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The Ion Lives - ASUS AT3N7A-1 NVIDIA Ion Motherboard

By Kenny Yeo - 28 Aug 2009

The ASUS AT3N7A-1

The ASUS AT3N7A-1

The ASUS AT3N7A-1, as you can see, is a mini-ITX board. This means it is really small, and will take up very little space if paired with a similarly-sized casing. A fan and heatsink sits over the Atom 330 processor, which is soldered onboard, as well as the Ion chipset. And despite its size, the AT3N7A-1 still sports three SATA ports, a PCI slot, and two DIMM slots capable of accommodating up to 4GB of DDR2-800 memory.

As a HTPC, video output is crucial and the ASUS AT3N7A-1 has only VGA and HDMI outputs, which is a bit of a downer considering the Zotac DIY Ion kit one-ups it by having the aforementioned two and an additional DVI port. Unlike many IGP boards, the GPU on the Ion platform is very much similar to a discrete solution and thus is able to handle dual digital outputs and an analog output simultaneously if needed. In that light, the ASUS board is not bringing out the chipset's best capabilities. Not one to give up on a fight, the AT3N7A-1 hits back by way of its eight USB 2.0 ports (two more than the Zotac) and in-built Bluetooth connectivity.

Here are some photos of the board.

A bird's eye view of the ASUS AT3N7A-1. Nothing terribly special here, and everything is well-labeled, making installation a breeze.

This fan and heatshink combo covers the Atom 330 processor and the chipset, keeping it cool. Initially when we first booted up the system, the fan sounded very loud. But it gradually revved down and was relatively quite for the duration of testing. Take note though, it's a good idea to perform maintenance occasionally to clear dust and prevent the small fan from clogging up.

At the back, the ASUS AT3N7A-1 has eight USB 2.0 ports, a single eSATA port, HDMI and VGA video outputs, RJ-45 Gigabit LAN port, S/PDIF outputs (digital & coaxial) and analog audio jacks.

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