Nvidia Ion was a product line of

Nvidia Corporation Nvidia Corporation ( ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and incorporated in Delaware. Founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang (president and CEO), Chris Malachowsky, and Curtis ...

intended for

motherboard A motherboard, also called a mainboard, a system board, a logic board, and informally a mobo (see #Nomenclature, "Nomenclature" section), is the main printed circuit board (PCB) in general-purpose computers and other expandable systems. It ho ...

s of low-cost portable computers. It used

graphics processing unit A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed for digital image processing and to accelerate computer graphics, being present either as a discrete video card or embedded on motherboards, mobile phones, personal ...

s and

chipset In a computer system, a chipset is a set of electronic components on one or more integrated circuits that manages the data flow between the processor, memory and peripherals. The chipset is usually found on the motherboard of computers. Chips ...

s 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 Intel Atom is a line of IA-32 and x86-64 instruction set ultra-low-voltage processors by Intel Corporation designed to reduce electric consumption and power dissipation in comparison with ordinary processors of the Intel Core series. Atom is m ...

processor. The original reference platform was based on a

Pico-ITXe Pico-ITXe is a PC Pico-ITX motherboard specification created by VIA Technologies and SFF-SIG. It was announced by VIA Technologies on October 29, 2008, and released in December 2008. The Pico-ITXe specifications call for the board to be , which is ...

motherboard designed for

netbook A netbook is a small-sized laptop computer; they were primarily sold from 2007 until around 2013, designed mostly as a means of accessing the Internet and being significantly less expensive than regular-sized laptops. At their inception in l ...

and

nettop A mini PC (or miniature PC, nettop, or Smart Micro PC) is a small-sized, inexpensive, low-power, Legacy free PC, legacy-free desktop computer, desktop computer designed for basic tasks such as Web navigation, web browsing, accessing web appl ...

devices. In February 2009,

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

certified the Ion-based platform for

Windows Vista Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, released five years earlier, which was then the longest time span between successive releases of Microsoft W ...

. The

small form factor Small form factor (SFF) is a classification of desktop computers and for some of their components, chassis and motherboard, to indicate that they are designed in accordance with one of several standardized form factors intended to minimize the vo ...

Ion-based computers were released in mid-2009. Ion GPUs are DirectX 10.0 and OpenGL 3.3 compliant. They also support

CUDA In computing, CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) is a proprietary parallel computing platform and application programming interface (API) that allows software to use certain types of graphics processing units (GPUs) for accelerated gene ...

and

OpenCL OpenCL (Open Computing Language) is a software framework, framework for writing programs that execute across heterogeneous computing, heterogeneous platforms consisting of central processing units (CPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs), di ...

. They can play

1080p 1080p (1920 × 1080 progressively displayed pixels; also known as Full HD or FHD, and BT.709) is a set of HDTV high-definition video modes characterized by 1,920 pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 1,080 pixels down the sc ...

H.264 Advanced Video Coding (AVC), also referred to as H.264 or MPEG-4 Part 10, is a video compression standard based on block-oriented, motion-compensated coding. It is by far the most commonly used format for the recording, compression, and d ...

MPEG-2 MPEG-2 (a.k.a. H.222/H.262 as was defined by the ITU) is a standard for "the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information". It describes a combination of lossy video compression and lossy audio data compression methods ...

and

VC-1 SMPTE 421, informally known as VC-1, is a video coding format. Most of it was initially developed as Microsoft's proprietary video format Windows Media Video 9 in 2003. With some enhancements including the development of a new Advanced Profile, ...

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 Via or VIA may refer to the following: Arts and entertainment * ''Via'' (Volumes album), 2011 * Via (Thalia Zedek album), 2013 * VIA (music), Soviet and Russian term for a music collective Businesses and organisations * Via Foundation, a Cz ...

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 Nvidia Optimus is a computer GPU switching technology created by Nvidia which, depending on the resource load generated by client software applications, will seamlessly switch between two graphics adapters within a computer system in order to prov ...

for power saving.

