ASRock ION 330 Desktop PC Review
Small is in! That seems to be the mantra followed by Personal Computers, with users wanting smaller ways to enjoy computing. Companies like Intel and ASRock have realised that and are working on making the PCs as compact as possible without compromising on advanced features. ASRock, in particular, over the past few years has focused on delivering feature rich mother boards at budget prices. Now, it has been focusing on other products as well. It has released its first Atom based nettop computer in conjunction with Pegatron Corp-The ASROCK ION 330. It is a small desktop PC about the size of an optical disc drive. Chunkier than most nettops, the ION 330 has a DVD Burner, a 1.66Ghz Intel Atom 330 Dual core CPU and NVDIA ION graphics as well. If you want advanced computing and great graphics, this is perhaps a great option in the desktop segment available.
Design:
Sleek and attractive:
Like most products in the market, the ASRock ION 330 NetTop is a glossy black sleek device which measures around 195 x 70 x 186 mm and weighs a low 1.7 kilograms .It is not as tiny as the AOpen Mini but is smaller than your average PC. Available in 2 colors-black and white, this baby reminds you of the Mac Mini. It is encased in a plastic covering for protection, especially against smudges and marks.
Drives, Slots and Ports:
On the front of the device is a super slim multi DVD Drive, a vent positioned vertically along the left side, the indicator and a power button beside the ASRock logo. It lacks a USB 2.0 port on the front drive. The top and the sides of the ION 330 are simple and plain. It can be setup either vertically or horizontally. The DVD Drive supports burning DVD+R DL discs. The 330BD version uses a Blu-ray player instead of a DVD Drive.
The back of the ASRock Nettop ION 330 computer does not look as simple as the front does. It is plain and lacks the black coating the rest of the body has. There are 6 USB ports, mic, Ethernet, HDMI, line, headphone, an RJ-45 gigabit port, 3 analog audio ports (maximum of 5.1 analog), a SP/DIF Optical to slink port. There is a HDMI DVI Converter that allows you to use the HDMI output port and connect it to DVI Capable LCD monitors. There is a hard wired LAN provided for connecting to a network. It lacks an integrated wireless LAN and presence of a Simple Wi-Fi adapter would have solved the issue.
Installation:
The ASRock ION 330 is NOT provided with an OS or a monitor or a keyboard/mouse. So, if you want to install windows, it supports the 32 and 64 bit of the version and a set of drivers are provided at the website. Windows 7 takes about half an hour to get installed on the PC.
Features:
What is inside?
Once you open the system, you can notice the great job ASRock did in packing all the things up. The heart of the system is the AMCP7A-Ion motherboard that is based on Nvidia’s Ion chipset CUDA. The Chipset is a cheaper competitor to Intel’s version and ION offers DirectX 10 for those who are into latest graphics. It enables a performance boost and makes your videos and games look more realistic. The system uses a dual core Atom 330 processor which is cooled by aluminum near sink. There are two sticks of PC6400 included as well. A small fan is added to cool down the motherboard. The SATA connection supports the SeaGate Momentus hard drive, under the re-writeable drive, which spins at 5400RPM and has a capacity of 320GB. There are the 2 standard sized DIMMs and DDR2-800 1GB sticks from Elixir. The cables are fully customized too
Low Power Computing:
Perhaps the reason why desktops are in great demand is because of their low power usage. The ASRock ION 330 Mini Desktop PC has a low operating point of 800Mhz and a low operating voltage of 1.1625 respectively. It consumes a measly 40w at any time and when idle it uses 26w making it one of the lowest powered systems in the market.
The ATOM 330 Processor:
The ATOM 330 is the latest in the Atom family of processors. It is a dual core unit rated at 1.6 GHz like the earlier model. It operates at a front bus of 533 MHz. At 1Mb of total cache, it handles multi tasking at a moderate level. This is why it can run at a Thermal Design Power (commonly referred to as TDP) of 8 watts excluding the system.
Easy OverClocking:
Selecting the Easy OverClocking setting in the BIOS Tweaker Menu, will automatically select the optimized BIOS Settings for the selected CPU frequency. It allows you to watch over your system by the hardware monitor function and “overclock” your hardware to get the optimal performance. Using it, you can tune your processor speed up to 2.1 GHz, which comes at the cost of increasing levels of the fan noise.
Good Night LED:
Another cool feature of the ION 330 is the “Good Night LED” option. It extinguishes the unessential LED and paves way for a better environment. LED will be switched off when the system is under standby/hibernation. It allows you to turn the LED lights even when in operation; in this case, its LED will not be apparent. To select this option, enable the good night LED option in BIOS.
