ASRock NetTop ION 330

dougz · **Joined:** Thu Nov 24, 2005 3:03 pm **Posts:** 317

Phoronix, a reliable Linux-oriented site, reviews the ASRock NetTop ION 330.

Quote:

Along with the dual-core Intel Atom 330 processor and GeForce 9400M ION GPU, the ASRock NetTop ION 330 ships with 2GB of DDR2 memory, a 320GB Serial ATA 2.0 hard drive, and a DVD Super-Multi Drive. This system is similar to that of the ZaReason Ion Breeze 3770 but is smaller and uses the Atom 330 compared to the Atom 230, which is not a real dual-core processor. ASRock also is proud of the NetTop ION 330 for its very small form factor, silent operation (below 26 dB)

Quote:

Not only does the ASRock Nettop perform well thanks to its NVIDIA ION GPU and Intel Atom 330 dual-core processor, but also the system has a very small form factor, runs cool and quiet, and comes with a great set of features. There is also great connectivity with HDMI, DVI, VGA, and S/PDIF, but this system lacks any integrated eSATA or WiFi or Bluetooth support. The ability to overclock the Atom 330 processor is also excellent and allows you to squeeze a bit more performance of the system if you so wish. The ASRock NetTop ION 330 is not yet available through most retail outlets, but we are told its price will be at about $350 USD, which is not bad at all. In fact, for that price, we absolutely love this product. There is also the NetTop ION 330-BD for those looking for Blu-ray disc support. ASRock is also working on the MultiBook M15, which is going to be an Intel notebook with a multi-touch touchpad, which should be out later this year and will certainly be interesting to see.

Product appears to be available in Canada, but not yet in US.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=asrock_nettop_330&num=1
http://www.asrock.com/nettop/index.asp

nightmorph · **Joined:** Thu Aug 10, 2006 11:07 am **Posts:** 316

Not that reliable. Their testing methodology has been declining for the last few months -- check out the masses on the forums decrying crap procedures, comparisons, and setups. I'm a regular, and I have to agree that it's grown much worse.

This review doesn't cover heat, noise, or power. It also completely fails to discuss the system's audio capabilities, Linux compatibility, and performance. Audio is sort of important for an HTPC . . .

KuniD · **Posted:** Fri Jul 10, 2009 7:49 am

I've read reviews from other sites on this system.

I'm eager to get an Ion system for a bedrom HD HTPC. To be honest I reckon I'm going to go for one of these - the price difference between making my own system based on the Zotac board is frankly massive.

TomMM · **Posted:** Fri Jul 10, 2009 9:27 am

I purchased one of these from Canada Computers in Toronto.

In spite of the lack of eSATA and built-in Wifi, I wanted one because of the built-in DVD player and the dual-core Atom. The upcoming Acer Ion system is the reverse: it has eSATA and Wi-Fi but no DVD and only a single core initially.

In the end I had to return the system due to noise. It is most certainly not silent and I don't think it is quiet enough for the readers of this site.

What was more annoying then the fan noise was that there was an extra, oscillating, noise as well. When I return my unit the technicians at the store told me that this 'extra' noise was not a defect in my unit, but was a characteristic of all of the ASRock Ions.

Since then, I saw a posting that claimed that there is a BIOS update that reduced the noise. I haven't had time to look into that claim. If it really did reduce the fan noise and get rid of the oscillating noise then I would buy it again.

dougz · **Joined:** Thu Nov 24, 2005 3:03 pm **Posts:** 317

nightmorph wrote:

Not that reliable. Their testing methodology has been declining for the last few months -- check out the masses on the forums decrying crap procedures, comparisons, and setups. I'm a regular, and I have to agree that it's grown much worse.

Ok, ok, how about "relatively reliable"? ;-)

Whatever editorial quality slippage recently, they are still better than most other Linux-oriented sites. Not my first choice for hardware reviews, but this was the first review I've seen for this box and it looked like it was worth pointing out to SPCR.

dougz · **Joined:** Thu Nov 24, 2005 3:03 pm **Posts:** 317

TomMM wrote:

Since then, I saw a posting that claimed that there is a BIOS update that reduced the noise. I haven't had time to look into that claim. If it really did reduce the fan noise and get rid of the oscillating noise then I would buy it again.

Quote:

How loud is it ?

Well thatâ€™s a hard one to pin down as some people are more picky than others, Iâ€™d say its not as quiet as a PS3 but not as loud as an Xbox 360 (no disc). You shouldnâ€™t hear the unit when content is playing or with general background noise but in a totally silent room you may hear it. Be sure you to update to the latest bios as it improves the fan control (& itâ€™s overall noise output).

There are actually two fans in the unit a very small fan cools one of the chips it is under the DVD drive if you remove the DVD/HD cage, this is the noisy fan of the two (its 30mm in size) if running 1.00 bios. Asrock have released a bios update
http://www.asrock.com/Nettop/download.asp?Model=ION%20330#bios which adjusts the speed the smaller fan to address the oscillating noise

The bigger built in fan is a 5cm/50mm (20mm depth - most fans are only 10mm depth) unit though if you want to replace it that fan size isnâ€™t too common so you may need to hunt around various PC stores, since the bios updates have address the noise in the unit there is not much point in replacing it.
[dougz - following url munged by SPCR software; cut-n-paste]
http://a8t8.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!25 ... !804.entry

More opinions

Moose · **Posted:** Tue Aug 04, 2009 9:22 am

Any more news on how the bios update effects noise? Any forum members who have experienced this with the update?

pegasus · **Posted:** Sun Aug 16, 2009 10:34 am

I've had this unit for about a month. It is currently my primary PC (mainly text-editing and light surfing... some flash based sites get a bit slow), running ubuntu. With HW-acceleration 1080p uses just a few percent of the CPU.

