Closer Look: ASRock Nettop ION 330

ASRock is an up and coming name for North American enthusiasts, since they offer excellent value for budget-conscious shoppers. So it was a little surprising to learn that they were planning they're own version of NVIDIA's ION platform. While the ZOTAC IONITX-A-U Motherboard Kit we recently tested is nearly identical to the AMCP7A-ION motherboard, the ASRock Nettop ION 330 is an entirely complete Nettop hardware system, and not just a partial kit. ASRock offers the AMCP7A series in gloss-white or piano-black enclosures.

Some of the key benefits attributed to the NVIDIA ION platform are:

• Small Form Factor design
• DirectX 10 graphics with advanced digital display connectivity
• HDMI, DVI and eSATA ports
• Support for 800MHz DDR2 Dual-Channel Memory
• Premium 1080p HD video with true-fidelity 7.1 channel audio
• Full support for 24-bit 8-channel LPCM uncompressed audio through HDMI
• Accelerated video enhancement and transcoding using NVIDIA® CUDA^TM technology
• CUDA technology unlocks the processing power of the GPU to accelerate video transcoding and run the most compute-intensive applications

Unlike the ION motherboard kit we recently reviewed which used an Antec ISK300-65 Mini-ITX HTPC Computer Case measuring 12.9"x8.7"x3.8", the ASRock Nettop ION 330 system fits all of the same contents into a micro-sized enclosure measuring a mere 7.68"x7.32"x2.76". This reason alone won me over, and I immediately admired ASRock for stepping up with a custom design that favors the smallest footprint possible. When it comes to the home theater, real estate is limited and smaller components win the bid.

ASRock markets the Nettop ION 330 AMCP7A-ION system as a compact desktop computer, aka Nettop, but when you're outfitting a product with a native HDMI 1.3a port (HDMI-to-DVI adapter also included) with additional optical audio TosLink output it's difficult to ignore a the obvious HTPC applications. This article will focus on the home theater PC side of the ASRock ION system, but the Nettop functionality is clearly present and accounted for with the inclusion of 5.1-channel analog audio, Gigabit Ethernet, six USB 2.0 ports, and an analog VGA D-Sub port.

Removing two screws from the backside of the AMCP7A-ION enclosure will allow the 'side' panel to be removed in similar fashion to tower cases. Once exposed, a drive tray assembly houses a slim-line internal SATA DVD-burner drive and 320GB Seagate Momentus 5400.6 SATA hard disk drive (unformatted). Regardless of HTPC or Nettop application, the high-capacity drive inside the ASRock ION will easily handle the storage needs demanded of it.

Remove one forward and two rear screws, and the drive tray pulls out and away from the enclosure so the motherboard can be accessed. At only 6.7" square... barely longer than the standard I/O panel, the NVIDIA ION motherboard lives up to the Mini-ITX form factor name. You're looking at a platform that can actually fit inside the palm of your hand.

ASRock offers several versions of their Nettop ION 330 series system. The version Benchmark Reviews will be testing is labeled with the model number AMCP7A-ION motherboard, and features a dual-core 1.6GHz Atom N330 processor, 320GB hard drive, DVD-burner, and comes with a 65W 19V A/C adapter power supply.

Although the ASRock ION Nettop came equipped with a 320GB Seagate Momentus 5400.6 HDD, for our tests the OCZ Vertex SSD was used to drive the Windows 7 Operating System. Because there are only two SATA ports included on the ASRock AMCP7A-ION motherboard, a secondary storage drive could not be utilized (not that there's a mounting location available anyway). The two DIMM slots received 4GB of OCZ Gold 800MHz DDR2 in dual-channel mode.

While it seems that ASRock has assembled the most complete all-in-one kit possible, there a few optional items that would have completed the kit for HTPC builders. An optical audio (TosLink) cable would have be nice, which could replace the HDMI-to-DVI adapter intended for desktop monitors. Fortunately, the native HDMI connection will make this unnecessary because of streaming audio and video signal. Although users are obligated to install their own Operating System on the ASRock Nettop ION 330, there's no bundled media center themed software with this system. ASRock does include some free utilities, such as Instant Boot and OC Tuner software.

In the next section, Benchmark Reviews will detail some of the more advanced features hidden in the ION platform and ASRock AMCP7A-ION kit.

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