Despite what the folks in Cupertino may lead you to believe, the netbook form factor will continue to survive in the face of these new-fangled Internet tablets. The technology continues to advance in this realm, introducing us to higher-end finishes and improved horsepower. Just as the Intel Atom N280 provided some good performance upgrades over the N270, the “Pine Trail” Atom N450 is supposed to be pretty hot stuff too.

One of the newer netbooks to feature this processor is the Samsung N220 and, by the looks of things, it could be a very viable option for mobile computer users.

Features at a Glance

Easily the most notable feature that you’ll find on the Samsung N220 is the Intel Atom N450 processor. While it is not the dual core Atom that we all desire, the 1.66GHz CPU does offer two threads and a 512KB L2 cache.

Running our way through the spec sheet, we discover Windows 7 Starter as the operating system, as well as 1GB of DDR2 RAM, a 10.1″ WSVGA matte display, Intel GMA3150 integrated graphics, 250GB 5400rpm SATA hard drive, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, built-in webcam, and multitouch trackpad. For ports, you get a multi-card reader (in the front), three USB 2.0 ports, a VGA port, LAN port, and jacks for headphones and a microphone.

What’s in the Box?

Cracking open the stylish brown paper box, you find the usual assortment of accessories that accompany most netbooks. In addition to the Samsung N220 itself, there is the six-cell battery, power supply with wall cable, and the supporting documentation. There is also a neoprene protective sleeve included in the box. It’s plain black and a little on the thin side, but the zipper portion does have a raised ridge on the inside to protect your N220 from scratches. The non-zipper side, however, feels quite cheap by comparison.

First Impressions and Build Quality

This Samsung netbook otherwise looks like a pretty standard netbook in stature, but it is interesting that the multi-card reader (SD/SDHC/MMC) is located in the front rather than on the sides. Similarly, there is the power slider switch in the front, rather than somewhere above the keyboard.

Just like what they do with their LCD monitors and HDTVs, Samsung has also taken the Touch of Color styling cue to the netbook. The top cover may look like a regular glossy black, but this version actually has an aqua green tinge when held under certain light. It’s an extra dash of class that sets it apart from many other netbooks.

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When the courier comes by to drop off new hardware, we always end up getting into a good conversation. The latest discussion was all about the NZXT Crafted Series Hades Computer Enclosure that we’re looking at today. It was interesting to hear the courier comment on things like the front bezel design and question the purpose of feature like the use of a temperature display. If he wasn’t on the job, he’d probably hang out and help review the case. I told him to check back to see what I came up with so without further adieu, we review the NZXT Hades Crafted Series Computer Enclosure.

Features and Specifications

For most consumers, case selection is based on a combination of these three important features: air flow, expansion, and unique case design. The Hades offers ample air flow via 2 x 120mm cooling fans, 1 x 140mm top cooling fan. It also has a massive 200mm side panel fan and there’s even room for another 120mm/1400mm fan up top. It’s optional but you can add your own but I’m sure users would still like to see the slot occupied by something.

An extra feature we’ve seen in other NZXT cases like the Guardian 921, is the addition of a small temperature display. There are three wired sensors inside that can be attached to things like the CPU cooler, chipset, and/or video card heat sinks. It’s your choice, so you pick.

Finally, the top of the case houses the ‘front panel’ expansion options like 2 USB, audio, and e-SATA ports. We’ve often wondered where the best place for these expansion ports should be and the top looks good.

The Hades’ Physique

Once again, we see a dramatic outward case design from NZXT. While you can never tell by pictures, the Hades is actually…light! I was expecting something a bit heavier since it’s made from standard dyed-in-the-chassis steel.

The case sports quite a bit of mesh. The mesh front door is partially hollow with the temp display dead center up top with a vented lower upside V-shaped half to allow the front internal red LED 120mm cooling fan to do its job.

