ASRock ION 3D - A Next Generation ION HTPC
by Cameron Butterfield on January 14, 2011 3:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Home Theater
- ION
- ASRock
- Media Streamer
- HTPC
Overclocking
In addition to providing full control of the clocks in this system, ASRock has included some basic overclocking profiles in the BIOS. The stock speed of the Atom processor is 1.8GHz, and CPU overclock profiles range from 1.9GHz to 2.1GHz. The NVIDIA GPU also has overclocking options from 550MHz to 650MHz. Simply bumping the clocks up using the overclocking profiles on the test system resulted in a bootable but unstable system; I increased the CPU voltage to ensure stability and was able to run Prime95 for several hours after making this minor adjustment. This ends up being a 16% overclock—nothing outstanding, but when using an Atom processor, you take whatever you can get.
Power Consumption and Fans
ASRock rates the system at 27W. I found this statement to be accurate, as the system registered only 24W on a Kill-a-Watt meter at idle speeds in my testing. The ION 3D ships with a fan configuration very similar to the 100HT. The fans were sent out stock at the lowest setting resulting in a very quiet machine. Even when the processor and GPU usage ramped up, the fans never increased in speed and remained essentially inaudible during all testing.
General Usage Observations
During the course of this review, I observed some behavior using this Atom based system that was somewhat unexpected with regard to performance. While the ION 3D did play back almost all media files perfectly, there were some issues when attempting to skip between different parts of the video being played. Pauses and re-syncing audio and video feeds sometimes took longer than would be considered desirable in a media streaming device. In addition, the platform experienced considerable choppiness/unresponsiveness when simply copying files across a gigabit network; this showed up using the DPC latency program.
The majority of these slight performance issues can be chalked up to the Atom platform, which simply isn't going to be as responsive as mainstream desktop processor platforms. Prospective purchasers of this system should keep in mind the desktop performance capabilities of an Atom based system, and given the potential to improve both CPU and graphics performance AMD's Brazos platforms are probably worth waiting for.
Additional Features
ASRock tries to pack as many features as possible into its systems, and the ION 3D is no exception. Some of the features that ASRock lists are basic items that any computer would have (i.e. listing the speed of the memory), but the company has also used some unique features on this device such as the ASRock App Charger, which allows your iPhone and iPod devices to charge at a quicker rate than they would using a normal USB connection. This is a nice touch and can be somewhat useful for users who happen to own i-devices. The only catch is that the ION 3D needs to be in hibernate, standby, or off modes for this to work.
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kpresler - Friday, January 14, 2011 - link
"The included hard disk is a Hitachi 2.5" drive this time, slightly smaller than the seagate 500GB HDD used in the Core 100HT-BD, but the ION 3D's lower cost comes at the expense performance and a few different component choices" should probably be "The included hard disk is a Hitachi 2.5" drive this time, slightly smaller than the seagate 500GB HDD used in the Core 100HT-BD, but the ION 3D's lower cost comes at the expense of performance and a few different component choices"Also, on page 2, "65 AC Adapter" should probably be "65w AC Adapter"
cjs150 - Friday, January 14, 2011 - link
I will be waiting for the AMD version: simple reason the HTPC needs to be connected to high end AV receiver and I would prefer a single HDMI cable to do that.Other key issue for me is noise. I have a high end Sony Blu-ray player and at time I can here it when playing a movie. I am not seeing this issue being address correctly yet by manufacturers. DVD/Blu-ray drives should be soft mounted (or at least better mounted than current). There should be no need for a fan (maybe a very slow running one at worst for whole case) if the case is properly ventilated. One of the problems is that so many case builders persist with mounting HD and optical players above the motherboard. From a heat point of view this is daft, far better would be to mount below the motherboard and then have a sides and top mesh covered to allow better convection (Morena 3500 I think does it this way but is a much less pretty case and still has mounting issues)
tech6 - Friday, January 14, 2011 - link
Agreedhttp://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/asrock-e350m1-...
