
Far Cry 2
Featuring fantastic visuals courtesy of the Dunia Engine, this game also features one of the most impressive benchmark tools we have seen in a PC game. For single GPU results we set the performance feature set to Very High, graphics to High, and enable DX10 with 2xAA.
We'll start off with the IGP stuff first:
On lowest details, Far Cry 2 is just about playable at a resolution of 800x600. You'll gain 5 FPS switching from Atom to 1.2GHz Celeron, but end up around 10~15 FPS behind Clarkdale.
Stepping out to a discrete GPU, the ION systems get blasted to smithereens by the i3-540. ION lacks the raw muscle required to handle the GTX 275. 1.875GHz is the maximum stable frequency we achieved on our processor without running out of cooling headroom. You get a 11 FPS return for a near 700MHz hike in frequency, but it's still less than half of what the i3-540 manages at stock.
Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War II
We are big fans of the Warhammer franchise, especially Dawn of War II. One of the latest RTS games in our library is also one of the more demanding titles on both the CPU and GPU.
Warhammer at lowest settings is pretty much off the table for IGP gaming. We encounterd a problem with this game and the Atom 330 where the game failed to run from our Steam account; crashing back to the desktop before the opening sequence started. We reported the problem back to ASUS who tell us it's a problem on NVIDIA's end and that there are some beta drivers available that supposedly fix the issue. Sadly we ran out of time to check them out for this review.
Back to the GTX 275, and it's a familiar story for the ION. That's one of the irksome limitations of opting for an ION based system, there isn't really any room for upgrading to a decent gaming machine at a later date.
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Ipatinga - Thursday, August 26, 2010 - link
"To Zotac’s credit, we found the IONITX-P-E stable and functional for everyday use..."Yes... for Zotac, when it works, its credit (or a Plus... since even bricked bios Zotac does not take away from it´s download list and solving the problem takes forever).
For other manufacturers... a motherboard that works stable and is fully functional is mandatory (even though some forget that on the launch... and focus on overclock... shame :( )
Still, Zotac does a lot of Mini ITX and it´s good to see many options (hope the competition will catch up). Price wise... well....
fredson - Wednesday, May 23, 2012 - link
Olaestou querendo usar essa placa em sistema para ficar passando imagem em 3 monitores o que vc acha com relaçao ao funcionamento e consumo de energia!!!
abs
Fredson Jorge
hybrid2d4x4 - Thursday, August 26, 2010 - link
Thanks for the review. Since the power consumption is in similar if not better than Atom, have you guys tried running the board without the fan? Did you test what the temps are like (with the fan)?It'd be sweet if you could run this thing passively cooled with the stock heatsink...
mindbomb - Thursday, August 26, 2010 - link
ffdshow includes a truehd transform filter.so the lack of bitstreaming doesn't mean you can't enjoy a truehd track.
aguilpa1 - Thursday, August 26, 2010 - link
I wish we could evolve past this 9400 or 9400 derivitivesDigitalFreak - Thursday, August 26, 2010 - link
There's no reason for Nvidia to come out with another Core2 / Atom chipset. Core2 is a dead end. Both Atom and the Core i CPUs use DMI or QPI for the system bus, and Nvidia doesn't have a license for either of those.Taft12 - Thursday, August 26, 2010 - link
Oh there is plenty of reason for Nvidia to come out with a chipset for this platform. Too bad Uncle Monopoly says no.DigitalFreak - Thursday, August 26, 2010 - link
Boo hooBlendMe - Friday, August 27, 2010 - link
They do have a newer and better chipset, the 320M, which seems to be an Apple exclusive. It is a pretty powerful chip, a least compared to the 9400M. The 320M is what the 9400M was 2 year ago. The absolute minimum and you should not go lower than that.BlendMe - Thursday, August 26, 2010 - link
Hey look! It's a Mac mini! Sort of...