Control your Fan Speed:
In the BIOS, there is an option to control the fan speed of the ION 330. There are in total 6 options provided under it. For Overclocking, it is advisable to set the fan at full speed, whereas for normal usage, Auto is good enough.
Instant Boot:
There is a reason people do not switch their computers off even when they do not use it, this is because it takes a long time for the system to boot up. ASRock has come up with a unique feature called Instant Boot. Unlike a standard PC which takes about a minute to load, The Instant Boot allows the PC to load in an impressive 20 seconds in fast mode and 37 seconds in the regular mode. However the time taken to shut down is a hideous 1 minute 50 seconds compared to the standard 20 seconds for a PC. The reason-every time you shut it down, For the Instant Boot to work, it actually fully reboots the system and then shuts it off.
Dual-Channel Memory Design:
Unlike other nettops that have single channel memory, the ASRock ION 330 comes with dual channel memory. The Dual Channel memory as the name suggests is twice as fast as the single channel memory. This coupled with the dual core chip delivers a great performance.
Noise:
ASRock ION 330 generates a noise of 29Db which is average and is tolerable. So, for the average user, noise is not going to be a big issue.
Performance:
When the system is tested for using OverClocking at the default clock speed, it was observed that the system was stable even at 2.1GHz although the ideal overclocked value is 1.9GHz. When connected to a LCD TV with a HDMI resolution of 1080p and a H.264 coded video ran smoothly and CPU usage hovered around 60 percent. Watching XVid demanded more usage of the CPU about 70 percent. The playback was flawless, in all the cases. A pleasant surprise considering the fact that it is so low powered and yet managed to play files of different formats. The only problem is that the Macromedia Flash player does not play well with the ION chipset. There was constant juttering of the video screen. Hopefully, there will be an update on that soon.
Accessories:
The ION 330 comes packed in a green and white box along with a Driver CD, a quick guide, a 65W power adapter with cable, a HDMI to DVI adapter and an anti-slip pad. And no, there are no mouse, keyboard or OS provided.
Warranty:
ASRock ION 330 is provided with a warranty of one year for OEM packages and a warranty period of 30 days for the retail packages from the date of purchase.
THE ION 330 BD Version:
The only addition to the ASRock ION 330 BD is that it has a Blu-ray player in place of a DVD Player and hence can play various formats with higher definition. It is fitting to be a Blu-ray Player and allows you to view flawless video. It is just perfect for a HTPC. The low playback noise and heat from the system is a bonus and ASRock’s quick start app makes the nettop faster than most standalone Blu-ray disc players.
Verdict:
The ASRock ION 330 was projected as a low powered unit with a reasonable MSRP that can handle 1080p res and playback. And that is true. The power requirements were very low drawing only about 40W at a given time. Apart from being so low powered, the system could handle all high resolution formats including the H.264 and XVid formats. Its running audible level is below 30dB and is perfect for bedroom use. It lacks a restart button and Wi-Fi would have been a nice addition to it. It would be great if there were 2 more USB ports on the front panel and eSATA ports. If bundled with PoverDVD, it would make an astounding package. If you want a system on the go, this is the perfect choice.
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ASRock ION 330 Nettop - Technical Specification Table
| Manufacturer | ASRock |
| Model Name | ASRock ION 330 |
| Dimensions (W x H x D) | 195mm x 70mm x 186mm |
| Colour | Glossy Black and White |
| Clock speed | 1.9 GHz |
| Multi-Core processor technology | Dual-Core |
| Chipset | NVIDIA ® ION™ graphics processor |
| RAM | Max: 4 GB |
| RAM type | DDR2 SDRAM |
| Hard drive size | 320GB |
| Processor | Intel ® Atom™ 330 1.6GHz (Dual core) |
| Spindle speed | 5400 rpm |
| OS | Microsoft ® Windows ® 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista™ / Vista™ 64-bit / XP / XP 64-bit compliant |
| VGA | NVIDIA ® ION™ graphics, support DX10 / Full HD 1080p (Blu-ray / HD-DVD) playback |
| Graphics Processor | NVIDIA ® ION™ graphics processor |
| HDD | 2 .5″ HDD 320GB |
| I/O | 1 x HDMI (with HDMI to DVI adapter), 1 x D-Sub VGA, 6 x USB 2.0, 1 x S/PDIF (Optical) |
| LAN | Gigabit LAN |
| System Acoustic | Below 29dB |
| Sound | HD Audio 5.1 channels |
| Power Adapter | 65W/19V Adapter |
| Cooling technology | Small fans |
| Box contents | a Driver CD, a quick guide, a 65W power adapter with cable, a HDMI to DVI adapter and an anti-slip pad |
| Warranty | Limited warranty - 1 year - Parts and labour |
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