ZOTAC IONITX-P-E: Can Intel's CULV Processors Reinvigorate Interest in NVIDIA's ION?
by Rajinder Gill on August 26, 2010 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Intel
- Mini ITX
- ZOTAC
- NVIDIA
Far Cry 2
Featuring fantastic visuals courtesy of the Dunia Engine, this game also features one of the most impressive benchmark tools we have seen in a PC game. For single GPU results we set the performance feature set to Very High, graphics to High, and enable DX10 with 2xAA.
We'll start off with the IGP stuff first:
On lowest details, Far Cry 2 is just about playable at a resolution of 800x600. You'll gain 5 FPS switching from Atom to 1.2GHz Celeron, but end up around 10~15 FPS behind Clarkdale.
Stepping out to a discrete GPU, the ION systems get blasted to smithereens by the i3-540. ION lacks the raw muscle required to handle the GTX 275. 1.875GHz is the maximum stable frequency we achieved on our processor without running out of cooling headroom. You get a 11 FPS return for a near 700MHz hike in frequency, but it's still less than half of what the i3-540 manages at stock.
Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War II
We are big fans of the Warhammer franchise, especially Dawn of War II. One of the latest RTS games in our library is also one of the more demanding titles on both the CPU and GPU.
Warhammer at lowest settings is pretty much off the table for IGP gaming. We encounterd a problem with this game and the Atom 330 where the game failed to run from our Steam account; crashing back to the desktop before the opening sequence started. We reported the problem back to ASUS who tell us it's a problem on NVIDIA's end and that there are some beta drivers available that supposedly fix the issue. Sadly we ran out of time to check them out for this review.
Back to the GTX 275, and it's a familiar story for the ION. That's one of the irksome limitations of opting for an ION based system, there isn't really any room for upgrading to a decent gaming machine at a later date.
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Shadowmaster625 - Thursday, August 26, 2010 - link
Worst idea ever? Why not compare to a pentium G9650? Naw... that would make toooo much sense. Anyway I'd suspect this ion system to be worse than even a G9650, which is undoubtedly cheaper.Rajinder Gill - Thursday, August 26, 2010 - link
If you read the testbed setup section, you'll see I mentioned why I did not test against the G6950 - because I don't have one. I agree though, the G6950 should sit in between the Celeron and i3-540 results.-Raja
plewis00 - Thursday, August 26, 2010 - link
Can someone tell me what the actual name of this Pentium chip is?Is it the:
G6950
or
G9650
Because both seem to produce results in Google - I'm inclined to think it's the G6950 because that's what I see more but I genuinely don't know, even Wikipedia is not consistent (I know Wikipedia is not proof of anything).
Rajinder Gill - Thursday, August 26, 2010 - link
It's the G6950http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=43230
-Raja
Rajinder Gill - Friday, August 27, 2010 - link
Micro Center have a deal on the i3-540 at present ($99):http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results....
-Raja
Ninjahedge - Thursday, August 26, 2010 - link
Hey,I have been seeing a few reviews of the Mini's here on Anand and I have a request (which could also be done right here in comments).
What has been done to make a tru HDPC+gamer mini? this board looks great (looks) but it seels that, until they make a micro NVidia card or do it vertically, you are still stuck with a cute box that will do everything but play Crysis 7- The Thaw.
What can be done with this box, a suitable case, and peripherals to make it run with the pack of average gaming machines (or TOTL 1/2 year old gaming machines....)?
Has there been an article about Gaming Mini's?
DigitalFreak - Thursday, August 26, 2010 - link
If you really want a gaming mini, you're better off going with a HM55 / Core i mini-itx motherboard. The only way you're going to get decent game performance is with a dedicated video card.Taft12 - Thursday, August 26, 2010 - link
He's right, this is not an appropriate platform for a mini gaming box.Here is the right place to start for that:
http://giga-byte.ca/products/product-page.aspx?pid...
This would be a fine step 2:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
since you can pick your own suitable ATX PSU to go with the CPU and video card of your choice. Now excuse me while I chop off my uncooperative arm that is reaching for my credit card!
sprockkets - Thursday, August 26, 2010 - link
eh, that case is like, weird.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
And it includes an proper power supply.
Or I would buy this nice barebone
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
And this time the pci ex slot is inner so you can use a dual slot card.
Roland00 - Thursday, August 26, 2010 - link
The SILVERSTONE SG07 has enough space to fit a 5970. The powersupply is also large enough for the 5970.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
That said there are three things against this setup from
1) ITX boards are way too crammed to have enough power states for a good overclock on the cpu.
2) ITX boards often have very little space to place a nice heatsink, sometimes a nice heatsink would be blocked via the memory or the videocard. Now you can alleviate the space problem with a small waterblock+cooler but most cases don't have enough space for that. For example the SG07 doesn't have enough space for a corsair h50
3) I have heard incidents where the 5970 overheats and freezes up on people during long gaming sessions when used in combination with the small case of SG07. A 5850 or a 5770 would be preferred.