Zotac ZBOX HD-ID11 Review: Next Gen ION is Better & Worse than ION1
by Anand Lal Shimpi on May 6, 2010 3:51 PM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
- Next Generation ION
- HD-ID11
- ZOTAC
- NVIDIA
Final Words
By not including native H.264 decode acceleration in Pine Trail Intel assured NVIDIA another year of success with ION. Compared to a standard Pine Trail Atom nettop you get the ability to play H.264 content and even play some light 3D games at low quality settings. Personally I think it’s a great option for an HTPC.
NVIDIA’s Next Generation ION isn’t exactly the follow on that we expected. While GPU performance has improved, in many cases it’s a bit slower than the original ION thanks to the anemic PCIe x1 connection to the chipset. This isn’t NVIDIA’s fault, it’s simply a reality that we have to deal with.
Thankfully there’s no impact to H.264 playback, so if you’re going to use it primarily a s a HTPC then you’ll get all of the benefits of the original ION with a slightly faster CPU. If you do care about gaming or CUDA performance then you might find yourself disappointed. It’s still way better than a bare Pine Trail platform, but it’s just not an improvement over the original ION.
The obvious argument against NG-ION would be for Pine Trail + Broadcom Crystal HD decoder to handle video playback. The issue there is missing HDMI support from Intel's integrated graphics core. By not taking the HTPC market seriously, Intel has left the door wide open for NVIDIA.
The Flash limitations are also potentially a deal breaker for some. We’ll have to see if NVIDIA can get 1080p Flash acceleration working by June, but for now if that matters to you then you’ll want to hold off.
As for Zotac’s HD-ID11 in particular, I like the system. At $259.99 it’s a little pricey for not including any memory or a HDD/SSD, but it’s got a good size and look for a HTPC. You have to be pretty married to the idea of using a PC as an HTPC though, since you can technically get cheaper boxes to stream content to your TV. The added flexibility and power is nice though, especially if you use a dedicated software stack like XBMC.
The plethora of USB ports as well as the easily accessible internals are nice. I'm worried that the cooling isn't sufficient for any sustained CPU intensive workloads, not without spinning the tiny fan way too quickly at least. For a dedicated HTPC machine this shouldn't matter, but if you're trying to make this a multipurpose box be warned that it may not always go unnoticed.
The industrial design of the ID11 doesn't really work with most HT components, but it does feel right at home on a clean shelf or next to a flat panel. If you don't have a good WiFi or RF remote option you'll be let down by the Zotac's lack of IR support on the ZBOX.
As is the case with any ION platform, you don't really have to be sold on something like the ZBOX. It's either something you've been waiting for or not. I'd say once we get the Flash issues figured out, some more mature easy-install software packages and make sure there are no remaining hiccups, these boxes will do quite well.
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rnjeezy - Thursday, May 6, 2010 - link
and switch wifi to usbTekkamanraiden - Thursday, May 6, 2010 - link
While this looks pretty kick ass I'm looking forward to the Amd version. I'm curious how well the Neo processor with 3200 will do against the Aton with Ion2.Soulkeeper - Friday, May 7, 2010 - link
I too would like to see products from amd and/or via to compete here.I'm tired of "the intel show" 24/7
I wouldn't pay $100 for that ion thing
dealcorn - Friday, May 7, 2010 - link
As the Zotac NM10-B-E motherboard is shipping with HDMI and the Intel NM10 chipset, the Broadcom Crystal media solution is a viable build your own HTPC strategy that operates on fewer watts. I would have liked a side by side comparison.nick.cardwell - Friday, May 7, 2010 - link
Does this or any ION2 nettop use Optimus??? I am looking for a small D510 system to run headless and would be willing to buy an ION2 system strictly for the resale value if it uses Optimus to switch off that power hungry GPU. I am sill waiting on the Shuttle XS35 to show up as it is fanless.CZroe - Friday, May 7, 2010 - link
The comments in the article about manufacturers not wanting to reclaim PCIe lanes from WiFi and GbE don't sound so convincing. For example, they could easily integrate WiFi via internal USB or an Ethernet bridge.Heck, if nVidia wanted to make a real symbiotic chipset to go with this they could actually engineer a GbE/WiFi chip that uses multiple internal USB ports to achieve enough bandwidth. And by "enough" I mean "somewhat more than 100mbps but less than 1,000mbps." Users can't often maximize GbE because they need a GbE switch for full duplex and, assuming a max-speed file copy, a destination drive which can write as fast as the source can send. I doubt many users really need GbE over 10/100 Fast Ethernet/802.11n.
Also, what happened to all the rumors of an OC'd PCIe bus for ION2?
As for Zotac's design, I'd much prefer a larger, cooler, quieter design than this, especially if it is going in a home theater. If it would still be super-small, why not give it a proportionally huge HSF? The LEAST they could do is give it metallic housing and throw a heat pipe on it (even just one side).
rennya - Friday, May 7, 2010 - link
The latency guys, the latency.KaarlisK - Sunday, May 9, 2010 - link
Besides which, the NM10 chipset only has 1 USB2 controller, so no increase in bandwidth from ganging USB ports.modemide - Friday, May 7, 2010 - link
I enjoyed the article and this looks like a viable option for my next HTPC. However, I didn't see anything addressing the signal issues most people experienced with the initial version. Can you comment on that?Thanks.
Bateluer - Friday, May 7, 2010 - link
How come we don't see any of the ULV CPUs in form factors like this? I cannot imagine it'd be too difficult to stick in a Celeron SU2300, or a Pentium SU4100, or one of the ULV C2S chips. There's super netbooks that are thinner than these nettops that use these ULV chips. I can't imagine that designing a little beefier cooling system in the same Zotac chassis or into the Acer Revo chassis would be overly difficult. It may add a little to the price, but the trade off in performance might be worth it.