Nvidia Ion


Nvidia Ion was a product line of Nvidia Corporation intended for motherboards of low-cost portable computers. It used graphics processing units and chipsets intended for small products.

Description

First generation Nvidia Ion products included a MCP79MX chipset with integrated GeForce 9400M G GPU, DDR3-1066 or DDR2-800 SDRAM, and the Intel Atom processor. The original reference platform was based on a Pico-ITXe motherboard designed for netbook and nettop devices.
In February 2009, Microsoft certified the Ion-based platform for Windows Vista. The small form factor Ion-based computers were released in mid-2009.
Ion GPUs are DirectX 10.0 and OpenGL 3.3 compliant. They also support CUDA and OpenCL. They can play 1080p H.264, MPEG-2 and VC-1 video using VDPAU or PureVideo HD. ION-LE–based systems shared the same basic hardware as ION but lack Vista and DirectX 10 support.
Nvidia announced that it would release the Ion platform for the VIA Nano processor some time in Q4 2009., however no products materialized.
The second generation Ion is no longer a full chipset, it instead is an additional graphics card based on a downclocked GT218 core with 512MB of dedicated memory, and PCIe 1x connection to the Intel chipset. It supports Nvidia Optimus for power saving.

Specifications

Ion (first-generation Nvidia Ion)

  • Chipset: MCP79MX
  • Intended Operating System: : Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, Linux; : Microsoft Windows XP, Linux
  • Memory Interface: DDR3-1066 or DDR2-800
  • DirectX 10 Support: Yes, No
  • Graphics Cores: 16
  • Core/Shader Clocks: 450/1100 MHz
  • Texture Fill Rate: 3.6 Billion/second
  • Maximum Anti-Aliasing Sample Rate: 16x
  • RAMDACs: 300 MHz
  • Maximum High-Dynamic Range Precision: 128-bit
  • Maximum Analog Resolution: 2048 × 1536
  • Maximum Digital Resolution: 2560 × 1600
  • Graphics APIs: DirectX 10.0, OpenGL 3.3
  • Full HD decode : Yes, 3rd Generation PureVideo
  • Display Options: HDMI, Dual-link DVI, DP, or VGA
  • HDMI Version: 1.8
  • PCI-Express 2.0: 20 lanes
  • SATA Drives: 6
  • SATA Speed: 3 Gbit/s
  • RAID: 0, 1
  • Networking: 10/100/1000 BASE-T
  • USB Ports: 12/2C
  • PCI Slots: 5
  • Audio: HDA

Ion 2 (next-generation Nvidia Ion)

  • CUDA cores: up to 16
  • Standard Memory configurations: 512 MB of DDR2, 256 MB of DDR3, 512 MB of DDR3
  • Memory Interface Width: Up to 64-bit
  • Hardware Video Decode Acceleration: Yes, 4th Generation PureVideo
  • nVidia CUDA Technology: Yes
  • Certified for Windows 7: Yes
  • Microsoft DirectX: 10.1
  • OpenGL: 3.3
  • Audio: HDA
  • Maximum digital resolution: 2560 × 1600
  • Maximum VGA resolution: 2048 × 1536
  • Netbook supported display connectors: HDMI
  • Desktop supported display connectors: Dual-link DVI, DisplayPort, HDMI, VGA
  • Multi-monitor: Yes
  • HDCP: Yes

Motherboards

  • ASRock A330ION motherboard
  • ASUS AT5IONT-I motherboard
  • ASUS AT3N7A-I motherboard
  • ASUS AT3IONT-I motherboard
  • ASUS AT3IONT-I DELUXE motherboard
  • IEI Industrial Motherboard KINO-PVN D5251 ION2, DDR3, HDMI, Dual GbE, SATA, PCI/ PCI Expr.x1 slot, mini-PCI, CF TypeII
  • Jetway NC63-230 ITX board
  • Jetway NC63-330 ITX board
  • Jetway NC63P-230 ITX board
  • Jetway NC63P-330 ITX board
  • Point of View POV/ION230 motherboard
  • Point of View POV/ION330 motherboard
  • ZOTAC IONITX A-B motherboard
  • ZOTAC IONITX A-U motherboard
  • ZOTAC IONITX B-E motherboard
  • ZOTAC IONITX C-U motherboard
  • ZOTAC IONITX D-E motherboard
  • ZOTAC IONITX F-E motherboard
  • ZOTAC IONITX G-E motherboard
  • ZOTAC IONITX N-E motherboard
  • ZOTAC IONITX P-E motherboard

Desktop systems

  • Acer AspireRevo Nettop Media Server w/Remote
  • Aleutia H1 Hotel PC, fanless in the single core version.
  • aOpen GP7A
  • ASRock Ion 330 series
  • ASRock Ion 330HT series w/Remote
  • ASRock Ion 330Pro
  • ASUS Eee Box EB1012U
  • ASUS Eee Box EB1012P
  • ASUS Eee Box EB1501
  • Asus S1-AT5NM10E
  • Foxconn NetBox-nT330i
  • Giada Mini PC series
  • Lenovo IdeaCentre Q150 - 40816AU
  • MSi All-in-One PC Wind Top AE2220
  • Myka ION
  • Orbit Micro Helix A58 Sleek NVIDIA ION/N330 desktop system
  • Orbit Micro Helix A5W Fanless IP waterproof dustproof Nvidia ION system
  • Sapphire EDGE HD
  • Shuttle XS35GT, fanless system with ION2 and Atom D510
  • Viewsonic VOT132
  • ZaReason Ion Breeze
  • Zotac Mag

Netbook systems

Support

Nvidia ceased Windows driver support for Nvidia ION series on April 1, 2016.
  • Windows XP 32-bit & Media Center Edition: version 340.52 released on July 29, 2014;
  • Windows XP 64-bit: version 340.52 released on July 29, 2014;
  • Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 32-bit: version 342.01 released on December 14, 2016;
  • Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 64-bit: version 342.01 released on December 14, 2016;
  • Windows 10, 32-bit: version 342.01 released on December 14, 2016;
  • Windows 10, 64-bit: version 342.01 released on December 14, 2016;