|  | September 05, 2017
Choosing the right DC-DC PSU August 27, 2015
AMD's Project Quantum August 13, 2015
The Redstone PC is the ultimate Mini-ITX Minecraft Machine October 09, 2014
The "Restomod TV" April 09, 2013
Installing NAS4Free February 28, 2013
Building an XBMC 12 Home Theatre PC January 25, 2011
XBMC Guide updated to version 10.0 August 06, 2010
Building a Green PC February 15, 2010
Building an ION powered HTPC with XBMC October 10, 2008
The "Cambridge Autonomous Underwater Vehicle 2008" |
| | | | September 12, 2008
"Florian", the DVD burning robot September 05, 2008
The "i-EPIA" May 22, 2008
The "GTA-PC" April 14, 2007
The "Digg" Case January 19, 2007
The "ITX-Laptop" December 07, 2006
The "Tortoise Beetle" October 02, 2006
The "DOS Head Unit" August 31, 2006
The "Janus Project" August 05, 2006
The "Leela PC" June 26, 2006
Nano-ITX in a Football May 17, 2006
The "EPIA Alloy Mod" April 11, 2006
Neatorama's Collection of Case Mods February 18, 2006
The "Rundfunker" October 24, 2005
The "ITX TV" October 06, 2005
The K'nex-ITX August 05, 2005
The "Waffle Iron PC" July 21, 2005
The "Supra-Server" July 18, 2005
The "Mega-ITX" July 07, 2005
The "Encyclomedia" May 25, 2005
The "Accordion ITX" |
| | | | May 16, 2005
The "FileServerRouterSwitch" May 15, 2005
The "Mini Falcon" May 13, 2005
The "Bender PC" May 11, 2005
The "BBC ITX B" May 10, 2005
The "Frame" April 20, 2005
The "Jeannie" March 09, 2005
The "Cool Cube" January 30, 2005
First Nano-ITX Project? January 17, 2005
The "iGrill" January 15, 2005
The "Gumball PC" December 15, 2004
The "Deco Box" December 03, 2004
The "TERA-ITX" October 06, 2004
The "Coealacanth-PC" September 17, 2004
The "Gramaphone-ITX-HD" August 26, 2004
The "C1541 Disk Drive ITX" August 25, 2004
The "SEGA-ITX" August 13, 2004
The "Quiet Cubid" August 06, 2004
The "BMWPC" July 14, 2004
The "Moo Cow Moo" July 02, 2004
The "Mini Mesh Box" Full alphabetical archive on right hand side of page... |
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Zotac ION-ITX-A Review
Heat, Power Consumption and Fan Noise
Many people buy Mini-ITX boards not because of their small size, but because of their low power consumption. Running temperatures and fan efficiency are components of this equation.
Power Consumption
We measured the power consumption of both boards through a household energy meter at the plug, with just a 2.5in hard drive attached. We used the built-in power supply of the ION-ITX-A board and a very efficient ATX power supply with the Zotac 9300 board - typical setups for each.
We tested at idle, whilst playing back 1080p video, and whilst artificially stress testing at 100% CPU. Here is where the ION board shines. Even at 100% the board doesn't go over 30W, and video playback was at a very reasonable 27W. The Zotac 9300 and E5200 isn't too shabby compared to full size machines, but drew 55W when playing back video.
CPU Temperatures
We measured the CPU & GPU temperatures of both boards under normal operation using SpeedFan, then stressed the CPUs to 100% to get a maximum temperature.
The results for the ION-ITX-A were impressive again. 33C at 100% CPU compared to 54C for the E5200 fitted to the 9300 board. This set us thinking...
Will the ION-ITX-A work without its fan?
(Answer: No). We couldn't resist unplugging the CPU fan from the ION-ITX-A and seeing what happened when we put the CPU under load. Surely that large CPU heatsink must be enough to keep it cool?
This is what happened. The same thing happened we let the board idle, except the rise was more gradual. Unplugging the CPU fan completely from this board isn't going to do it any favours. Oh well.
Fan Noise
The ION-ITX has a larger than normal 60mm fan with just a very quiet whirr. Fans have come along a lot since the high pitched whine of the 40mm fans of the original Mini-ITX boards 7 years ago and most embedded Mini-ITX boards with fans are very quiet. But purists could always slow the 60mm fan down slightly with a rheostat. And there is always the fanless ION-ITX-B to consider - we suspect this will be able to playback 1080p just as easily as the dual core due to the ION chipset. The stock cooler provided with the E5200 was a pleasant surprise - louder than the ION, but still relatively quiet.
Video Playback -->
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