Nvidia officialy launches the new ION platform

So many rumors and suppositions regarding the new Ion 2 platform have been around in these last weeks that we were craving for some official info from Nvidia. And it finally happen at CeBIT, as expected before, when this new graphics platform for netbooks and mini laptops was finally officially unveiled. And things are looking pretty awesome, the new platform bringing along quite some improvements over the older one.

And PS: it’s not going to be called Ion 2, it will remain just ION .

The entire platform is now different

Because of how Intel’s new PineTrail platform was designed, integrating the CPU and GPU on the same chipset, the ION solution could no longer work as before, replacing the standard Intel GPU with a better one from Nvidia. They had to find a different solution and they did that by using a discrete graphic card, separated from the rest of the platform and interconnected to it via the PCI-E slot. You can see the differences in architecture below.

Older ION architecture versus the new one

What does these changes mean? For starters, it means that Ion powered netbooks will actually come with two graphic options, the integrated GMA 3150 and the Nivia Ion discrete chip, actually a Nvidia GT218 built on 45 nm, as opposed to the older chip that was built in 65 nm (this means it’s smaller, check the picture for details). And here’s where the Optimus technology comes in handy – more about it below.

New smaller ION chip versus the older one

Also, with a separated chip connected via PCI-E, it could mean that you could buy the Nvidia ION chip separately and insert in the chip and be good to go. But that might not be the case, as Nvidia had to optimize the PCI-E in order to prevent bandwidth bottlenecks, and you won’t have these optimizations on regular netbooks.

Nvidia ION specifications

After seeing the new architecture, it’s time to check out the specs. As you can see in the picture below, this is a DirectX 10.1 compatible platform with up to 512 MB of dedicated memory. It supports all the Intel PineTrail processors available for now or in the near future, both single or dual-core.

Specs for the new ION generation

There’s no info on whether it will support VIA CPUs also, but there are good chances to see Intel ULV + ION solutions in the near future. As for interfaces, the new ION will support HDMI output, so expect netbooks built on this platform to offer such output, alongside DVI, VGA and maybe Display-Port .

There are actually two Nvidia ION solutions

Nvidia plans to offer two different ION solutions:

• fist, there’s one for the 10 inch netbooks, with only 8 CUDA cores. This one is expected to offer performances similar to the old ION generation. That’s how early benchmarks of that Acer AO532g could be explained (the device came with this version of ION and suitable drivers weren’t yet released)
• and second, there’s a better version with 16 CUDA cores for 11.6/12 inch netbooks and nettops, that should offer significant increases in performance levels over the previous generation

And why are there these two options available? I tend to believe because of TDP and heat-emissions concerns, as the 8-cores version offers a 6 W TDP, while the better one comes with 13 W TDP. Still, there’s no info whether we will see or not the powerful version in 10 inch netbooks also, if some crazy producers will decide to go for it.

But how about those performances

Since there are no real benchmarks right now (but should be here quickly though), we’ll have to trust Nvidia on this aspect right now. And the picture below speaks for itself, as it seems the new ION will offer 50 to 100% better performances that the old one.

New Nvidia ION offers quite some performances

Sounds good, but let’s wait to see this platform in practice first.

And there’s also the Optimus technology involved

In fact, this is probably the best thing this new Ion platform brought along. Because of the two existing graphic boards, it would have been a shame from Nvidia not to profit from them: one could work when intense graphics performances were needed and while when not, in a hybrid system. There’s no news here, but the problem with hybrid systems is the inconvenient way of switching between the two solutions (by pressing a button, by restarting, by changing settings, etc).  Nvidia’s Optimus technology does it on the fly and without you even noticing, that’s why it is so impressive (read about it more in this post).

And the conclusion

In the end, with the new Nvidia ION on-board you device, you will be able to enjoy great autonomy if needed, but also have the choice to play modern games or watch Full HD movies and flash clips. Thus, Ion powered netbooks are now a more versatile mini laptop and will probably win more and more adepts each day.

ION netbooks are way better than standard ones, although more expensive also

Nvidia expects more than 30 new notebooks to be offered with ION by the middle of this year. There’s no word on pricing just yet, but along with the new graphics, you will probably see some other upgrades on ION powered laptops, like extra RAM, better processors (probably dual-core Atoms) and Windows 7 Home instead of starter. These too will add to the total price, thus expect Ion based netbooks to cost somewhere from $400 to $600 bucks. Still, a mini laptop that will combine portability with performances is, I believe, worth that kind of money.

That’s it for now, also check out the video below for more info on the Nvidia Ion 2 platform.

More on this on Liliputing and NetbookChoice

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Tags: Cebit 2010, Nvidia Ion, Nvidia Ion 2, Nvidia Optimus

Last updated: March 2, 2010 | Published: March 2nd, 2010 | Add the first comment!