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ASUS AT5IONT-I Deluxe: Unboxing preview!

ASUS AT5IONT-I Deluxe: Unboxing preview!

August 30th, 2010 in .PC Components .Products
Nick Holland
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ASUS Next Generation ION mini-ITX motherboard unboxing preview!

Yea, that title is a bit of a mouthful  admittedly, although the combination of new tech in small form factor should certainly get your gadget organ waggling.

Because Intel integrated the northbridge right into the silicon of its DDR3 Atom CPUs (including the D525 on the AT5IONT-I), Nvidia’s ‘Next Generation’ ION (sometimes dubbed ION-2) doesn’t replace a chip like it did before – instead it simply adds a considerably upgraded graphics engine.  This, combined with dedicated graphics memory considerably boosts gameplay and video decoding performance for those who want Atom’s very low power, but need a PC with more focus on its graphics than CPU processing power.

The AT5IONT-I board is a passively cooled mini-ITX mix, however it’s the Deluxe package that completes the deal – which is why we’re doing an unboxing!

Get that box OPEN! RAWRR *RIIIIP*

Well, lets not quite go ‘The Hulk’ on the poor little cubic box, but we’re still keen to get inside…

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Cracking it open (metaphorically speaking) and we’re immediately presented with the driver disc and manuals on top, with a SATA cable and metal rear I/O plate neatly packed in down the side.

Removing the cardboard cover reveals the tiny motherboard in its electrostatic bag: the 17x17cm square tiddler has an open-ended PCI-E x4 slot, two DDR3 SO-DIMM slots, two SATA 3Gbps and a whopping great big blue anodised heatsink that cools both CPU and graphics chip. Nvidia’s ION-2 hardware is soldered directly to the PCB and the rear I/O ports offer up both HDMI and DVI, along with the USB 3, S/PDIF, eSATA, bluetooth and WiFi! This board = stacked to the britches!

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Underneath this and opening the flaps, we’re finally in deep…

First thing to see is that ASUS throws in USB IR dongle and remote control – perfect for a home theatre! All you need now is a TV and software, then you’re good to go! There’s also the power brick and extra Molex to SATA power cable as well.

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This is because the motherboard has its own DC-DC converter built into the PCB, which saves the need to buy a power supply entirely. Using a 90W power brick is not only more efficient because it’s built to the exact needs of the motherboard and a few peripherals – making a greener, cooler product and also saving you money on ‘leccy bill too! It also means you can use an even smaller case as well, because there’s no need for a bulky power supply.

Once the DDR3 SO-DIMM’s and SSD arrive, it’s time to get on with some benchmarks and HTPC ideas, so come back soon!

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  • Guillermo

    Where did you get it?? I am trying to buy one, and it is not available yet ….

    Cheers

  • MERCURY

    I TOTALLY WANT THIS damn Deluxe thing… when will it be released??? can’t wait… :)

  • Simple

    Omg, very nice board! Were did you ordered this board? I can’t find it in the webshops already..

  • http://techinstyle.tv Nick

    Unfortunately it’s not commercially available yet it seem, but it should be very soon I’m told! This is one of the first samples off the production line I managed to borrow from a friend at ASUS :-D

  • simon olsen

    uhh u must be a golden man.

    I am so mjuch looking forward to see your review of the puppy, hopefully the thermals are not to high for my costum wood build.

    Can you please check if it is possible to overclock the gpu/cpu and to which extent.

    We are quite a few watching you :)
    http://www.overclock.net/intel-motherboards/782316-asuss-at5iont-i-ion-2-board-16.html

    What ram are you gonna use?
    As the non deluxe board does not take kindely to many of the ram brands.

    Keep on mooving, dont stop nooooo

  • simon olsen

    Have you been given a delivery date for the ram :)
    Im just ansius of sseing the thing in action.
    Heck ill send you some if you like …. which flavour do you prefer :O

  • MERCURY

    come on, nick… i wanna see some pics and maybe vids in action :) and a review of course…

  • http://techinstyle.tv Nick

    I’m waiting on a case from Lian Li and SO-DIMMs from A-DATA so I can built it into a HTPC (I’ll try and do pics of the build process as well as benchmarks).

