ZOTAC Unleashes World’s First ION Upgrade Kits

[btarunr]

ZOTAC International, the world's largest manufacturer graphics cards, mini-ITX motherboards and mini-PCs in the channel, today unveils the world's first ION Upgrade Kits featuring a ZOTAC small form factor motherboard and ZOTAC ION graphics card for a combination that delivers phenomenal value with premium graphics and outstanding user experience.

A ZOTAC ION graphics card with 16 unified shaders and 512MB of DDR3 memory empowers the ZOTAC ION Upgrade Kits with high-end features such as NVIDIA CUDA and PureVideo HD technologies, DirectX 10.1, DirectCompute, OpenGL and OpenCL compatibility for a high-performance and feature rich experience.



High definition digital content playback is where the ZOTAC ION Upgrade Kits shine, with hardware acceleration for many popular video formats such as AVC, VC-1, MPEG-4, DivX and many more. Adobe Flash Player 10.1 acceleration enables the ZOTAC ION Upgrade Kits to playback streaming high definition Internet video perfectly for flawless video and audio quality.

"As the world moves to high definition video formats, our ZOTAC ION Upgrade Kits are fully prepared to decode all the available video formats. Whether it is streaming over the Internet or on a disc such as Blu-ray, the ZOTAC ION Upgrade Kits are ready for the task," said Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC International.

HDMI 1.3a compatibility with xvYCC and DeepColor technology enables the ZOTAC ION Upgrade Kits to support color depths up to 48-bits - beyond the traditional 32-bit color depths - for richer colors with breathtaking details never seen before on a PC when connected to compatible displays.

NVIDIA CUDA technology enables the ZOTAC ION Upgrade Kits to deliver plenty of performance sufficient for demanding tasks such as image and video processing. Edit photos, create slide shows, convert video files, enhance the quality of videos and other tasks quickly with ease using the ION graphics processor, NVIDIA CUDA technology and compatible software with the ZOTAC ION Upgrade Kits.

"ZOTAC believes performance and compatibility should never be sacrificed for value. With the ZOTAC ION Upgrade Kits, you can have a premium computing experience complete with high-definition video playback, image editing and video processing in a value package," said Mr. Berger.

The ZOTAC ION Upgrade Kits are available in mini-ITX and mini-DTX form factors and pairs a PCI Express x1 ZOTAC ION graphics card with class-leading ZOTAC platforms, including select ZOTAC NM10 series, nForce 610i series, and GeForce 6100 series platforms.

It's time to play with the value ZOTAC ION Upgrade Kits.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[btarunr]

Gotta hand it to Zotac, for selling GeForce 210 graphics cards as "ION upgrade kits" (sounds special). Could be more pricey than just buying a G210 card.

 

[theubersmurf]

I didn't think nvidia made a directx 10.1 compatible gpu.

 

[DaJMasta]

I didn't think nvidia made a directx 10.1 compatible gpu.

All their newest process ones do (GT210,220, GTS240). It may come at a premium, but if it uses PCI-E 1x maybe it's worth it?

Still a misleading product name.... I don't think nVidia has ever referred to the GPU as an ION, only as the chipset. Also interesting that it's the 'ION upgrade kit' but only one of the boards pictured is an ION board. Why not just call it a SFF graphics card?

 

[MKmods]

This is a cool idea, the Intel Atom graphics was ok but not much more than ok. It would have been cool to have a bit more graphics power and this looks like its just right.

About cost, I was gonna spend close to $100 for a PCI 9500gt for the Atom mobo but kept chickening out because the cost was just to much for what you got.
(it will be interesting to see what Zotac charges)

 

[suraswami]

This is a cool idea, the Intel Atom graphics was ok but not much more than ok. It would have been cool to have a bit more graphics power and this looks like its just right.

About cost, I was gonna spend close to $100 for a PCI 9500gt for the Atom mobo but kept chickening out because the cost was just to much for what you got.
(it will be interesting to see what Zotac charges)

why not this?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500045

I wanted to use the above mentioned board but may be the ion one might be bit better.

and oh its not atom based one tho.

 

[MKmods]

I am a fan of AMD, its just I was helping someone get rid of his Intel one so I was kind of stuck with it.(and the Atom uses a pretty anemic 1.6ghz Dual Core)

suraswami that mobo with a quad and a 9500Gt would make a pretty fun ass lego comp


(wow prices are insane now, when i got my first mini mobo it was a Via 1000, $400 and junk by todays standards)

 

[theubersmurf]

All their newest process ones do (GT210,220, GTS240). It may come at a premium, but if it uses PCI-E 1x maybe it's worth it?

Still a misleading product name.... I don't think nVidia has ever referred to the GPU as an ION, only as the chipset. Also interesting that it's the 'ION upgrade kit' but only one of the boards pictured is an ION board. Why not just call it a SFF graphics card?

Oh right, I forgot.

 

[Ripper3]

This is definitely a good idea from Zotac. Most customers won't know the first thing about graphics cards, they're making it quite simple, it's a bit of an upgrade over the ION, without losing compatibility between most good-sized mITX cases, and many Atom boards, some of which limit you to PCIe x1. It's a niche, and niches sell.

 

[suraswami]

I am a fan of AMD, its just I was helping someone get rid of his Intel one so I was kind of stuck with it.(and the Atom uses a pretty anemic 1.6ghz Dual Core)

suraswami that mobo with a quad and a 9500Gt would make a pretty fun ass lego comp
[url]http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo142/Partspicts/th_P1030894.jpg[/URL]

(wow prices are insane now, when i got my first mini mobo it was a Via 1000, $400 and junk by todays standards)

is that ur new project? your ideas always amaze me.

And oh one of these processors (if its compatible) would be perfect low power consumption but decent work machine.

http://products.amd.com/en-us/DesktopCPUSideBySide.aspx?id=628&id=629

even better

http://products.amd.com/en-us/DesktopCPUSideBySide.aspx?id=609&id=610

 

[MKmods]

Thanks suraswami, I wanted to make a really small tower comp(7" tall)

I made it as a Xmas present(2009) for my bro. But I would have much rather used the mobo you listed with a quad and the 9500gt. (he dosent care he thinks the ion is cool, lol)

Maybe for this Xmas I will replace the ION with a Zotac instead.

 

[WarEagleAU]

yeah I agree, but I also like that you can at least do some sort of upgrade.