Netbook Review UK

Nvidia has put an end to all the rumours surrounding the next generation of their Nvidia Ion graphics solution by officially introducing it at CeBIT 2010.  As a quick refresher, NVIDIA ION couples the low power Intel Atom-processor with NVIDIA graphics to deliver improved HD video playback, and 3D graphics acceleration for games.

The new version of Ion is quite different from the old in a number of ways, notably:

• The new Ion platform comes on a PCI Express card
• ION netbooks will have 512MB of dedicated memory and HDMI output
• 10″ and 12″ screens are supported by two different versions of Nvidia Ion
• The 10 inch model has 8 CPU cores, while the 12 inch version has 16 CPU cores
• Next-gen ION supports Optimus technology for automatic graphics switching, which means better battery life
• We’ll see new Nvidia Ion products from launch partners Acer, Asus, HP, Lenovo, and Zotac.

Since Intel’s new Pinetrail processors/platform combine the central processor and graphics processor in one chip, the new Nvidia Ion was forced to evolve into a completely separate video card, similar to a discrete graphics solution, on a PCI Express card.

NVIDIA will offer two different versions of the new ION platform, one for 10 inch netbooks that has 8 GPU cores, and another for 12 inch modes with 16 GPU cores.  The 12″ model has more GPU cores in order to power higher resolution screens, and because these larger netbooks have more surface area for heat dissipation.  NVIDIA says the 16 core version of ION scores about twice as high as first generation ION on benchmarks such as 3DMark06 and 3DMark Vantage.

via Liliputing