AsRock 330 ION nettop user REVIEW

AsRock has churned out pretty impressive nettops in the past. Asrock 330 ION nettop is one of them. As the name suggests, it comes with an Atom 330 processor that is a dual-core CPU.

But, that is not the main highlight of the system. It is the Nvidia’s ION chipset that makes viewing the 1080p videos possible on a nettop. The AsRock 330 ION comes equipped with 320GB hard disk and 2GB RAM, both of which are pretty standard specs for a modern day nettop. It has 6 USB 2.0 ports and has standard VGA and HDMI ports too.

Here is the review of a member at EEEuser, gtisingh who has recently purchased the Asrock 330 ION nettop. First thing first, this thing is cheap! You can get one with no OS for less than 240 Pounds! ($390)

He installed Windows 7 RC (7100), Office 2007, 2003, VLC media player, Skype, COD and GTA Vice City and SA, all of them ran great without any problems. ION showed its muscle in the game COD, where he got 25-30 FPS. Also, as expected 1080p videos ran fine in VLC media player as-well-as in Quicktime.

The AsRock 330 ION NetTop also supports overclocking, where it can easily be overclocked from stock’s 1.6GHz to 2.1GHz. That said, there was not much noticeable difference in speed. Also, the nettop seems to have good heat-sinks as it ran cool even after playing a 1080p video continuously for an hour.

Packaging is tiny!

Final Thoughts

For under $400, having all that muscle power packed into such a small package is great. It plays 1080p videos with any hiccups. The Dual Core Atom processor together with the Nvidia’s ION chipset are able to provide great, yet affordable desktop experience.