Ion Outperforms Intel's Integrated Graphics

www.laptopmag.com has built their own system utilizing Nvidia's new Ion platform. Their results show a very clear improvement over Intel's current integrated graphics solution.

Nvidia aims to boost the performance of low cost netbooks and nettops allowing them to handle graphic intensive games and watch full HD(1080p) video. Nvidia claims that Ion transforms low cost netbooks into computers that offer roughly five to ten times the gaming and video performance over Intel's integrated GPU solution.

The Ion platform pairs a GeForce 9400 GPU with Intel's 1.6 GHz Atom CPU. The 16 core GeForce 9400 is a version of the 9400M used in small form computers. Based on tests done on www.laptopmag.com, "Ion blows away Intel's integrated chipset and graphics."

How are these improvements made possible? Partly through CUDA, Nvidia's general purpose parallel computing architecture utilizing the parallel computing in GPUs to solve complex problems a lot faster than a CPU.

In addition to the GPU, Ion also allows for true-fidelity 7.1 HD audio. As of yet, Nvidia has not revealed any OEMs that will be using Ion. However they say that Ion powered machines will begin to be released the second quarter of 2009.

The verdict on www.laptopmag.com is that if Ion were to be widely accepted, a typical user would be able to enjoy a very nice gaming experience on games not too graphically intensive, indulge in 3D applications such as Google Earth, and even watch high definition video content. What surprises me the most is that they were able to play both F.E.A.R. and Spore. Netbooks out today can barely even run those titles. Sometimes, not at all. If Ion is not too detrimental for battery life, Nvidia's Ion platform could very well change how we define netbooks.

Please read their review for more details. We also expect a full review of the Ion platform to go online here in the following week.