ZOTAC IONITX-P-E Pro Reviews

I must say I was very impressed with the performance of the Zotac IONITX-P-E combo board. The added performance that the dual core Intel Celeron processor added over the Atom used in most other ITX boards was evident. First I wanted to start off with a couple of key features that really make this board stand out. Number one is the expandability that it offers with the use of a full size PCI Express x16 slot along with a Mini-PCI Express slot which comes populated with a wireless-N card and dual antennas allowing for high speed wireless connectivity perfect for an HTPC setup. In addition you have full size memory slots which allow you to pack up to 8GB of DDR3 memory which is more than enough for any setup you might need. While small in size don't be fooled. This combo packs a punch when it comes to scores as we saw in the benchmarks which really surprised even myself.

In testing, the Celeron processor simply doesn't have the gumption for running modern games, regardless of the GPU it's paired with. In fact, the overall performance of the SU2300 Penryn processor can only be described as disappointing. Granted, power consumption when running on the ION integrated graphics is absolutely puny. But then so is the performance. In terms of the end-user experience, it's only marginally better than a dual-core Atom processor. You absolutely, positively wouldn't want to rely on this system to do any serious processor-intensive work. In fact, even when paired with an ultra-fast solid state drive, the general performance and responsiveness in Windows we experienced felt a little sluggish.

The first is a certain aspect of its low power consumption; it betters Atom’s by a few Watts during very light loads and offers more computational power in the process. In that respect, the CULV+ION combo can be considered somewhat of a success.