Next-Generation ION Specs and Performance

ION will vary in specifications depending on what type of machine the platform is in. On 12-inch netbooks and desktop systems, Next-Generation ION will have 16 CUDA cores and on 10-inch netbooks, it will have eight CUDA Cores. Support for HDMI, DVI-D, VGA and DisplayPort outputs is integrated into the platform. Next-generation ION will be bundled with Atom D410, N450 and D510 processors all supporting DDR2 RAM. Both platform variants are Windows 7 certified and support hardware video decode acceleration.

NVIDIA claims that on 3DMark 2006, next-generation ION is five times faster than the first-generation ION platform. Next-generation ION is also claimed to be 15x faster than Intel 945GSE and GMA 3150 platforms. On 3DMark Vantage the Intel platforms can't even operate, while the new next-generation ION platform is able to operate twice as fast as the original ION.

Next-generation ION will be turning up in places other than the Acer Aspire One 532G that has already debuted. We will also see the ASUS Eee 1201PN 12-inch netbook running the new ION platform. The new ION won't be limited to netbooks alone, we will also see ION in nettops, all-in-one machines and integrated into mainboards and GPUs. That last bit means that we will see discrete video cards with next-generation ION GPUs onboard.

NVIDIA expects by this summer there will be over 30 machines running next-generation ION. This will include new AIO machines like the ASUS EeeTop 2010PNT and the Lenovo C200. Nettops that will run the new platform will include the ASUS Eee Box, ZOTAC ZBOX and others. Next-generation ION will also be in the Boxee streaming media player. 2010 will be a very big year for next-generation ION.