Zotac ION N330 WiFi ITX Motherboard

HD, Gaming & Synthetic Benchmarks

Published: 22nd July 2009 | Source: Zotac | Price: £177 | Author: Milind Chidrawar

High Definition and Gaming Performance

One of the Zotac ION board's major selling points is it's nVidia based integrated graphics, which at least on paper is far superior to Intel's offering. First, we'll take a look at how well the GeForce 9400M handles 1080p High Definition media.

Measuring the 9400's ability in this part of the test is recorded in terms of CPU Utilisation, where less is better. I was left very impressed by an average usage of 22-25%. It should also be noted that the 7.1 sound device functioned perfectly via HDMI and the quality was excellent.

Next is a short session of Battlefield 2, a game released in 2005. At the time of release it was a very demanding game. Let's see how today's embedded CPU solutions cope with the game.

The image quality wasn't exactly amazing particularly without any Anti Aliasing or Anisotrophic Filtering applied but the general fluidity of game play was respectable. As you can see from the minimum framerates achieved, the game play did feel a little choppy at times. I'd also like to point out that while in our testing the frame rates topped out at a rather frisky 72fps, these were exceptional peaks and the lower average figure shows that performance was skewed to the lower half of the 18fps to 72fps range.

Call of Duty 4, a more recent release was a little too demanding for the little ION platform despite playing in a lower resolution with no Anti Aliasing or Anisotrophic Filterising. That being said, the GeForce 9400 based graphics prevented the game from being a complete slide show, which I’m sure would have happened if we were dealing with an Atom platform paired with the Intel 945GC’s integrated graphics.

FarCry 2 didn’t fare particularly well and to be frank it was to be expected. Such games simply cannot run well on this platform.

The results may not seem all that impressive upon initial impression but when one considers that it's coming from a CPU that consumes as much as an energy saver lamp and an integrated graphics module, it must be admitted that the motherboard performed admirably well.

Synthetic Benchmarks

We set aside a fairly large number of Synthetic Benchmarks to evaluate various aspects of the Zotac ION.

3DMark06

Clear proof that this platform is definitely not for games though 1396 marks is definitely not abysmal for what it is. I however would suspect that the Intel Atom CPU is actually bottlenecking the ability of the GeForce 9400M. More on that later.

Cinebench R10 64bit

This is a highly CPU intensive application that renders a picture, times how long it took and then provides a corresponding score. It goes without saying but we knew from the beginning that this application probably wouldn't bode well with the Atom but considered it a worthwhile application to use regardless.

We were right. It performed rather poorly when compared to fully fledged CPU's. It wasn't so bad when used in Multi Core mode however and with the help of Hyperthreading Technology, there was a speedup of 2.77x when compared to the same test in Single Core mode. The Zotac ION is unlikely to ever have to see this sort of abuse at the homes it'll most likely go to.

SiSoft Sandra – CPU Performance - Processor Arithmetic Test

The Processor Arithmetic test had been chosen as a means of understanding the capability of the Atom Dual Core processor. Using SiSoft Sandra's CPU figures, we also had a means of comparing the CPU to others.

The results are far from appauling. Our results show the Atom Dual Core performing in a similar ballpark to Intel's 1.0-1.2GHz Core 2 Duo Mobile processors. Perfect for home use and as found in our previous testing, it's still adequate for reliable media playback.

SiSoft Sandra – Chipset Performance – Memory Bandwith Test

The nForce 7 MCP chipset offers support for RAM up to DDR2-800 frequencies in Dual Channel mode. This test should indicate whether such memory can be well harnessed on the ION 330 ITX.

The results indicated above are considerably lower than the expected ballpark figures with a traditional desktop setup with the same DDR2-800 RAM. The figures presented are nearer the bandwith figures expected from DDR2-400 / 533 sets. While, circa 2.5GB/sec is not exactly going to hinder the performance of a system built around the Atom platform, it still raised an eyebrow.

Sisoft Sandra – Wireless Performance Test

This test revealed fairly mediocre performance from the inbuild Atheros Wireless Adapter when compared to other equipment. I should note however that until executing this benchmark I had not even noticed the exceptionally high latency and low data transfer rate.