Behind the door, the front bezel is also mostly mesh including the 5.25″ bay covers. Up and down the front, there is quite a bit of filter material for cutting back on internal dust monsters. The minor down side is that you’ll have to remove these for periodic cleaning. Hey, it’s either clean the entire inside of the case, or just some filters.

You can see the two bulges in both side panels. The right panel is offset and houses the 200mm cooling fan. The left side is offset so that any extra case or power supply wiring can be tucked in there to make the case look all tidy and organized.

The back of the case reveals that the entire chassis is jet black. Gamers love jet black painted or anodized steel. There’s a lot of ventilation machined in to the back of the case chassis. Plus, a couple water cooling ports are added in case you need to run some tubing.

It almost seems like yesterday that I started down the yellow brick road to technology with my first real office computer which had an Intel 80486DX2 Processor. A couple years later, the local PC store built me an “adequate” gaming computer using a Pentium III 750MHz Slot 1 processor while socket 1 processors were still in the day dreaming phase.

Today’s processor technology is the result of years of innovative thinking put to action. For instance, Intel’s microprocessor architecture has proven that we’ve taken the first steps into an era where computers are capable of doing far more than just calculating a few spread sheets or playing video games.

There is a lot more unlocked potential from Intel and if you love your Quad-Core i7, then you’re going to love this! How about a 6-core Intel Core i7-980XE Gulftown 32nm Processor? That’s right! We’ve got Hexa-Core!

Features and Specifications

Where to begin.Well, let’s start with the obvious differences between all the Core i7 processors in Intel’s arsenal. This helpful little graph is far easier to read than endless text.

One feature design that makes the 6-Core Gulftown an impressive revoluationary processor is power consumption. To put it into perspective, AMD’s first revision Phenom II X4 965 processor consumes 140 Watts TDP (125 Watts in recent revisions). The Core i7 920 to 975XE processors carry a max 130 Watts TDP and that includes the new 6-Core Gulftown. That’s extremely impressive given that it powers 2 extra cores flexing 4 HyperThreads.

The 6-Core Gulftown is a 32nm processor that shares a couple important features with the 45nm Core i5/i7 Lynnfield and 32nm Core i3/i5 Clarkdale; a 2-core processor with hyper-threading that makes it perform like a quad core.

Other similarities include Intel Turbo Boost Tech which dynamically overclocks the processor frequency when needed, Overclocking Enabling, and Integrated Memory Controllers. But again, it’ll be a lot easier if we just show you.

Power users say that you can never have too much L3 Cache, or in this case, Smart Cache. This next generation Xtreme Edition processor carries a whopping 12 MB Smart Cache. That’s 10 MB more cache than a couple generations ago when we thought 2MBs was enough.

Intel Turbo Boost and SpeedStep

Now, a lot of folks have still been getting the features Intel Turbo Boost and Intel SpeedStep confused. The two are not the same thing and have completely different purposes. Intel Turbo Boost is a feature built in to Core i3, i5, and i7 processors that automatically overclocks the CPU frequency when you’re using an application that requires all or just one of the cores.

For instance, many games are still single threaded and will utilize only one CPU core even if your proessor has four. Turbo Boost will overclock just one core by a few hundred MHz to aid the application when needed. That’s why the Core i5 661 Clarkdale does so well in many game titles like Crysis, because the game only uses only one core.

Gulftown Design

Like the Bloomfield processor, Gulftown’s memory controller accesses three DDR3 memory sticks at once, called Triple Channel. The memory controller makes sure there is ample memory bandwidth readily available for each core when it requires it. The average memory bandwidth is somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 GB/s using Triple Channel 1066MHz DDR3 memory. That’s a lot more than the Penryn generation’s 6.5 GB/s with the memory controller that was integrated within the chipset. One can easily imagine what 1800MHz DDR3 memory would offer Gulftown platform. That’s a lot of “Farmville”.