    I’ll see what I can do about some video too then as well. ;-)

  • http://techinstyle.tv Nick

    BTW guys – if there’s any other ASUS boards or hardware you want more info/pics of just let me know and I’ll drop a call in.

    Simon – yes this one is quite picky about Memory too, unlike the ASUS M4A88T-I Deluxe. I do have G.Skill SO-DIMMs but that didn’t work. ASUS tells me that the Atoms memory controller is quite fussy and we have to stick to the QVL on its website.

  • simon olsen

    Cool Nick.
    looking forward to it..the non deluxe goes for 1200 dkk(aprox 163 €/210$) here in denmark, hope it doesen`t go way beyond that.
    As the AT3ion and the AT3ion-I deluxe also were priced very close to each other..think 1-200 dkk difference.

    My main interest would be to see what kind of temps that puppy pulls when passive, both overclock gpu/cpu.
    And the temps with a big fan on top, also overclocked.

    I am in the making of a valnut mini mediacenter.
    Plan is:
    a silverstone 18×18 cm fan
    http://specialtech.co.uk/spshop/customer/product.php?productid=11902&cat=1902&page=1 on the lid of the case blowing down on the entire board with an on off switch
    Slot in 12,5mm sata dvd slot-in driveand a 2,5inch sata 750gb hd on top of eachother
    to make the case aprox 10 cm high 20 cm deep and 35 cm wide in 2,5 cm thick walnut wood.
    But i am worried about what the temps migth come to as wood is not the best heat disperser.

    Until now i have been looking at getting a athlon x2 and a 785 itx, i have just been hessitant coz all the effective heatsinks are tower coolers and would make the build too high in my opinion.
    But this looks interesting with the big heatsink spread out across the board which makes it easy to cool with a big fan, hence smaller rpms.

    But first of all i would like to know how much better it is from its older blother wit the 330/ion heart.

    Will be staying tuned :)

  • http://techinstyle.tv Nick

    The Silverstone AP fans are fantastic – I’ve seen them first hand.

    Unfortunately I don’t have an older gen Ion to compare numbers but I do have a D330 kicking around I will test against. Unfortunately my Gen 1 Intel X25-M just died this morning so I’ll have to find another SSD too :(

  • simon olsen

    Bummer dude…
    Well good luck when the jinx ends ……

  • Guillermo

    I would love to be you right now….

    ….. does your friend in ASUS have one more?? xDDDD

    regards

  • simon olsen

    Im in your boat Guillermo…i also would like one hehe..

    I have now read quite a few reviwes and forums posts regarding the non deluxe board, where people are experiencing many issues with heat, messuring idle gpu between 86-106 degrees celcius.(i suppose running passive.,…
    Source XBMC (http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=79012&page=14)

    Scary scary……

  • http://techinstyle.tv Nick

    It’s got a massive heatsink on it so of course it needs to breathe. The CPU and GPU still generate heat that’s got to go *somewhere*. The fins require air to get a convection cycle going so if users bung it in tiny, enclosed environments it’s going to overheat – that’s true of ANY heatsink in any case on any motherboard. Fans merely create a forced convection and pressure to remove heat.

  • Hans

    Hey Simon,
    Another dane here – planning to make a htpc basen on the AT5IONT-I board – however before ordering the pieces i have seen that a deluxe veriosn of the mb is in the pipeline. Do you know the difference between the two mb?

    regards

    Hans

  • Renato

    Excellent article Nick! Could you be so kind to post the maximum height of the board’s heatsink, so we have better idea of what solutions we can adopt for the case?

  • http://techinstyle.tv Nick

    Thanks!

    It’s 35mm tall same as the rear I/O. As far as I know it’s identical to the non-Deluxe board, except for the fact it has the power hardware on this one instead of an ATX socket. The non-Deluxe requires standard ATX power.

