Zotac Ion-based IONITX-A SFF motherboard review roundup

Jonesing for a new small form factor PC, are you? Not so keen on selecting a pre-fabricated unit? If you definitely fit the bill here, it’s worth taking a gander at Zotac’s recently released IONITX-A motherboard. As the first of its breed to actually ship, a whole lot is riding on its solder points, and according to reviews found ’round the web, it’s done a satisfactory job of living up to expectations. The test bench-abusin’ kids over at Hot Hardware found that Zotac’s board (and the included dual-core Atom 330 CPU) performed “as expected,” notching results that were “significantly better than any of the single core Atom 230-based systems.” The unique DC power input was also lauded, and the silent nature made this a perfect candidate for a low-power, highly-capable carputer building block. All in all, this here mobo won’t transform your life, but it’s certainly a welcome extra in the all-too-stale DIY SFF market. Check the links below for all the bar charts you can handle.

Read – Hot Hardware (“most appealing of the Ion-based products”)
Read – PC Perspective (“an impressive motherboard for its size”)
Read – The Tech Report (“as good as the Ion platform gets”)
Read – Tom’s Hardware (“it’s most promising destination is in the HTPC space”)

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Zotac Ion-based IONITX-A SFF motherboard review roundup originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 May 2009 08:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NVIDIA Tesla GPUs now shipping with Dell ‘personal supercomputers’

Been itching to get your hands on a personal supercomputer, as NVIDIA’s ad wizards put it? The company has just announced that its CUDA-based Tesla C1060 GPU is now available in Dell’s Precision R5400, T5500 and T7500 workstations. And just to put things into perspective, NVIDIA points out that a Dell workstation rockin’ a single Tesla C1060 has enough going on under the hood to power the control system for the European Extremely Large Telescope project (“the world’s largest,” apparently). According to one of the developers, Jeff Meisel at National Instruments, a workstation “equipped with a single Tesla C1060 can achieve near real-time control of the mirror simulation and controller, which before wouldn’t be possible in a single machine without the computational density offered by GPUs.” Wild, huh? If you’re curious about the workout that Tesla GPUs are getting on a wide range of projects, from Bio-Informatics to Computational Chemistry to Molecular Dynamics and more — or if you’re merely a glutton for long-winded PR — check out the good stuff after the break.

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NVIDIA Tesla GPUs now shipping with Dell ‘personal supercomputers’ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 May 2009 15:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 285 coming to Macs in June

Mac users — are you tired of being taunted by your PC friends over their myriad GPU options / killer gaming rigs? Well, here’s one less front they can battle you on. We’ve just received a pic of this nasty piece of work in our inboxes with word that it’s due in June. Like the PC version, we’re guessing you can expect two things here: it’s killer… and it’s expensive.

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NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 285 coming to Macs in June originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NVIDIA: 40 Atom-based ION platforms by end of 2009

After being let down by the Atom 230 processor in our review of the Ion-based AspireRevo, we’re comforted by NVIDIA’s promise of more Atom / Ion configurations on the horizon. Forty of ’em by the end of the year including some based on the beefier dual-core Atom 330 processor just like this ASUS reference design that NVIDIA was showing off earlier today. Of course, the Computex show in Taipei (kicking off June 2nd) would be the obvious venue for such a full scale assault against Intel’s GMA lethargy. Fortunately, Engadget Chinese will be on point to witness the carnage.

[Via Tweaktown]

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NVIDIA: 40 Atom-based ION platforms by end of 2009 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Apr 2009 07:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer AspireRevo review

We’ve been thrilling to the ride of Acer’s Ion-powered AspireRevo for a couple of weeks now, and despite its diminutive size and price tag, there’s plenty to talk about. The model we tested included an Atom 230 processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 250GB 2.5-inch HDD for what we’ve heard will carry a suggested retail price of $299. Check out our full impressions after the break.

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Acer AspireRevo review originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Apr 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NVIDIA’s GT300 specs outed — is this the cGPU we’ve been waiting for?