As the economy still continues on the road to recovery, the number of consumers looking to save some money on computer upgrades has grown. The entire market is learning to wheel and deal in order to continue to do business. This means manufacturers have to be more aggressive in both price and product quality. One component that has increased in price over the last 5 years, but is not seeing dramatic drops in pricing is the computer power supply.

Consumers are searching for affordable power supplies that can get the job done, but don’t mind sacrificing features like modular cabling, flashy paint jobs, and LED cooling fans. Thanks to our friends over at CoolerMaster, we may have a power supply solution worth consideration. Let’s take a very close look at the Coolermaster GX Series 750 Watt Power Supply and see if it’s right for you.

Features and Specifications

The GX 750’s specs alone suggest Coolermaster did their home work figuring out the right amount of power per rail in an 80Plus power supply. Instead of following weaker PSUs that waste more than 30 amps on the 3.3V and 5V rails, you get a very respectable 25 amps per rail. The 12V rail gets the bulk of the wattage, providing a massive 60 amp dose to keep your computer more than happy.

Being that this is an 80Plus power supply, users can expect at least an 80% efficiency at about 50% load. The features say typical efficiency is 85% which is just a bonus. What will really earn it higher marks is whether or not the PSU can maintain at least 80% at greater loads all the way up to full load.

Even though the PSU is rated to 750 watts, the maximum output is 900 watts. Based on experience, we doubt that the PSU is capable of reaching, or maintaining that amount of output. It’s more plausible that the GX 750 will maintain 800 watts if pushed to that limit. None the less, we expect the PSU to maintain 750 watts without issue if it wants our illustrious recommendation.

The unit comes in a smaller 650W version and the 750W version as tested. If you’re looking for additional specifications, you can find those on the CoolerMaster product page. The rest of you, follow me.

What’s In The Box?

As you can see, just the bare minimums. After all, this is a value oriented power supply. Of course, you’ll get mounting screws, instructions, a power cord and the CoolerMaster GX Series 750Watt ATX Power Supply itself.

Closer Look at the GX 750

The non modular GX 750 is housed in black, which cuts down on costs without sacrificing the more important internal circuitry and black goes with everything. The power supply bears some weight which suggests that some good components were used in its design. It has a large 120mm cooling fan which appears to be capable of moving about 60 plus cubic feet of air per minute which means you should expect fan noise at around 25 db.

The GX 750 is equipped with four 6+2-pin PCI Express connectors for video cards, three 4-pin molex, one floppy drive connector, and nine SATA connectors on top of the standard 24-pin and 8-pin main power connectors. We’re not sure why so many SATA connectors. At least five 4-pin would seem more realistic given the devices gamers tend to connect to their PCs.

A key benefit of almost every INTEL P55/P55A motherboard that we’ve reviewed is the overclocking capability. Chances are  you can walk into your favourite computer store and locate several capable INTEL P55 boards capable of unlocking the potential of that stock CPU. How much potential depends on how much you want to spend and what expansion features you want.

Among all the brands and models of “55″ series boards were that we’ve played with, the previously reviewed MSI P55-GD65 Xtreme Speed motherboard would be at the top of the list. This is thanks in part to the excellent OC Genie feature. But what about MSI’s latest H55-GD65 motherboard? Does it also take advantage of the overclocking friendliness of the MSI OC Genie feature?  Let’s find out!

Features Worth Talking About

There are several features that set this board apart from the rest. Among them is the aforementioned OC Genie Auto Overclocking Processor. This is one of MSI’s latest motherboard innovations that allows any user to overclock their system, mainly the CPU’s Bus Clock, with a simple press of the button. As you press the button, the CPU Bus Clock (stock 133 MHz) will slowly increase in 1 MHz intervals which is nice for fine tuning. This a great feature for novice overclockers.

The H55-GD65 credits its stability to DrMOS which is MSI’s Phase PWM that cleans up electrical noise that can interfere with your overclocking success. Engineers believe that a single DrMOS Phase is better than a conventional MOSFET 4-Phase. APS (Active Phase Switching) also helps to manage power when the system needs it and saves power when you don’t. Based on experiences with their P55-GD65, we’re inclined to agree with the MSI engineers.