  • simon olsen

    Hi Hans

    The main difference as i know will be that the deluxe has which the non deluxe does not:

    Bluetooth….only deluxe
    Wifi N………..only deluxe
    Onboard Pico psu…..only deluxe

    And i think thats about it..but enough to justify the wait in my opinion:)
    I just roasted my itx celeron board, by buying a pico 120 psu and just atatching it to my laptop power brick.
    Big mistake :) , i had a fire on my board, i did not check the voltage hehe, the laptop took 2V and the pico was certified to 12V…guess what it does not work any more….

    So i would like to buy one with the power attatched this time.

    I just having a hard time choosing either to get this on release or wait for what i really want, A lIano motherboard hehehe.

    Nick does your friend know if asus are planning a FM1 (lIano socket)board as i know that asus has already sent out samples for the to build it on?

    I Know thease are trade secrets hehe, but i guess that the lIano is like made for ITX….dont ya think do…

  • simon olsen

    correction, my laptop brick was a 20Volt

  • simon olsen

    Vær forsigtig hvilken ram du køber hans!!

    Der er mange der har købt til non deluxe men har måtte sende dem tilbage, da den er meget speciel med hvilken ram der kan bruges.
    (Har ikke fundet ud af hvilken endnu)

  • http://techinstyle.tv Nick

    Apparently so:

    http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2010/08/12/asus-has-amd-fusion-mini-itx-in-development/1

    (EDIT: LOL at picture irony :D )

  • simon olsen

    Yep…its that solution im talking about.
    I just think the release date for such a card is far away, amd have release date in Q2 which is still 9 months away.
    Tecknicly speaking i could be a dad by then :)

    LOled at the comment about the heatpipe as if the picture was of the real board…
    Thnx for the heigth of the board, i now can finish my draft sketchup..

  • Petter

    I’ve been looking for this board for since the summer. I was hoping it could run fan-less as my Zotac with the Atom/ION2 has a nasty little fan. I’ve checked with several of the local (I’m in Oslo Norway) web-shops, but don’t seem to have a clue as when this board hits the street.

  • Dudu

    There is this page: http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/327014059/Motherboards_ASUS_AT5IONT_I_Deluxe.html
    apparently one can allready buy it there but just if you order at least 10.
    I don’t know what to think of it because you can’t get it anywhere else.
    The board itself schould be ready as we know the non deluxe version is ready and not that much different to the deluxe.
    But still I want this thing :)

  • Petter

    I also came across the AliBaba page while searching for the board. Seems like it’s some kind of bulk retail. The price was listed as $50-$300. I guess the $50 must be for large quantities. Besides AliBaba gives associations to some kind of robbery…

  • http://techinstyle.tv Nick

    Alibaba is an East Asian distribution list company – it basically puts you in touch with many Chinese/Taiwanese factories or other distributors, so it’s not necessarily from ASUS directly.

  • simon olsen

    Yes Alibaba is a retailer network where the factories can sell directly to the end reseller.
    They provide a contact link between companyes without them meeting.

    That said it is probaly the factory producing them which are offering so they can sell in as many channels as possible, and it also gives them a “tempreture messurement”. (Is the board hot or not)
    Plus you can save a few buks if you order 50 pce :)

  • Dudu

    so, if somebody is up to buy 9 piece of this lovely thing I’m in :)

  • Petter

    Have anybody heard anything as when this board will hit the streets?

    I’ve been looking for the ASUS Hummingbird board as well and the situation is more and less the same there: the local dealers have no clue as when the board will be available.

  • simon olsen

    @Petter what does the regular AT5IONT-I not have which the hummingbird has.
    Said different does the hummingbird feature onboard wifi/bluetooth and onboard power, as this is the only difference from the AT5IONT-I (which has been released) and the AT5IONT-I deluxe.

  • Charlie

    Does anyone know the release date for this thing?

  • Petter

    The Hummingbird is a totally different board. They are more suited as small servers as they have a management port and no HDMI, ION, etc.

  • simon olsen

    ohh i see like the KINO-QM57A

  • Nikola

    These guys list it as in stock:

    http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=65#AT5IONT-I

  • Christian

    That’s the non deluxe version (though they do list the humming bird).

  • simon olsen

    C mon already…
    release, as soon, as sandy bridge comes to the market this thing will have no use..

