Zotac NM10-DTX Motherboard
Testbed, BIOS & Overclocking
Published: 20th May 2010 | Source: Zotac | Price: £114.99 |
Testbed
Intel Atom D510 @ 1.66GHz
Zotac NM10-DTX Motherboard
2GB Patriot PC2-6400C4 DDR2 RAM
nVidia GeForce 8800GT 512mb GDDR3
Samsung Spinpoint F1 320GB SATA II HDD
Samsung 22x DVD+/-RW
BeQuiet! Dark Power 750W 80PLUS PSU
Windows 7 Home Premium x64
Initial Impressions
As expected the installation process was trouble free and the motherboard POST'ed first time. It should be noted that Windows 7 will not detect the NM10-DTX's Black SATA Ports until the JMicron drivers are installed. Speaking of drivers, Zotac still haven't fixed the Autorun functionality on their Driver CD. After manually exploring the Disc for drivers and a system restart the testbed was now fully prepped for testing.
Despite Intel's GMA Drivers installed our Dell Ultrasharp 2408WFP could only operate at a maximum resolution of 1366x768. Completely forgetting that this motherboard wasn't nVidia ION based, the limitations of the GMA3150 graphics adapter became all too apparent. This was indeed the maximum supported resolution over Digital Output (HDMI), while the VGA output can support up to 1400x1050. For a motherboard that weighs in at £115, this is very disappointing.
That said, we were very satisfied by the NM10-DTX's Wireless and Sound capabilities. The Realtek Audio module is one that we have frequently come across on a wide range of motherboards. Unless you are an audiophile, the integrated solution will more than suffice. Meanwhile, the Atheros 802.11g Wireless Adapter maintained a sustained 54Mbps transfer rate and never suffered from a drop out.
BIOS
For most DIY builders, the NM10-DTX motherboard layout should appear very familiar. The location of parameters are exactly where you might expect them.
Zotac have also implemented a basic set of overclocking parameters. It is possible to manipulate the Atom CPU's Base Frequency, CPU, Memory and Chipset Voltages. It is also possible to select from three DRAM ratios; DDR2-533/667/800.
Temperatures & Overclocking
We were rather impressed by the NM10-DTX's cooling performance. Loading just shy of 70c, there doesn't appear to be a need for active cooling on it's heatsink. This is a major selling point for the Zotac as many of it's competitors feature a small fan on their heatsinks. As always, do ensure that your chassis offers a sensible level of airflow to prevent the risk of overheating.
The new Atom D510 features a faster Front Side Bus frequency of 166MHz (667MHz effective) and as such, this was bound to limit our attempts. In fact, our maximum stable base frequency was determined at 171MHz, resulting in an overall frequency of 1713MHz.
While offering overclocking paramters in BIOS was a nice touch by Zotac, it's quite clear that overclocking the Atom D510 was a fruitless endeavour.
Most Recent Comments
All the way through it I find myself thinking about each component as "it's nearly good enough..".
The price breaks it tho. Play music, browse the net on ur tv, email and office (well an older version of office).
A step up in each component and it could be so much better. Atleast be capable of 1080 and it'd have much more use.
Yes, you can always drop a competent GPU into the NM10-DTX but at this pricepoint you shouldn't need to. The nVidia ION that we have tried multiple times can do HD up to 1080p without breaking much of a sweat and can even do CUDA accelerated tasks such as video encoding (with apps such as Badaboom). The nVidia ION2 for the new NM10/Atom D510 platform is even better still.
Sadly, all this review has proven is that the Atom is like a fish out of water when nVidia's ION GPU isn't present. The endgame is that similar money will buy you an ION equipped motherboard.
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