NVIDIA ION Linux Performance

Looking at the 2D X Render extension performance we used QGears2 and first with its geears test. The ION delivered slightly more frames per second than the Intel 945 integrated graphics.

The text performance with the X Render extension was more than six times faster with the ION product.

Lastly, the image scaling performance using X Render was only slightly in favor of the NVIDIA ION system sent out to us by ZaReason for testing.

Well, hands down, the NVIDIA ION performs dramatically better than the Intel 945 graphics found on most netbooks, nettops, and other Intel Atom devices. The video playback with VDPAU was substantially better and allowed smooth 1080p H.264 video playback. When it came to gaming, the NVIDIA ION system was always faster than the Intel 945 and in some times it was many times faster. NVIDIA's leads continued when it came to the 2D graphics performance. Not all games were playable with the NVIDIA ION system and the frame-rate was lower in some of the other areas, but it is much better than using Intel graphics.

When it comes to Intel graphics over NVIDIA on these Atom devices, the only advantage in favor of the blue company is their open-source driver support compared to NVIDIA's proprietary-only stance. We will be back with more on the NVIDIA ION performance and the ZaReason Ion Breeze 3770 in the coming days.

More information and pricing on NVIDIA ION systems is available through TestFreaks.com.