Lossless audio technology ensures that the integrated Realtek ALC889 Processor produces more reliable 24-bit/192kHz sampling rates over 7.1 channels. Simply put, it makes sure the audio quality is clear and accurate whether it be through the SPDIF, analog or HDMI ports. The INTEL integrated graphics fully supports HD video playback as well.

While MSI doesn’t support dual or redundant BIOS features, one can save the BIOS image to a flash drive and recover using that route. Called “M-Flash”, this feature should help cut down on unusual issues where the BIOS crashes or corrupts. Just make sure you use a good quality flash drive so it can be detected properly and reloaded in case of a BIOS melt down.

MSI also includes Winki which is a Linux quick boot distribution. You can boot into Winki through your DVD or USB drive to browse the web, listen to music, view photos, watch movies, Skype, instant message or use Open Office. It’s just an alternative OS that’s smaller than Windows for users who need quick, simple access without accessing the windows desktop.

Of course, we’ll be looking at many of these features and more as we proceed along in our review. More detailed specifications can be found on the MSI product page for those that like to brows “spec-pr0n”.

What’s in the Box?

Well, how can we say it without saying it? We know the economy isn’t in its best form, but the included bundle, I feel,  is a little too light even for budget boards. But on the same note, it seems that every vendor is cutting back on that once glorious bundle that used to come with every board. Among MSI’s economy class bundle you’ll get a the flat legacy floppy and ATA cable along with two red SATA cables. At least the SATA cables have the metal locking clips, making them at least decent. There’s even a 4 pin MOLEX to SATA power adapter in case your PSU is lacking those spare SATA power connectors.

Of course you will continue to get the always handy User’s Guide and an extra manual devoted to setting up that Winki Linux distribution. As far as bundles go, this seems to be your bare minimum these days. There isn’t even a case badge which is something you may frequently find in ASUS or GIGABYTE bundles.

When recently asked what SSD would be ideal for regular users, that doesn’t cost too much, but contains quality components, I found myself going back over my notes. I found myself considering what kind of controller is used inside an SSD rather than basing it off the name brand. The controller is a major component that can make or break performance. And, it doesn’t hurt if an SSD has a little extra cache to maintain transfer rates.

But, just like clock work, one fundamental detail rears its ugly head. That would be price. We would all love to own the fastest $400 to $600 SSDs available, but the reality of it all is that the large majority of users will reach for these more affordable SSD that still offer respectable performance using quality internal components. One SSD that fits in this category is OCZ’s Agility Series 60GB SSD.

Features and Specifications

Besides the obvious technological features like no moving parts, shock resistance, as well as resistance to heat and cold, the OCZ Agility Series is aimed at the mainstream market where users are looking for a good balance of price and performance.

The 60GB Agility SSD contains some features definitely worth mentioning. For starters, the Agility  is in fact using an Indilinx controller which has proven to be formidable. They can be easily tuned for all kinds performance levels and are often TRIM friendly. It’s also supported by 64MBs of Elpida cache which helps improve small block performance.

We can’t tell you what memory is inside the 60GB Agility for sure. Some Agility SSDs use memory marked with an “i” and some have Samsung clearly stamped on them. The internal memory in question here contains the same little “i” which has also been used in SSDs that utilize Intel controllers. So, it can’t be bad stuff.

The Agility Series

There are three different capacity SSDs in the Agility Series. The smallest 30GB SSD tends to be the best option if you just need a quick booting system. You can use the 30GB as a boot drive with Win 7 accompanied by MS Office or whatever you tend to use most often. The 60GB is a more serious SSD intended for a little more than office work. It also gets a noticeable boost in Read (up to 230MB/s) and Write (up to 135MB/s) performance over its smaller sibling.

