Discrete ION GPUs Now Popping Up At NewEgg
@ 2010/06/30When NVIDIA switched from ION to ION-NG, it swapped from including an entire chipset over to a GPU. At the time, NV noted that some third-party manufacturers might opt to offer stand-alone products based on the second-generation ION GPU, and at least one company is doing so. Zotac, already known as a company with a wide line of ION-based products, is now selling what it calls an ION GPU-A-E.
The card features 16 shader cores and 512MB of DDR3, but its memory interface is just 64-bits wide. That was considered decidedly non-optimal ten years ago; it's positively anemic today. The card's x1 slot is also restricted to version 1.1 of the PCI-Express standard, which means a maximum of 200MB/s of bandwidth. Balanced against these negatives is a single, undeniable fact: The ION-GPU-A-E is one of the only x1 PCI-Express cards available, and it's easily the most-affordable. PowerColor and HIS both offer HD Radeon 4350s, but these are $99 and $109 respectively.
The card features 16 shader cores and 512MB of DDR3, but its memory interface is just 64-bits wide. That was considered decidedly non-optimal ten years ago; it's positively anemic today. The card's x1 slot is also restricted to version 1.1 of the PCI-Express standard, which means a maximum of 200MB/s of bandwidth. Balanced against these negatives is a single, undeniable fact: The ION-GPU-A-E is one of the only x1 PCI-Express cards available, and it's easily the most-affordable. PowerColor and HIS both offer HD Radeon 4350s, but these are $99 and $109 respectively.