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TEST RESULTS
Our test configuration is fairly basic, featuring a single 1GB stick of Corsair memory,
an Asus Blu-ray drive and a Western Digital 5400 RPM notebook hard drive. The
operating system is Vista Home Premium SP1 (32-bit).
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Test Results
|
|
Test State
|
Mean
CPU
|
Peak
CPU
|
System Power
|
|
Idle
|
N/A
|
22W
|
|
Rush Hour
(H.264)
|
12%
|
16%
|
24W
|
|
Coral Reef
(WMV-HD)
|
35%
|
45%
|
25W
|
|
Drag Race
(VC-1)
|
23%
|
40%
|
22W
|
|
Disturbia
(Blu-ray H.264)
|
26%
|
40%
|
28W
|
|
CPU Load
|
N/A
|
27W
|
|
CPU + GPU
Load
|
N/A
|
34W
|
|
Grey boxes indicate test failure.
|
Despite the dual core Atom CPU and a "real" Nvidia-powered onboard
graphics, the IONITX is surprisingly power efficient, idling at only 22W AC power. Video playback increased power consumption by no more than 3W
(for Disturbia this number was higher because it had to access the Blu-ray drive).
Full CPU load on both cores elicited 27W and the addition of stressing the GPU with FurMark resulting
in 34W total AC power draw. These are very low numbers.
Video playback was smooth and effortless for the most part, but we initially
had a lot of trouble getting our video test suite to run properly. Only the
H.264 Rush Hour clip would play problem-free. When PowerDVD was upgraded to version
9, all but one of our HD clips played fine. The VC-1 Drag Race clip remained unwatchable due to a massive number
of dropped frames and out-of-sync audio. Iincreasing the amount of system
and video memory, decreasing the screen resolution, different driver versions
and software players — none of these changes allowed the clip to be played with any
degree of smoothness. CPU usage during this clip was odd, spiking and dipping
between 10% and 40% every 5-10 seconds. If the IGP simply lacked VC-1 decoding
capability, at least one of the CPU cores would have maxed out, so
the source of the problem remains a mystery.
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System Power Consumption Comparison
|
|
Test State
|
Zotac IONITX
|
HFX Micro S13
|
|
Idle
|
N/A
|
22W
|
N/A
|
25W
|
|
Rush Hour
(H.264)
|
12%
|
24W
|
65%
|
33W
|
|
Coral Reef
(WMV-HD)
|
35%
|
25W
|
31%
|
31W
|
|
CPU Load
|
N/A
|
27W
|
N/A
|
33W
|
|
CPU + GPU Load
|
N/A
|
34W
|
N/A
|
39W
|
|
Grey boxes indicate test failure.
|
Compared to the mCubed HFX Micro
S13, a similar fanless system (only with Intel graphics and lacking
an optical drive), the IONITX clearly delivers better video playback performance
and power consumption. The GMA950 IGP lacks hardware acceleration for video
playback so the D945GCLF2 board in the S13 could play only H.264 video. Using
the same Atom N330 processor, the Nvidia's ION platform seems to be more energy
efficient than Intel's.
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