Benchmarks: HD Tune
So, how did this HTPC hold up in the testing and benchmark arena? For starters, I ran the 320GB 2.5″ drive through HD Tune 2.55. As you can see through the screenshot above (click for the big version), it came out with an average transfer rate of 56.3MB/sec, a burst rate of 87.5MB/sec, and an access time of 18.3ms.
Benchmarks: 3DMark and PCMark
While the HD Tune test yielded acceptable results, the same could not be said with 3DMark06. When I tried to run that benchmark, I was treated to the lovely error message shown above.
I encountered problems when trying to run PCMark05 as well. The test would fail and result in a black screen when it got around to the graphics tests. Removing these tests from the gauntlet, I was able to complete the rest of the benchmark. Since it was not able to compute a graphics score, I was not able to get a PCMark overall score. You can see the CPU score (1892) and memory score (2256) however. Clearly, there are still some driver issues present with the nVIDIA ION platform when it comes to compatibility with some benchmarks, but at least the overall HTPC user experience seemed fine.
Closing Thoughts
While I certainly like the form factor, design, and plethora of USB ports, this HTPC cannot be sold without an OS as it completely ruins the out of the box experience. Since ASRock has rectified that in a new SKU with a pre-installed OS plus required media software, then much of my concerns are laid to rest. Putting some credit in ASRock’s favour, offering the system without an OS can be construed as giving the consumer some choice in whether or not they want Windows 7 or not.
On the downside, since ASRock can’t control the OS installed, then your user experience can vary depending on the OS and software installed. For those that just want to turn it on and go, we strongly recommend that you buy the OS pre-installed version of this machine. Though it is nice to know that the enthusiast option is there.
Performance seemed mostly fine from a subjective point of view, since the nVIDIA Ion GPU and dual core Atom had little trouble with video playback. Unfortunately, the drivers might need some more polishing to pass our benchmarks. In reality, the machine is no power house so benchmarks don’t really reflect the user experience which has been quite good.
The ASRock Ion 330HT NetTop represents a solid effort from Asus’ little brother at around $439US. Toss in a suitable OS (or buy it pre-installed for a few dollars more), bump the RAM a bit, and you should be good to go. Thankfully, both of those upgrades are easy DIY projects with this product making it a very flexible solution for your HTPC needs.
Pros
- Small and classy form factor
- No shortage of USB 2.0 ports
- Full support of 7.1 surround sound
- Good video performance for the price
Cons
- No front-mounted USB ports
Overall Rating: 8.5/10.0
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