Since its official release, news and reviews about the NVIDIA Ion platform have been circulating around the Web for quite some time. For that reason, we are expecting that you already have a grasp of what the Ion platform is. In print media, HWM Philippines has a review of the first Ion PC, the Acer AspireRevo.

 

 

 

The Acer AspireRevo is clearly intended for those who want a miniaturized HTPC on the spot. But how about for those who are planning to take the do-it-yourself path? No problem. Ion-based mini-ITX motherboards have already reached the mainstream market as options. Banking on the popularity that the Ion platform is currently enjoying, ASUS jumped into the bandwagon and came up with the AT3N7A-I mini-ITX motherboard.

 

 

 

What is catchy on the ASUS AT3N7A-I is its heatsink and fan solution in the middle, which reminded us of a CPU cooler installed on a Slot 1 processor during the late 1990s. But don’t get us wrong. What’s underneath is a dual core Intel Atom 330 processor, soldered on the motherboard. The processor operates at 1.6GHz speed and 533MHz FSB. By and large, the motherboard has a simple layout, riddled with solid capacitors and three ferrite chokes. 

 

 

 

In parallel with the 24-pin main power socket is a pair of DIMM slots that can accommodate up to 4GB of DDR2 memory at 800MHz clock speed.

 

 

 

 Adjacent to the DIMM slots is a triplet of onboard SATA 3.0 Gbps connectors for internal drives and optical storage. There is no place for legacy IDE and floppy drive connectors here. There is no PCI-Express slot as well. Future expansion is possible only through its one and only PCI slot.

 

 

 

The rich mix of I/O connectors at the back tells us that the ASUS AT3N7A-I is a well-equipped motherboard for an all-in-one HTPC desktop. It comes with a PS/2 keyboard port, eight USB 2.0 ports, HDMI output, VGA, coaxial S/PDIF, optical S/PDIF, e-SATA, Bluetooth, Gigabit Ethernet, and 8-channel audio out. The board’s graphics is supported by the NVIDIA Ion GPU which runs at 450MHz core clock and 1100MHz shader clock. The GPU is designed to support full HD video playback.

 

 

 

For audio, ASUS integrated the VIA VT1708S HD audio chip on the motherboard.

 

 

 

  The Gigabit Ethernet interface is supported by the Realtek RTL8112L chip.

 

 

 

As HTPC enthusiasts ourselves, the ASUS AT3N7A-I holds much potential for system builders, with its mini-ITX dimension ensuring that one can easily fit it into any small form factor casing. The dual core processor, NVIDIA Ion GPU, and support for up to 4GB of memory are appealing, in a sense that these performance factors are essential when one’s doing full HD video playback, a task which is resource-intensive in the case of a platform with a single core Atom. Rounding up all the positive aspects that were mentioned is the comprehensive set of rear connectors, which is comparable to what can be found on a full ATX motherboard.