Specifications

Ion (first-generation Nvidia Ion)

* Chipset: MCP79MX (with integrated GeForce 9400M GPU) * Intended Operating System: (Ion): Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, Linux; (Ion-LE): Microsoft Windows XP, Linux * Memory Interface: DDR3-1066 or DDR2-800 * DirectX 10 Support: Yes, No (Ion-LE) * Graphics Cores: 16 * Core/Shader Clocks: 450/1100 MHz * Texture Fill Rate: 3.6 Billion/second * Maximum Anti-Aliasing (AA) Sample Rate: 16x * RAMDACs: 300 MHz * Maximum High-Dynamic Range (HDR) Precision: 128-bit * Maximum Analog Resolution: 2048 × 1536 * Maximum Digital Resolution: 2560 × 1600 * Graphics APIs: DirectX 10.0, OpenGL 3.3 * Full HD decode (1080i/p): Yes, 3rd Generation PureVideo * Display Options: HDMI, Dual-link DVI, DP, or VGA (any 2) * HDMI Version: 1.8 (according to the manual of the zotac ION itx-f board) * PCI-Express 2.0: 20 lanes (1×16 and 4×1) * 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 (Azalia)

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 (Intel Atom 330 CPU, DDR3, PCI Express x16 slot) * ASUS AT5IONT-I motherboard (Intel Atom D525 CPU, DDR3, USB3, PCI Express x4 slot @ x1 speed, with latch) * ASUS AT3N7A-I motherboard (Intel Atom 330 CPU) * ASUS AT3IONT-I motherboard (Intel Atom 330 CPU, DDR3, PCI Express x16 slot) * ASUS AT3IONT-I DELUXE motherboard (Intel Atom 330 CPU, DDR3, PCI Express x16 slot, DC power connector, 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth, Media remote) * 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 (Intel Atom 230 CPU, 20-pin ATX power connector) * Jetway NC63-330 ITX board (Intel Atom 330 CPU, 20-pin ATX power connector) * Jetway NC63P-230 ITX board (Intel Atom 230 CPU, 12V DC Power Onboard) * Jetway NC63P-330 ITX board (Intel Atom 330 CPU, 12V DC Power Onboard) * Point of View POV/ION230 motherboard (Intel Atom 230 CPU) * Point of View POV/ION330 motherboard (Intel Atom 330 CPU) * ZOTAC IONITX A-B motherboard (Intel Atom 330 CPU, 90 W DC power connector, Wireless PCIe module installed) * ZOTAC IONITX A-U motherboard (Intel Atom 330 CPU, DC power connector, Wireless PCIe module installed) * ZOTAC IONITX B-E motherboard (Intel Atom 230 CPU, 20-pin power connector) * ZOTAC IONITX C-U motherboard (Intel Atom 230 CPU, DC power connector) * ZOTAC IONITX D-E motherboard (Intel Atom 330 CPU, 20-pin power connector, Wireless PCIe module installed) * ZOTAC IONITX F-E motherboard (Intel Atom 330 CPU, 20-pin power connector, Wireless PCIe module installed, PCI Express x16 slot) * ZOTAC IONITX G-E motherboard (Intel Atom 330 CPU, 20-pin power connector, PCI Express x1 slot, mini-PCIe x1 slot) * ZOTAC IONITX N-E motherboard (Intel Celeron 743 CPU, 20-pin power connector, Wireless PCIe module installed, PCI Express x16 slot) * ZOTAC IONITX P-E motherboard (Intel Celeron SU2300 CPU, 20-pin power connector, Wireless PCIe module installed, PCI Express x16 slot)

Desktop systems

* Acer AspireRevo Nettop Media Server w/Remote * Aleutia H1 Hotel PC (with the above ZOTAC IONITX A-U), 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 (ION 1) * ASUS Eee Box EB1012P (ION 2) * 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

Acer Aspire One 532G Acer Aspire One is a line of netbooks and laptops first released in July 2008 by Acer Inc. Many characteristics of a particular model of Acer Aspire One are dictated by the CPU platform chosen. Initial models are based on Intel Atoms. Later, ...

* Asus Eee PC VX6 * Asus Eee PC 1015PN * Asus Eee PC 1201N * Asus Eee PC 1201NL (Only graphics component attached to Intel motherboard. * Asus Eee PC 1215N * HP Mini 311 * Lenovo IdeaPad S12 *

Point of View Point of View or Points of View may refer to: Concept and technique * Point of view (literature) or narrative mode, the perspective of the narrative voice; the pronoun used in narration * Point of view (philosophy), an attitude how one sees or ...

Mobii ION * Samsung N510

Discontinued Windows support

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

References

External links

Nvidia's official overview page on the Nvidia ION platform

AnandTech: NVIDIA's Ion Platform: Bringing High Def to Netbooks

bit-tech.net - Nvidia Ion Platform: Atom gets GeForce

Techgage: NVIDIA's ION Platform: Hands-On Impressions

* ttp://www.linuxtech.net/features/nvidia_ion_products_overview.html LinuxTECH.NET: Independent overview of all currently available Nvidia ION-based products {{DEFAULTSORT:Nvidia Ion

Ion An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by convent ...