SiSoft Sandra – Hard Disk Performance

The results achieved were exactly as expected for this particular Hard Disk Drive. From this we did not observe any weaknesses in the motherboard’s SATA performance.

Most Recent Comments

22-07-2009, 15:59:23

Jim

"They say that the best things come in small packages, but does this rule also apply to PC components? Join us as we review the Zotac ION 330 ITX platform." by Mul.

http://www.overclock3d.net/gfx/artic...085839890s.jpg

Zotac ION N330 WiFi ITX 'A' Motherboard

22-07-2009, 16:29:26

w3bbo

Nice review Mul.

Dunno if I would have been so generous with the marks being as tight as I am! I've never really grasped the point of mini pc's with so many good notebooks around now there just seems little point. A form factor to far maybe? For the price I would've liked to have seen a better cooling solution.

That said m8, good review

The graph needs fixing (load temp/passive)

22-07-2009, 17:02:06

noobieocer

i prefer mini itxs over laptops for home use becuase simply i hate how laptops get so hot and toasty. while mini itx temps can change depending on how you cool it.

22-07-2009, 17:12:44

Rastalovich

Only on OC3D would a mobo aimed at an entertainment (mainly) audience be installed with FarCry2 and oc'd

Sounds like an awesome mobo for ur htpc, full web and office needs.

Imo u/OC3D should install WoW on them. Not on any fan basis, but it's the single game those who intensely do the above would be likely to play otherwize. (hardcore fps'ers generally have gaming rigs, WoW u can play on a laptop) I am surprized there's no WoW benchmark tool for these purposes - argument being it isn't testing, but from the experience I get - "can u build me a pc, I do this'n'this - oh and play WoW", generally that's it.

Great oc test, good mobo, great review.

I'd be interested if the dc adapter has the balls to grow with the oc over a period.

22-07-2009, 17:33:21

Mul.

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='w3bbo'

The graph needs fixing (load temp/passive)

The graph doesn't indicate a passive load as the temperatures simply didn't settle and continued to rise under passive conditions. That said, the ambient temperatures, the airflow in a HTPC environment and the tough Linpack test were major contibuting factors and in other situations it may have functioned fine. To an extend I also agree with your sentiments about Mini ITX, particularly due to it's pricing. After all, £175 would buy a much faster CPU/Motherboard/Graphics/PSU combo in ATX flavour!

Many thanks for the feedback

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='noobieocer'

i prefer mini itxs over laptops for home use becuase simply i hate how laptops get so hot and toasty. while mini itx temps can change depending on how you cool it.

Also a fair point. The Zotac was placed in a HTPC environment and I feel that this is particularly where it excels especially if space is a major concern. The Atom CPU will always be a limitation of the platform and personally, that would make me think twice before downsizing my own HTPC to something like this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='Rastalovich'

Only on OC3D would a mobo aimed at an entertainment (mainly) audience be installed with FarCry2 and oc'd

I would say that the DC adapter would probably be okay in the longterm with the mild overclock as the Atom CPU itself consumes a very small amount of power and without being able to raise it's Voltage, I doubt I could get power consumption to rise that much. There was however scope to add one more optical drive or hard disk drive, which may have affected power supply performance more. Interesting thought about the use of WoW though. Cheers for the feedback

22-07-2009, 18:24:05

tinytomlogan

Very nicely done dude. Been looking into mini itx myself. This mobo wouldnt suit me, but a great informative review.

22-07-2009, 18:27:52

Mul.

Cheers dude, though if it's performance you're after, take a gander at the Zotac GeForce 9300 ITX WiFi. Still very happy with mine

It's just a shame that no one offers any Socket AM2+/AM3 ITX boards with a full PCI-E 16x slot. J&W have one but it's TDP limited and only does PCI-E at 4x bandwith.

22-07-2009, 20:33:38

denis6902

Sorry guys, but i thibk i was the first lucky one to get my hands on the mobo!

