ASRock ION 330HT-BD Home Theater PC

Product Summary & Final Conclusions:

I'll admit it, I am thoroughly impressed with ASRock's ION 330HT-BD. From a HTPC or NetTop standpoint, the system is simply superb. Blu-ray & DVD playback was perfectly smooth, even watching online HD videos was an enjoyable experience with minimal issues. Even though this system has a very small footprint (about 7"x7"x3"), the dual fans seem quite capable of keeping temperatures under control, and most important they do it quietly.

I have seen many attempts at small form factor HTPCs over the years, but none compare to ASRock's ION 330 series. Some systems try to utilize regular desktop hardware, resulting in so many cooling fans that the system is too noisy and a distraction from watching recorded TV or movies. Others attempts utilized previous generation low-power processors and graphics that simply did not have the capability to deliver high definition video and audio. Intel's Atom processor coupled with Nvidia's ION chipset is a breakthrough that will hopefully start to really push the HTPC industry in new directions.

Don't think of this system as simply a HTPC, it can be used as a low powered desktop machine too. I surfed the web quite a bit, read though various PDF files, and edited some documents. As long as you aren't trying to do high-end gaming, the system is very capable to handle most basic user tasks. Gaming performance is, well... it's there... While the ION chipset does support DirectX 10, you will have to turn down the resolution and eye candy if you want to maintain a playable FPS.

The system has plenty of good points that should win over even the most skeptical consumer. It is very compact, yet runs extremely quiet. The whole system is ready to go out of the box, you don't have to open it up and install any additional hardware like other SFF barebones systems. The powered ESATA port is a nice feature for adding an external hard drive while maximizing performance. With a single HDMI connection you can get both your HD video and audio, but also legacy connections are available. The models with MCE remotes, wireless networking, and Blu-ray drives give the user flexibility in what they want and/or can afford. The system is also easily upgradable utilizing regular notebook memory, hard drive, and optical drive components. Oh yes, let's not forget, you can also overclock this bad boy!

While the system is great, it's not 100% perfect. I would have really liked a couple USB ports on the front, they are a convenience on all my other PCs that I really missed with this ION 330. I'm not too keen on the little 25mm fan on the CPU for a couple reasons. First, tiny fans (in my experience) tend to fail faster than larger fans. Second, while it is quiet the fan is a higher-pitch than what most are used to (and comfortable dealing with), and if you increase the fan speed then it really becomes irritating. Using a larger fan would have made a better overall experience, but I'm not sure how they would have crammed it in there. Since the fan speed never increased for me though when left on the "Auto" setting, it's not a deal-breaker by any means.

• Pros
  • Quiet & Compact
  • Capable of 1080p playback
  • Lots of connectivity options
  • Pre-installed HD & RAM, so it's ready to go
  • Capable of supporting second internal HD (and even RAID)
  • Full featured BIOS with easy overclocking options
  • Upgraded models available with MCE Remote, Wireless NIC, and Blu-ray drive
• Cons
  • Pre-installed HD & RAM, all models have same specs
  • No front USB ports
  • Real life expectancy of CPU fan is unknown