Can we split Atoms?

Can we split Atoms?

If you remember learning about IONs, molecules and atoms at school, you should remember that an Ion is an Atom or molecule which has lost or gained one or more electrons, giving it a positive or negative electrical charge. And that description suits today's preview of the ION platform really well. The small NVIDIA ION motherboard we received combines the NVIDIA GeForce 9400 GPU and Intel Atom 330 CPU. One could say a positively charged Atom.

We expect that ION will end up in many mini-notebooks, netbooks and even mid-range laptops.

After initially looking into its potential, we noticed a market for mini PCs where the Full HD video capability of this device will suit HTPC aficionados pretty well. There is one big restriction though, you stick to content allowed to be decoded over the GPU like DVD, WMV-HD (DXVA accelerated) and Blu-ray. So that's a pretty big platform where NVIDIA could penetrate certain markets for sure.

But why is all this needed? Why not just run all that high-def goodness off the processor already embedded into such a netbook/nettop? Well, almost any netbook is powered by an Intel Atom processor, and while the processor is amazingly dominant for its size, Atom just isnt setting any performance records when it comes to multi-media as processors really are not well suited for it.

Atom's main restriction is in fact its platform chipset, based on Intel's outdated 945GC, while NVIDIA's GF9400 is sparkling new and very versatile.

GF9400M Block diagram

The Intel Atom with 945GC chipset offers a very basic experience at best. If we place some specifications in a table and compare... you'll notice spot on what we are talking about, as the difference is significant really:

As you can see, the platform differences are huge, and we haven't even talked about the graphics core that is embedded. See, Intel's Atom 945 chipset can manage a lot of tasks but the main problem with it is simple; HD video playback is just not possible on the Atom (945G) ecosystem because the CPU isnt fast enough to properly decode high bit-rate video like VC1, H.264 and MPEG4. When Intel released their Atom series, NVIDIA saw an opportunity, pairing up that processor with a GPU.

The embedded graphics in the GF9400 chipset is in fact the same 9400 series we know from the newer Apple and Sony VAIO TX series laptops. I have this model VAIO myself, and well... it's just an awesome platform really as it can decode 1080P High Def video and output 8 channel (7.1 surround) Linear PCM audio over HDMI as well.

In the past we've tested single-core Atoms fighting to even decode 720P videos. And here's where the ION shines like a star. Playing back a 1080p clip encoded as a high bit-rate MPEG4/AVC file with no noticeable dropped frames or stutters. ION as a platform will handle HD video quite competently, with exceptional image quality.

But enough chipset chatter, let's have a look at this petite motherboard.