    Asus is shooting itself in the foot…

  • http://techinstyle.tv Nick

    I disagree, SB won’t scale this low unless Asus uses mobile hardware (not out until later Q2 next year), and even then it’ll be far more expensive.

  • simon olsen

    You migth have a point there with
    SB, tho liano states 20 w, with far better cpu and gfx.
    http://www.fudzilla.com/graphics/graphics/graphics/amd-llano-fusion-in-2011-gets-specs

    ‘But true the SB will probably be very expencive untill buldozer arrives

  • Petter

    Simon, the KINO-QM57A is a i5/i7 with HDMI etc. The Hummingbird is a Atom board with no low end graphics. I’ll keep an eye on some of the local stores for a couple more weeks, if not I’ll go for mini-itx.com even though I have take it through customs and get a replacement for the UK power cord etc.

  • Petter

    er, that should be *only* low end graphics…

  • simon olsen

    i can see that you are able to purchase with eu cord (alteast for my pico power brick)

    Ahh that was the difference, i was just looking at the management controller ” BMC” when i compared.

  • MERCURY

    eyo… what about the review??? don’t tell me the parts haven’t yet arrived! it has been 2 weeks now ;)

  • http://techinstyle.tv Nick

    Still waiting on them SO-DIMMs :( Arriving in the next few days I’m told so I’ll fire it up on the weekend.

  • simon olsen

    uhh Nick… put some marshmellows on the fire and some coco in the cup coz i will be enjoying and looking forward to that.

  • http://techinstyle.tv Nick

    :D

    What do you want to see covered?

    So far I’ve got down:
    VLC/MPC-HC acceleration CPU% with 1080p video
    Temps under load in open air + in a case (Silverstone SG07 with 180mm AP fan)
    COD:MW2 performance vs Radeon HD 5450?

    Plus naked photos of the board etc.

  • Charlie

    Can you check with your friend on a release date?

    I’m going back and forth on this thing and the lowest power AMD chip I can fit on an ASUS M4A88T-I Deluxe for my next HTPC. I’m trying to decide if the wait is worth it for the lower-power option.

  • Petter

    Are there any small/fanless cases suitable for the AT5IONT-I DeLuxe? If not I might get another Zotac ZBOX HD-ID1. With the latest BIOS upgrade it’s pretty quiet.

  • Petter

    And the Shuttle XS35 is finally out…

  • Petter

    Urg, the Shuttle is GMA 3150 and not ION2 like my ZBOX HD-ID1

  • Petter

    It seems like the ION2 is available in some XS35 models

  • http://techinstyle.tv Nick

    Charlie:

    It entirely depends on what software you use and if it can use the GPU to accelerate all the video you watch. The Atom can’t hack anything about SD video, so if the software – like VLC, MPC-HC or paid for stuff like Cyberlink or Arcsoft – isn’t compatible with the codec in your video, then get the AMD CPU for more grunt.

    If everything you watch is a standard h.264, basic mpeg2/4, vc1, wmv, then the ION2 has you completely covered.

  • http://techinstyle.tv Nick

    Petter – it still needs some fan, or some ventilation. Like any finned item you can’t just drop it in a shoebox and expect it to survive in a cooker. The heat has to go somewhere. The Zotac box is very nice but obviously not that customisable. ;-)

  • Dudu

    do you think it would work without fan, with the M350 Mini-ITX case?
    It’s made for fanless cooling.

  • http://techinstyle.tv Nick

    As I said above it needs ventilation to create a convection cycle. You can probably use the M350 but you can’t throw that it in a cupboard or enclosed space, as it’ll just cook itself. I haven’t tested it properly yet but the design theory of having a large heatsink means that it has lots of fins to transfer the heat to the environment, so requires some way to refresh the air around it.

    It’s not technically called ‘fanless’ cooling; it’s ‘passive’ cooling – it still needs a function of cooling.

  • simon olsen

    You could solder heatpipes to te heatsink and place the conncted corrosponding heatsink outside the case thus shifting some of the heat.

    I have allot of old heatsinks and heatpipes, this is what i am planning with the custom case.

