Nvidia Ion

Nvidia Ion
Manufacturer Nvidia

Nvidia Ion is a product line of Nvidia corporation intended for motherboards of low-cost portable computers. It uses graphics processing units and chipsets intended for small products.

Description

Nvidia Ion products include a GeForce 9M (9xxxM) series MCP79MX (with integrated GeForce 9400M G GPU) chipset, DDR3-1066 or DDR2-800 SDRAM, and the Intel Atom processor. The original reference platform was based on a Pico-ITXe motherboard designed for netbook and nettop devices. In February 2009, Microsoft certified the Ion-based platform for Windows Vista.[1] The small form factor Ion-based computers were released in mid-2009. Ion systems were DirectX 10.0 and OpenGL 3.3 capable. This allowed playback of full 1080p high-definition video with true-fidelity 7.1 surround sound audio output with VDPAU or the Third Generation PureVideo HD feature.[2] Ion systems can also use CUDA (Nvidia's General-Purpose Computing on Graphics Processing Units technology),[3] as well as OpenCL. ION-LE–based systems shared the same basic hardware as ION but lacked Vista and DirectX 10 support.[3]

It was originally believed to be unlikely that Ion systems would ever enter into mass production and were thus unlikely to pose competition to Intel's own chipsets for the Atom platform, due to Intel's unwillingness to supply Atom processors separate from the 945GSE and 945GC chipsets with which the CPUs are usually supplied.[4] While manufacturers could still buy an Atom-plus-chipset package and remove the CPU for use on an Ion board, it hardly seems likely given the costs involved, especially given the low-cost leanings of the nettop and netbook market.[5] However, Intel later denied those claims, and a spokesperson for Intel said Intel sells Atom as a stand-alone processor.[6]

Nvidia announced that it would release the Ion platform for the VIA Nano processor some time in Q4 2009.[7]

For full-sized laptops, the Ion platform promised 5x faster graphics and video transcoding with an 80% lower CPU cost when compared to the Intel GM45 graphics. For netbooks and nettops 10x faster graphics and video transcoding when compared to the Intel 945GSE graphics. For all-in-ones, the Ion platform is capable of displaying resolutions up to 2560 × 1600.[3]

Acer announced the release of their Aspire Revo which is the first model available for retail purchase to be built on the Ion platform.

Zotac International launched four Nvidia Ion-based motherboards in Mini-ITX form factor. An Ion system based on their IONITX A-U dual-core Atom 330 motherboard draws 30 watts total from the AC line cord, including hard disk and DVD drives, while playing and upscaling a DVD.[8]

Specifications

Ion (first-generation Nvidia Ion)

Zotac motherboard
Rear connectors of Zotac motherboard

Ion 2 (next-generation Nvidia Ion)

The ION chip in 10-inch netbooks with Pinetrail Atoms offers only eight shader cores and a clock rate of 405 MHz. According to Nvidia, the performance should still be similar to the first generation of ION. The power consumption of 6 watts is rather low, and therefore fully suited for small netbooks. The 12" version features all 16 cores of the GT218 chip and is clocked at 475 MHz, with a power consumption of 12 watts. The performance should be above the old ION platform. The desktop version is clocked even higher at 535 MHz as no power restrictions have to be met, since the desktop versions don't communicate through a PCI-Express x1 bus, as the netbook versions do, thus not being restricted to x1 bandwidth.

Existing products

This list is non-exhaustive.

Motherboards

Desktop systems

An ASRock ION 330HT-BD

Netbook systems

Discontinued support

NVIDIA will cease driver support for Nvidia ION series on April 1 2016.[33]


See also

References

  1. ↑ "NVIDIA Collaborates With Microsoft To Make Premium, Low-Cost PCs A Reality". News release. Nvidia. February 11, 2009. Retrieved June 2, 2011.
  2. ↑ Computerbase.de: Test: Zotac IONITX-A (Nvidia Ion), page 2: "Im Videobereich verlässt sich Nvidia beim Ion auf PureVideo HD der dritten Generation [...]"
  3. 1 2 3 "Next-Generation NVIDIA ION Graphics Processors". Nvidia web site. Retrieved June 2, 2011.
  4. ↑ http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20081223PD216.html
  5. ↑ http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/12/26/intel-says-no-to-nvidia-s-ion/1
  6. ↑ http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3793391/Intel%20Denies%20Squeezing%20nVidia%20Out%20From%20Atom.htm
  7. ↑ http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/nivida-ion-platform-to-support-via-nano-processors-this-year/
  8. ↑ http://www.flickr.com/photos/11292615@N02/3714919608/in/set-72157621353465380/
  9. ↑ http://www.aleutia.com/products/h1
  10. ↑ http://usa.aopen.com/Products.aspx?id=74
  11. ↑ http://www.asrock.com/nettop/overview.asp?Model=ION%20330
  12. ↑ http://www.asrock.com/nettop/overview.asp?Model=ION%20330HT-BD
  13. ↑ http://www.foxconnchannel.com/ProductDetail.aspx?T=NanoPC&U=en-us0000014
  14. ↑ http://www.giada.cc/chanpinzhongxin/minipc/
  15. ↑ http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:category.details?current-catalog-id=12F0696583E04D86B9B79B0FEC01C087&current-category-id=7989AA4D07004515BEDB0E93AED8B49D
  16. ↑ http://www.orbitmicro.com/global/build.php?products_id=11431
  17. ↑ http://www.orbitmicro.com/global/build.php?products_id=11433
  18. ↑ http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?leg=&psn=000106&pid=1088
  19. ↑ http://www.shuttle.eu/products/ultra-small/xs35gt/overview/
  20. ↑ http://www.viewsonic.com/products/vot132.htm
  21. ↑ http://www.zareason.com/shop/product.php?productid=16205&cat=0&page=1
  22. ↑ http://www.zotacusa.com/products/mini-pcs
  23. ↑ http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/15/acer-aspire-one-532g-first-to-feature-nvidia-ion-2-switchable-gr/
  24. ↑ http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=30dqaE10a0LUo9XJ
  25. ↑ http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Asus-Eee-PC-1015PN-Netbook.40432.0.html
  26. ↑ http://www.notebookcheck.net/Newsentry.153+M54ad54f1b63.0.html
  27. ↑ http://gadgetmix.com/index/asus-1201-nl-review/
  28. ↑ http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=HrglRhH8D60Rmlv3
  29. ↑ http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/24/hps-ion-infused-mini-311-netbook-now-on-sale-starts-at-400/
  30. ↑ http://www.netbookchoice.com/2009/10/22/lenovo-ideapad-s12-ion-now-on-sale-in-us/
  31. ↑ http://www.pointofview-online.com/showroom.php?shop_mode=product_detail&product_id=114&site_id=2
  32. ↑ http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Samsung-N510-Ion-Netbook.21362.0.html
  33. ↑ EOL driver support for legacy products

External links

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