Then there’s the 120GB SSD leading the pack. It offers the same Read and Write performance. OCZ’s web page notes a 250GB max capacity, but we have yet to confirm one exists. Until then, it appears the Agility Series tops out at 120GB unless you spend more for their higher end Vertex series.

Some Very Beneficial Applications

While the desktop market is still adjusting to the size, cost, and performance of Solid State Drives, there is one area that SSDs absolutely excel. That would be the laptop and netbook markets.

Whether it’s a typical desktop or laptop hard drive, either are heavier than SSDs by far. SSDs weigh in about the same as your empty wallet. To be more precise, it weighs a few hundred grams less than a typical laptop hard drive and many hundreds of grams less than the typical desktop hard drive.

That may not seem like much, but try carrying around your laptop for day. Then, swap out the hard drive for the lighter SSD, or two, and you’ll definitely notice the difference. It really is nice to shed one or two pounds from your laptop. Plus, your laptop won’t blue screen if you accidentally give it an abrupt jolt like when you move it and it decides to wake up on its own.

Now that motherboards with the Intel P55A Chipset are flooding the channels, it means USB 3.0 and SATA3 devices are going to become more popular. But, we’re just now starting to see these peripherals leaking in to the market albeit very slowly and in limited quantities. The first SATA3 hard drive to make it to the shelves was the Seagate Barracuda XT.

Seagate’s Barracuda line has been extremely popular among users on a budget looking for the biggest size money can buy. Hopefully this new line of drives gets some upgrades that we can see benefits from in the real world. Luckily, one of these little monsters have just landed on my desk so I’ll be able to tell you what those benefits are.

Features and Specifications

The Barracuda XT SATA3 (ST32000641AS) Hard Drive can only be purchased in a massive 2TB capacity. Since people are looking for more storage, whether they need it or not, this isn’t such a bad thing. One of the key features that augment the drives overall SATA3 performance is its 64MB Cache. Adding cache has been shown to improve troughput, or transfer rates, even in regular SATA2 drives.

The XT’s platters still spin at a nominal 7200 RPM. This keeps noise levels at a moderate level, but nowhere near the clatter that comes from a WD Velociraptor for example that spins at 10000 RPM. Past experience with the newest Barracuda drives revealed that they are just as quiet when inside a quality computer enclosure.

Power consumption average rates are listed as 6.39 watts at idle. Full load power consumption is not specified. However, we’re predicting it to be very similar to Western Digital’s 2TB Black Caviar drive which averaged 22 watts at load. That said, we’ll be measuring for our own numbers to see if it proves to be good news for database admins looking to add this in a new storage array in the server room.

Just as Big, But Heavier

Case sizes of regular platter drives haven’t changed for over 10 years. They started off a little slimmer in the beginning, but then started to increase in thickness and weight as more platters are crammed inside the housing. Simply put, there just doesn’t seem like there’s anymore room.

Seagate drives have made the same consistent advancements as many other drives. In some instances, they were able to slim down 500GB SATA2 drives. And, in other cases, were able to cut down on some of those horrendous vibrations that are arguably the number one killer of platter drives. They’re quieter than ever before during regular operations.

The number two killer has been heat. In the past, drives required more power and when coupled with less advanced fluid mechanics, you simply get heat. And, lots of it! Some of the older drives on my test bench were almost too hot to touch at their maximum operating peak. As with any drive pushed to its limit, once the warranties have passed, they just end up in the trash.

These few things are on the minds of every administrator when their storage array maintenance schedule comes around. They should also be on the minds of regular consumers who store all their precious photos, videos and files on.

The digital camera market is constantly on the hunt for new and exciting features. In recent years, we’ve seen more and more consumer-level cameras implement such things as GPS geotagging, HD video recording, and Wi-Fi connectivity. Offering a refreshing take on the form factor is the Samsung ST550 digital camera.

