News - ZOTAC releases Mini-ITX Ion boards with CULV CPUs

[HEXUS]

Notebook chips make for capable low-power systems in miniature form-factor.

Read more.

[jim]

Surprised there isn't a Pentium Dual-core option... that or the Celeron dual core would make for a very interesting HTPC build.

[TheAnimus]

I like, the ION I always feel is more capable than the Atom allows it to be.

[BullDogg]

I just don't think it's worth it unless you really need exactly that sort of power usage and performance. You can get dual-core Athlon CPUs and boards for around £110 that will run rings around the CULV chips. The HD3200/4200/4225 graphics core should also be about on par with the Ion chipset.

I guess it could make a nice passively cooled HTPC in the right case though?

[miniyazz]

What about more fully-fledged laptop CPUs? Would they not be yet another middle-ground, offering decent power consumption as well as more respectable performance than 1.3 or 1.2GHz cores, while not as hot or perhaps as well-performing as Athlon dual-cores?

[amdavies]

Mobile on DeskTop mk. 2 ?

[this_is_gav]

I don't see the market personally.

An Atom is more than enough for the vast majority of tasks. If you need more power, you're unlikely to find the ideal chip in only a very small step higher.

How many tasks these days are bottlenecked by the CPU? Really? Why would you buy this over an Atom-based system? Without benchmarking it won't be any slower, and let's face it, you're not going to be encoding any videos with it. It's still aimed at the 2D internet/email/Word user.

I like to see ideas and designs which are different to the main-stream, but I just can't see the point... or any sales.

A CULV would be ideal for most schools, but the market isn't there for the prices to be driven down, hence schools with still go for fully-featured desktop CPUs or go for netbook CPUs.

This is where I feel the netbook/laptop AMDs do have an advantage - decent performing, cheap CPU with strong onboard graphics. They don't dominate the power charts on laptops, but the performance is right where it should be. Fitted with a desktop hard drive they're perfectly positioned for 95% of PCs.