jabber - Friday, January 14, 2011 - link
I pushed out around 20+ of the previous version for small office upgrades.Nothing but 100% positive feedback. They love them.
vol7ron - Friday, January 14, 2011 - link
I, myself, don't have an HTPC yet. I'm looking to build one with the Ceton InitiTV4, which I've been hounding AT to do a review on (doesn't look like it's going to happen).That being said, if I don't use a tuner card, this looks like something I'd be interested in too - your office must have a nice setup :)
inaphasia - Friday, January 14, 2011 - link
I've got the Asus 1215n netbook (same proc & GPU with the ASRock) but Windows experience is showing 3.2 for Graphics. It's probably just ignoring the ION, question is: should I care? ( I mean I "get" the whole Optimus business of the ION kickin' in when needed...)But more importantly, should I manually update the ION drivers? Keep in mind that Asus don't have newer one's ATM, and nVidia won't recognize the netbook (just keeps scanning).
Thanx!
Calin - Friday, January 14, 2011 - link
Ion is not such a powerful graphic engine, I think Windows Experience is showing correctly a 3.2 (the max I've heard about was something around 6.8).I remember that ION is not using integrated graphics at all, it's not an Optimus platform (but I might be wrong, so take this with a grain of salt)
inaphasia - Friday, January 14, 2011 - link
No and no... sorry:)It IS an Optimus platform and the ASRock's ION Graphics here are showing 5.2!
kilkennycat - Friday, January 14, 2011 - link
I have a 1215N-PU17 and have manually updated the nV driver (from the nV website, ION-Notebook-Win7 32bit) to 260.99, the latest available for ION notebooks. No obvious adverse effects, roughly 2 months since I updated. Like you, the nV scanner did not work and Asus Update remains firmly silent. Iirc, I forced the update because the original Asus shipped driver was unable to play Blurays on the notebook screen; did fine via HDMI. The 260.99 driver has no such problem with notebook screen and Blurays. ( Cyberlink 9 with External usb2.0 portable Bluray reader/DVD-burner).Also the Win7-32 ION laptop driver version of 260.99 comes with an embedded tool that graphically indicates whether Optimus is enabled or not. You can enable it by selecting "Display GPU Activity Icon in the Notification Area" from the "View" drop-down on the nVidia Control Panel screen. This generates an new icon in the Notification Area. If you click on this icon, it will tell you whether ION is running on an app.... The 260.99 View drop-down also has the selection: "Add 'Run with Graphics Processor' to Context Menu". If that is enabled, it adds a new line to the (Right-click)context menu for any of your on-screen icons that says "Run with graphics processor:- " and you can either choose which graphics processor (integrated or ION) to temporarily to run with that app, or permanently set the default graphics processor for that app (brings up the nVidia Control Panel, pointing to that app). fyi: There is a bug here. If the nVidia Control Panel is already open, it may stop working after the Context Menu selection and Win7 complains appropriately. Just close the nV Control Panel app. and repeat the selection from the Context Menu; the nV Control Panel should now open normally.
Disclaimer... "your mileage may vary", update at your own risk!!. As I recall, the Asus version 1217N shipped driver is not listed at all (nether beta nor WHQL) on the nV website. Probably because Asus had to pack something in the machine and their on-disk system backup image as early as possible to comply with manufacturing release. Certainly 260.99 was not available at that time. Very strange that Asus Update still does not offer a 260.99 update. However, if you need to back down for any reason, the shipped driver is in the Asus 1215N downloads on the Asus website. Would recommend a "Create System Restore" before attempting to install the 260.99 driver; With the 260 variety drivers, the nV install mechanism has changed... I suggest selecting ticking the "clean Install" box on the driver Install screen to be sure the old driver is completely purged..
inaphasia - Saturday, January 15, 2011 - link
That's exactly the kind of answer I was hoping for. Can't thank you enough! Deeply appreciated!