  • Tony Cue

    http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=65

    I’m confused after looking at the 2nd picture of the Deluxe version on Mini-ITX.com. Is it just me or does it look like full size DIMM slots rather than SO-DIMM slots? This isn’t mentioned in the manual from the Asus site!

  • Tony Cue

    Never mind, different model….

  • Petter

    I have several VIA based mini-ITX boards which are passively cooled. The heatsink is not physically connected anywhere, it’s all based on airflow in the case. The Shuttle XS35 is also fanless if I have understood the specs correctly. However, it could be that it has some thermal connection to the case etc. as I have never seen one.

  • simon olsen

    its coz im making a custum case from scratch, basing the cooling ideas from disected laptops.

  • http://techinstyle.tv Nick

    Petter – It’s all to do with the TDP. VIA boards are exceptionally low power, but this one has a very large heatsink because the D-series Atom and NV ION-2 chip are quite a bit more power hungry = more heat to transfer to the environment.

    Simon – if you use heatpipes then it should work. The board has four screw holes around each chip for retention iirc

  • simon olsen

    But yearh nick you are so rigth, without air moving, you will be creating a silent heater and if the board quits you have no one else to blaim than your self :)

    But i guess just a gentile push of air will be enough.
    Kinda like the : http://htpcbuild.wordpress.com/2010/09/07/at-last-temperatures-under-control-and-total-silence/ , it wont blow piggy houses away but keep this bord cool i bet it will :)

  • http://techinstyle.tv Nick

    Sorry guys, looks like the board is DOA :-( The new SO-DIMMs arrive and I’ve just checked but it’s a non-booter. It’s a very early sample so I’ll take it back to ASUS and get their guys to have a look at it + replace it for a new one.

    Soon soon! Promise

  • simon olsen

    Bummer….
    Good luck on the next one, this may be the reson it has not been released yet.

  • simon olsen

    Just released bios update, mabye you can try this if you have not sent it back to asus yet.
    http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://extreme.pcgameshardware.de/support-forum-von-asus/113287-asus-at5iont-i-2.html&ei=GTqXTNPBOYLuOc2YnMwK&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CD0Q7gEwAg&prev=/search%3Fq%3DAt5iont-i%2Bbios%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26tbo%3D1%26tbs%3Dqdr:w%26prmd%3Divdf

    Driver download:
    http://demo.ovh.de/de/f31ac9f2191c437a963929d405fbeb48

  • Petter

    I’m aware that it’s boils down to TDP, but Shuttle has managed to build a passively cooled Atom/ION2 system and I was hoping that a passively cooled mini-itx case was available to be used with the ASUS board. Prior to the latest BIOS update my Zotac was extremely noisy, but now it’s pretty quiet, still it does not feel hot at all, not even when playing 1080p videos. But as I said I was hoping to find a case with passive cooling so the system would be free of moving parts…

  • simon olsen

    I also am looking for almost passive stsyem, was designing it with same ground steps as this one.
    http://metku.net/index.html?path=mods/passive/index_eng

    But if you have the dough you could go this route
    http://www.hfx.dk/hfxclassic.htm which is copletely passive, but will cost you your kidney.

  • Arnstein

    So…any news/dates on when this mb will arrive the market?

  • simon olsen

    new updates:
    On ASUS pages exists new BIOS
    Description on
    http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_I…ebE&templete=2
    section Download

    Direct download:
    http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/…-ASUS-0316.zip
    http://dlsvr.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/In…-ASUS-0316.zip

    I place this file on
    http://rapidshare.com/files/42080096…-ASUS-0316.zip

  • simon olsen

    duke nukem forever of motherboards… it should not be so different from the non deluxe one, so whats the holdup…
    Many punters will go elsewhere and settle with other hardware…comon, release already

  • Anonymous

    2x post sry

  • Anonymous

    Hi Nick

    I am sorry but my patience has just run out :)
    Waiting for a M4a88T-i with an X2 240e and a Scythe big shriken which i hope will fit my 120w pico psu envelope..
    Time to build..but thanks for the dreams:)

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