The BIOS that the unit was shipped with had the ticking-fan-noise problem, but this is fixed with the BIOS upgrade. I'm currently using v1.50 of the BIOS, and fan settings set to "Ultra silent". I bought this unit, hoping that a small and silent energy efficient system finally had arrived. Unfortunately, the noise is still too loud for my taste. The main culprit is the case fan. If I stop it with a piece of plastic, the noise gets down to a level I would call acceptable.

Has anyone done a case-mod/fan replacement to reduce the noise?

ekerazha · **Posted:** Tue Aug 18, 2009 6:22 am

There's a review that says the two fans are 50mm/30mm while another review says they are 60mm/20mm, could somebody report the exact sizes?

ekerazha · **Posted:** Tue Aug 18, 2009 11:02 am

pegasus wrote:

Has anyone done a case-mod/fan replacement to reduce the noise?

Maybe you could try to replace the fan with a Fractal Design 50mm 3500rpm (it looks like a rebranded Evercool)

or a Rasurbo 50mm 4000rpm (9 blades... it looks like a small Scythe Slip Stream

)

or a Revoltec 50mm 4500rpm

or others (note that Scythe 50mm are 2-wires instead of 3-wires).

ekerazha · **Posted:** Wed Aug 19, 2009 5:07 am

There's also an Adda 4500rpm

a Titan 4500rpm

(the small one)

and a Papst 5000rpm (50x50x15)

Others???

ekerazha · **Posted:** Wed Aug 19, 2009 5:28 am

I've found a Papst 50x50x15 3000rpm and it could be very good, model is "512 FL-547" but I can't find it in any shop: http://www.ebmpapst.com/en/products/com ... ID=120052&

ekerazha · **Posted:** Mon Sep 21, 2009 5:33 am

There are reports that fan holes are different from standard 50x50 fan holes, so fan replacement could be a problem.

pezmannen · **Joined:** Tue Nov 09, 2004 2:53 am **Posts:** 7

According to this http://xbmc.nu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=189:xbmc-pa-asrock-ion&catid=37&Itemid=2#comments changing the fan to this http://www.webhallen.com/prod.php?id=90370 works fine!

Sorry, pages are in swedish...

gacmb5 · **Posted:** Mon Nov 23, 2009 12:32 pm

This are the exact dimensions of the fans:
30x30x10mm 12V YS-Tech CPU fan FD123010LS 0.07A brushless fan
50x50x20mm 12V YS-Tech case fan FD125020ML. (distance mounting holes = 40mm)
These are standard fan sizes!

I have created a page describing how I got my ASRock to run more quietly:
Sorry can't post an URL now but go to:
asrockion dot wiki dot zoho dot com
and click on silencing the ASRock ION 330
It also shows some images of the fans.
May someone with more postings can post the full link

Koolpc · **Posted:** Thu Nov 26, 2009 2:20 am

http://asrockion.wiki.zoho.com/silencin ... ON330.html

ekerazha · **Posted:** Thu Nov 26, 2009 3:24 pm

Actually I use downvolting wires, they don't make a big difference, I'll try other solutions too

Koolpc · **Posted:** Fri Nov 27, 2009 1:54 am

Is there a quieter fan available that would fit?

AndyGaskell · **Posted:** Sat Nov 28, 2009 12:33 pm

Thanks for all the info in this thread. gacmb5, your pages are really handy.

After years of putting off getting a silent PC to use a a HTPC, I bought one of these. So far I've found the PC is about the same noise levels as a modern HP or Dell desktop. Not as quiet as I'd hoped. I updated the firmware, but it already had the firmware with the fan fix in it (1.5), now it's on 1.6. I think on mine the larger case fan is louder, as it is definitely quieter when you stop it. Oddly, it is quieter when the top lid is removed, which seems odd.

I've only just got it all set-up, so will leave it as-is for a wee while. My wife doesn't mind me tweaking and hacking with PCs, but when the PC is also the TV/DVD/Stereo, that's a bit different.

My set-up was great value by the way, so despite a bit of noise (at the moment anyway), I'd definitely recommend it.

So Â£325 all in. It's just plugged it into my old Cyrus amp and speakers

I work from home as a LAMP developer, so it is my svn server and NAS box too.

joh · **Joined:** Fri Jun 10, 2011 1:29 pm **Posts:** 5

Greetings!

I have an ION 330 Pro which sports a Power Logic PLA03010S12M 30mm:

Air Flow: 3.188 CFM
Current: 0.07 A
Power: 0.84 W
Speed: 8000 RPM
Bearing Type: Sleeve
Noise: 24 dBA

In other words, quite noisy. The bearings have also been worn out somewhat, resulting in even more noise.

I'm considering replacing it with a Copal Electronics F310RF-12LB 30mm:

Air Flow: 3.18 CFM
Current: 0.04 A
Power: 0.48 W
Speed: 7000 RPM
Bearing Type: 1 Ball/1 Sleeve
Noise: 17 dBA

Which is a significant improvement in noise, and has about the same CFM.

What do you think?

valent · **Joined:** Sat Jan 21, 2012 4:52 am **Posts:** 1

Just go for it and report back how quite is it now.

joh · **Joined:** Fri Jun 10, 2011 1:29 pm **Posts:** 5

valent wrote:

Just go for it and report back how quite is it now.

Just tested the Copal fan and it is much more noisy than the stock Power Logic fan. It produces an annoying high-pitch sound. I guess the Noise ratings don't matter much...

ASRock NetTop ION 330

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