Two New Ions: ASUS AT3N7A-I and ASRock Ion 330
by Anand Lal Shimpi on August 28, 2009 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Overclocking
When I first tested the Zotac Ion board I managed to overclock the 1.6GHz Atom 330 CPU to 1.92GHz, using a 160MHz FSB.
The ASUS board boasts slightly better overclocking. Our 1.6GHz Atom 330 managed to hit 2.0GHz using a 167MHz FSB.
The ASRock was the overclocking champ. While I could get the machine to POST at 2.15GHz, it was the most stable at 2.04GHz (170MHz x 12). It’s tough to say whether the better overclocking was due to motherboard design or simply better yields on the later Atom CPUs compared to what was on the Zotac.
At 2.04GHz the performance improvement over the stock Atom was noticeable:
| PCMark Vantage - Productivity | 512 256MB|
| Intel Atom 330 (1.6GHz) | 4255 |
| Intel Atom 330 2.04GHz (170MHz x 12) | 4817 |
| Performance Improvement | 13.2% |
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rudy - Friday, August 28, 2009 - link
ASUS is messed up in this respect the last a8n-e board I used had the same stupid issue a small fan that was loud and broke down easily on the south bridge. It must be a cost issue but it causes more problems then its worth. I replaced it with a passive heatsink rather then getting a free one from asus cause I knew the free replacement would not be much better.bh192012 - Friday, August 28, 2009 - link
Put the bluray drive all the way at the top, make the case 1 to 2 cm deeper and or higher and put a row of low rpm 60mm fans in the front. You could get two to three times the airflow and it would be quieter. Also, why have the restrictive punchouts in the back for the rear fan, seems you could open that up much more. Punch more holes all along the sides or in the blank area in the back.yuchai - Friday, August 28, 2009 - link
I agree with this. These smaller devices are meant to be placed on the desk and are pretty close for the user. I wouldn't mind having them at a bigger size if that's what it takes to bring the noise level down.Das Capitolin - Friday, August 28, 2009 - link
The hard drive beside the ASRock ION 330 is not what comes with the unit. It ships with a 320GB notebook drive, and not a 3.5" desktop drive.Anand Lal Shimpi - Friday, August 28, 2009 - link
The hard drive was just included to show the small size of the machine, I'll clarify in a caption :)Take care,
Anand
yehuda - Friday, August 28, 2009 - link
I don't think this was mentioned, but Asus has also introduced an Ion-based EeeBox, which is a complete system.http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=wH1q2VTqyLXa...">http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=wH1q2VTqyLXa...
Anand, you think you could request a sample?
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millerduck - Friday, August 28, 2009 - link
That unit looks sweet. I stumbled on it over the last two days and am planning a Windows Home Server based on it.Looks to be fanless, 330 w/ION, eSATA for additional storage, gigabit Ethernet. A perfect WHS "appliance" for my house.
MD
Anand Lal Shimpi - Friday, August 28, 2009 - link
Just requested it :) Waiting to hear back from ASUS on their plans for this thing in North America.Take care,
Anand
yehuda - Saturday, August 29, 2009 - link
Thanks, please keep us posted.