NVIDIA’s been dabbling in the CPU space behind closed doors for years now, but with Intel finally making a serious push into the GPU realm, it’s about time the firm got serious with bringing the goods. BSN has it that the company’s next-generation GT300 will be fundamentally different than the GT200 — in fact, it’s being hailed as the “first truly new architecture since SIMD (Single-Instruction Multiple Data) units first appeared in graphical processors.” Beyond this, the technobabble runs deep, but the long and short of it is this: NVIDIA could be right on the cusp of delivering a single chip that can handle tasks that were typically separated for the CPU and GPU, and we needn’t tell you just how much your life could change should it become a reality. Now, if only NVIDIA would come clean and lift away some of this fog surrounding it (and the rumored GTX 380), that’d be just swell.

[Thanks, Musouka]

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NVIDIA’s GT300 specs outed — is this the cGPU we’ve been waiting for? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 26 Apr 2009 13:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First Ion-based netbooks reportedly on track for June debut

Nothing is completely official just yet, but Pocket-lint is reporting that its inside source at NVIDIA has “confirmed” that the initial batch of Ion-based netbooks will be announced at the big Computex trade show at the beginning of June, and that the first few netbooks could start shipping “as early as July.” Of course, there’s no word on any specific companies involved just yet, with the source only going so far as to say that the announcements will come from some “key players.” Acer would seem to be about as close to a sure thing as there is, however, considering that it just recently launched the first Ion-based nettop, the AspireRevo, and that it’s never passed up an opportunity to roll out yet another new nettbook in the past.

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First Ion-based netbooks reportedly on track for June debut originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Apr 2009 16:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Zotac jumping in Ion-filled waters with new Mini-ITX motherboards

We’d heard a few whispers rolling through the gentle breeze that Zotac would be hopping on the Ion bandwagon early on, and sure enough, it looks like said firm is indeed latched on. Reportedly, the outfit will be producing a few Mini-ITX motherboards in the near future that support Intel’s Atom 230 / 330 processors and come loaded with NVIDIA’s GeForce 9400M G chipsets. The mobos would also include all of the basic amenities: Ethernet, two RAM slots, HDMI / DVI / VGA outputs, a trio of SATA ports and a WiFi module. There’s still no word on what system maker is looking to slap these into their next-generation nettops, but who knows, maybe this will end up being the first standalone Ion-based board for the DIYers in attendance.

[Via Expreview, thanks Shawn]

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Zotac jumping in Ion-filled waters with new Mini-ITX motherboards originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Apr 2009 09:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NVIDIA rolls out Quadro FX 4800 graphics card for Mac Pro users

Been itching to add an $1,800 graphics card to your shiny new Mac Pro? Then you’re in luck, as NVIDIA has now finally made its high-end Quadro FX 4800 graphics card available to Mac users, just a few short months after PC folk first got their hands on it. Of course the core specs of the card remain unchanged, and include a 1.5GB frame buffer with memory bandwidth up to 76.8 GB/sec, a pair of dual-link DVI connectors with some added support for 3D stereo glasses, 192 stream processors, a maximum power consumption of 150W, and some Boot Camp support right out of the gate. You’ll still have to wait a tiny bit longer to check out all that for yourself, however, as the first cards apparently won’t be available until some time next month.

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NVIDIA rolls out Quadro FX 4800 graphics card for Mac Pro users originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer launches first NVIDIA Ion-based nettop: AspireRevo

Yet again, the rumors were (almost) true. A day earlier than anticipated, Acer is launching what amounts to NVIDIA’s first Ion-based nettop beyond those on display at CES and the like. The AspireRevo is debuting today alongside a plethora of other Acer wares, boasting a 1.6GHz Intel Atom 230 processor, up to 4GB of RAM, up to 250GB of HDD space, a 4-in-1 card reader, HDMI / VGA outputs, gigabit Ethernet, six USB 2.0 sockets, audio in / out, Windows Vista Home Premium / Basic and a svelte black and white enclosure that measures just 7.1- x 7.1- x 1.2-inches. The built-in Ion GPU means that this bugger is completely capable of handling 1080p (and thus, Blu-ray) content, DirectX 10 and even mildly demanding games such as Call of Duty 4 and Spore. Acer’s staying mum on a price and release date, but we’re still hearing that the late Q2 time frame is a safe bet. Check the full release just past the break.

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Acer launches first NVIDIA Ion-based nettop: AspireRevo originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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