Asrock ION 330 <-> Zotac Mag (1 Viewer)

[Peter2]

Hi guys,

I'm looking to add a MP client with a small footprint to my network so I'm comparing these.
Aside from the physical specs, what are your opinions about above mentioned systems compared to each other?
Price wise they are about the same and they both use the same Intel Atom N330.

About performance/responsiveness: I guess that the cold boot takes longer than a full blown pc but what about running/navigating MP - I don't have any experience with this platform.

An advantage of the Asrock might be their 'Instant boot' function but it seems the Zotac runs more silent...

I have found a barebone version of the Asrock which would suit me since I have a disc and ram lying around. Does anyone know how to distinguish the older model from the newer ones?

All your input is highly appreciated!
Peter

 

[Peter2]

bump

 

[VdR]

I can't compare because I only have the Zotac and I LOVE it! The MP interface is fast enough, certainly with the recent improvements.

The question you have to ask yourself though is: do you want an optical drive? The Asrock has one, the Zotac does not!

VdR

 

[Peter2]

Hi VdR, I had seen your profile/configuration - neat

Yeah, there is just a slight chance that someone has experience with both machines but I thought I was worth trying because I guess that in the future, quite some users might have a look at them.
This way I was hoping to start a thread which could become useful.

I already thought about that optical and basically, I don't need it but I have already struggled to install xp through usb so I thought having one could come in handy. Another thing is that I have a HD + ram laying around and since the Asrock also comes as a barebone, gives it some advantage.

Can you give me a little bit more insight about the performance?
What is the difference with the newest MP that it runs better and can you give an idea about the response time compared to one of your other machines?

 

[VdR]

About the performance of the Zotac;

With the updates for speed on the interface, I do not perceive any difference with the P4 3.0 GHz HT client. See the thread for details.

For the rest, the Intel Atom - NVIDIA ION combination is doing wonders, it's giving me less problems than the ATI. HD is sooo cool!

I had little problems loading the OS. I slipstreamed SP3 with the original XP Pro disk and then used WinToFlash to create a bootable SD installation card. Note that installing from a USB stick didn't work but with the flash card I had not problems.

Care or not, but I find the Zotac a much more attractive package. And also if ever you would want to hide it behind an LCD screen, it comes with a Vesa mount.

Thread about the speed improvement. This is included in RC2.
https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/moving-pictures-284/scrolling-patch-included-mediaportal-rc2-77842/#post578908

VdR

 

[Peter2]

Thank you for your input, didn't know about this speed improvement in RC2.

I would also lean more to the Zotac design because of being even smaller. In my case I cannot mount it behind the screen since I want to mount the screen to the wall, but I plan to create some stand/plate which I fit behind the wall mount so that's already taken care of.

I had my eye on an Asrock barebone but that has been sold already and now I'm also reading about the newer Zotac Zbox HD-ID11, so a new contender to the game.

What about cold booting times or do you put your system in hibernate/stand-by to avoid?
Thanks for sharing the way you have installed, if coming to it I know now how it can be done without optical drive.

 

[VdR]

I had my eye on an Asrock barebone but that has been sold already and now I'm also reading about the newer Zotac Zbox HD-ID11, so a new contender to the game.

I saw that HD-ID11, looks very attracktive indeed. I'm not sure what performance improvement to expect though.

What about cold booting times or do you put your system in hibernate/stand-by to avoid?
Thanks for sharing the way you have installed, if coming to it I know now how it can be done without optical drive.

Well, cold boot time for MP is far too long on any hardware ... But I cold boot to save energy and show patience.

I'm more annoyed by MP first waiting for the server to come out of hibernation and then again not waiting long enough and showing a complain message. And I even send the WOL immediately at startup before MP is up and runing. But I beleive at least the time out will be fixed.

VdR

 

[skatehead]

Take a look here:

Zotac ZBOX HD-ID11 Review: Next Gen ION is Better & Worse than ION1


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.