23-07-2009, 07:54:57

Rastalovich

That last shot is a good one with the CD on the mobo. Puts it all into perspective.

23-07-2009, 08:13:41

monkey7

Very nice review, I spotted two errors though:

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='"introduction"'

As time moved on3, a number of motherboards began to trickle

Typo?

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='"BIOS section"'

No abnormal behaviour was observed while applying settings such as a blank screen or CMOS Checksum Error. All in all, a very comprehensive BIOS for a motherboard of this type.

Might want to reorder that sentence, it now sounds like you applied a blank screen or CMOS checksum error setting

Also, how is the wireless reception? A motherboard like this will most probably be used as a media center and possibly stream media off an NAS using wireless. How is the range / speed compared to something else you already have?

23-07-2009, 08:48:22

Mul.

Many thanks for pointing those out. I'd looked through the final article multiple times and yet more errors! *face palm*

Wireless reception was more than adequate, operating at 54mbps throughout usage, some 40ft from the router including two major walls. My only real reservation about the WiFi was the data transfer rate result from SiSoft Sandra's WiFi benchmark. In real world usage however, I didn't notice the wireless adapter performing poorly at all.

23-07-2009, 16:22:48

denis6902

i hope the pics have helped whoever is interested in them too.

Pic with dvd on top was eactly for the perspective comparinson. take it easy!

23-07-2009, 16:59:02

FarFarAway

Mini-ITX is a format I've always been tempted to get into. Especially to grab an old bit of AV kit, scrape out the innards and stuff an entire PC in it. Loving the ideas more and more. That and the fact you could build a proper passive PC. It's just a shame it's missing a PCI-E slot for a sound card as I feel that would be a huge benefit

Great little review Mul. mate, looks like a nice bit of kit.

23-07-2009, 20:08:32

denis6902

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='Kempez'

in that case u should look into the Zotack Mini-ITX 9300 which has the pic-e 16x and also socket 775!

24-07-2009, 04:44:10

FarFarAway

I would still want Atom, just with a decent sound card.

09-08-2009, 13:51:01

Acic

Is it possible to upgrade it to atom 2.0 ??

09-08-2009, 14:28:49

Jim

I'm wondering how tall the cooler is on that thing because I quite fancy gutting my Sony DVD Player and fitting it out with a complete HTPC setup if physically possible.

09-08-2009, 15:15:14

PeterStoba

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='Jim'

I'm wondering how tall the cooler is on that thing because I quite fancy gutting my Sony DVD Player and fitting it out with a complete HTPC setup if physically possible.

Doesn't look much taller than the IO backplate, so around 35mm?

09-08-2009, 16:28:58

denis6902

i will make a shot for all as soon as i can,

kisses to all! :**********

16-09-2009, 04:22:08

Johnbear

This mobo wouldnt suit me, but a great informative review.

-

16-09-2009, 14:56:24

Ducky Spud

Ha, was just reading that review last night, bit odd for the thread to just appear again!

But yea, one thing Im thinking is whats the difference between this, the A series one, and the D series one? The A is still around £170 but the D can be found for about £140, and looking over the spec I cant see any difference at all... so Im curious lol

EDIT: After just studying photos of the boards straight after posting these, the A doesnt come with an 24pin ATX socket as it uses the powersupply it comes with which plugs into the back. The D series does have the socket though, so guessing its cheaper as you dont get a power supply with it?

17-09-2009, 04:00:15

Mul.

Looks like it, Ducky. Out of convenience, I feel that the A version is worth the extra cash.

17-09-2009, 15:49:35

Ducky Spud

But the case Im looking at come with a 120W power supply anyway, so would prefer to save the money. Also the one that comes with the mobo is only 90W (I think!)... not that I'll need much more in a mini ITX rig but still

10-10-2009, 18:20:36

denis6902

project log is on the go: http://forum.overclock3d.net/showthread.php?t=30641

Zotac ION N330 WiFi ITX Motherboard

HD, Gaming & Synthetic Benchmarks

Published: 22nd July 2009 | Source: Zotac | Price: £177 | Author: Milind Chidrawar

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