The single greatest feature that sets this particular picture-taker apart from the competition is the secondary display mounted to the front of the camera. This way, there is no more second guessing when it comes to those extended-arm self-portraits.

Features and Specifications

The Samsung ST550 is a 12.2 megapixel camera featuring a Schneider-Kreuznach VarioPlan 27mm wide angle lens good for up to 4.6x optical zoom. This is the world’s first camera to feature a dual LCD display configuration.

Around the back, you’ll find the main 3.5-inch touchscreen display and this is where you will be doing most of your interaction with the camera. It is through this touchscreen that you can change the mode, adjust your options, activate the flash, and so on.

On the front is the smaller 1.5″ LCD display. The primary purpose of this screen is for self-portraits, but there are other modes wherein the display will show goofy pictures (children mode), the self-timer countdown, shutter info, and function info.

Other quick highlights include the smart gesture UI (using the built-in acceleration/tilt sensor), HDMI connectivity, Smart Auto mode, face and smile recognition, touch-to-focus, dual image stabilization, up to ISO 3200, and a recycle bin feature.

What’s Included in the Box?

Along with the Samsung ST550 digital camera itself, the retail box contains a handy wrist strap, USB connection cable, standard AV cable, wall charger adapter, rechargeable lithium-ion battery (720mAh), quick start manual, warranty information, and user manual CD-ROM.

It’s notable that while there is a little bit of internal memory (55MB) in the Samsung ST550, you will need to invest in your own memory card if you plan on taking more than a handful of photos. Rather than using the standard SD format, Samsung opted for microSD (and microSDHC) for this camera.

First Impressions

This version of the Samsung ST550 features an extra glossy black front with gold trim on either side, but the camera is also available in your choice of red, blue, or purple trim too. From what I can gather, the specs are the same regardless of color.

Measuring just 18.6mm thick, this camera clearly fits in the “sleek and thin” niche, but it is heavier than I expected. It’s from being the lightest camera on the market, so don’t let its thin profile deceive you in that respect. The added weight and the choice of materials give a sense of great build quality though; it certainly feels better than the decidedly cheaper and older Samsung S850.

It should be noted that there is quite the discrepancy in pricing, depending on where you choose to buy this camera. Poking around on the Internet, I found that Amazon (USA) had the Samsung ST550 listed at just $230. By contrast, Future Shop (Canada) is selling the same camera for $400. Go figure.

I often hear both consumers and industry professionals tell you that you can’t have enough memory. If you have deep pockets, then sure, why not max out those slots.  But if you’re on a budget, then there is a line where diminishing returns take place. Not to mention, if all you do on your computer is web browsing and emails, there isn’t a whole lot of benefit to maxing out the RAM. Even many games don’t benefit from a ton of PC memory. So who’s gaining the most from lots of RAM?

Some folks really do find themselves in situations where a ton of RAM does make a difference. They work with really resource intensive programs that quickly use up more than the seemingly standard 4GBs of memory. They may be professionals that edit and render large amounts of audio and video or who run multiple VM sessions.  These are the users who would and could benefit from using the Kingston HyperX 12GB 1600MHz DDR3 “Dual-Triple” Memory Kit.

Features and Specifications

The KHX1600C9D3K6/12GX comes in two separate packages with three 2GB modules in each package. For those who are weak in the maths, that’s six 2GB modules in all totaling a healthy 12GB.

It bares noting that this is a 1600MHz memory kit versus the commonly found 1333MHz kits. One of our astute Futurelooks IRC Channel folks asked why someone didn’t make 1800MHz and faster memory kits. Well, to put it bluntly, it would be pointless. First, the current processor’s memory controllers are maxed out, or spread thin when all the DIMM slots are occupied. Second, all-purpose professional users won’t be overclocking their systems. They require stability above anything else.

The timings of the kit are 9-9-9-27 right out of the package. All six kits are also tested to be equally compatible with each other. We’ve seen instances where tuned CAS 9 kits actually functioned perfectly well when manually set to CAS 8, or 8-8-8-24 timings. We’ll check that out for you in testing. There could be a little extra hidden value inside.

Checking Out the Modules

Normally, we’d like to show you what’s in the packaging. But, this is a pretty simple bundle. Again, two packages containing three modules each.

You can see that the modules are nicely wrapped in the HyperX ‘Blade’ heat spreaders. The Kingston blue color still contrast nicely with many motherboards out there. And in some cases, they match others like the latest X58 and P55/P55A motherboards from GIGABYTE and others.

Themes aside, there’s a lot you can do with this much memory. For one, with a good Windows 64-bit Vista or 7 installation, programs will load quicker and can stay loaded before swapping to the hard drive. The 64-bit operating system will allow far more programs to stay ‘cached’ at all times whereas 32-bit users with smaller amounts of memory cannot. You can also multitask to your heart’s content, popping open program after program.

And that’s why professional users tend to be the folks commonly using this large amount of memory. They don’t have time to open and close programs to make room for the next task. Their content needs to be ready, on hand, and accessible at all times without crashing.

Another symptom of low memory performance can often be seen in desktop and laptop computers with 512MB to 1GB. If you have too many programs starting up and not enough memory, your computer will come to a crawl as it tries to prioritize, often swapping to the much slower notebook hard drives. That can be very frustrating especially if it’s a Vista OS that requires about 800MB of memory right from boot.

For the longest time, Asus was the kind of company that was only known by techies and enthusiasts. Asus had very popular motherboards and other internal components, but it had very little in terms of consumer end products. That changed in recent years with the release of devices like the Eee PC line of netbooks.

The Eee branding soon expanded into the realm of all-in-one PCs with the Asus Eee Top and now the company is going one step further with its one of its first home theater PCs. Working off a subsidiary, we discover the ASRock Ion 330HT NetTop. It’s got ASRock branding, but this is an Asus product through and through.

Features and Specifications

Interestingly enough, the name of this product is actually very indicative of what you find under the hood. Powering the show is an Intel Dual Core Atom 330 processor (1.6GHz) and the graphics come by way of the powerful NVIDIA ION graphics processor.

According to the official marketing materials, this combination is said to be perfect for full HD 1080p playback capabilities. And the HT part of the name? That’s for home theater. You’ll also find an Ion 330HT-BD variation which comes pre-installed with a Blu-ray Disc drive.

Other highlights include the integrated 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, RAID 0 and RAID 1 support, powered eSATA port, multiple USB ports, Media Center Edition (MCE) remote control, HDMI output, 320GB hard drive, and 2GB DDR2-800 RAM (upgradeable to 4GB).

What’s in the Box?

Popping open the box, we discover the ASRock Ion 330HT itself, the necessary power supply and cable, remote control, HDMI to DVI adapter, extra SATA cable, some hard drive mounting screws, supporting documentation, driver CD, and a soft mat.

There is no cable included for connecting the HTPC to your television, so you’ll need to go out and grab an HDMI cable on your own. Thankfully, there are some pretty affordable options out there that don’t start with Mon- and end with -ster.

First Impressions

The official product page for the ASRock Ion 330HT is a little amusing for one primary reason. I don’t mind the high-gloss finish of the body on this device, but I wouldn’t say that the paint is “similar to the paint of a Mercedes-Benz.” The gloss does make for a fingerprint magnet though.

There are many other companies that produce small form factor PCs and home theater PC cases, but the ASRock Ion 330HT sounds like it’s supposed to work right out of the box. This should lower the barrier of entry for many people who aren’t as keen to build their own computers.

The overall size of the Ion 330HT is quite impressive as well. It’s a little thicker than a Nintendo Wii, but it has about the same footprint at 195mm x 70mm x 186mm. The low power consumption, as evidenced by its Energy Star 5.0 achievement, is quite nice too. Especially since a home theatre PC is meant to be left on most of the time.