ASUS AT3IonT-I Deluxe arrives

ASUS AT3IonT-I Deluxe is a so called mini-ITX motherboard, only 17x17cm in size. ASUS is perhaps best known for its enthusiast geared motherboards and in a way AT3IonT-I Deluxe is very much part of that group. However, it’s not overclockers that will buy this one, but HTPC builders. The motherboard sport a dual-core Atom 330 CPU and NVIDIA Ion chipset, a combination that enables good video performance at low power consumption.

Intel has launched a newer generation of Atom processors with Pine Trail, but with little to no performance gains and graphics far from the best for a HTPC, ASUS chose to go back with the tested and proved platform.

We have seen other companies, e.g. Zotac, going for the mini-ITX market and now ASUS has stepped up with the AT3IonT-I Deluxe platform. The regular Atom + Ion functionality with HDMI output and hardware accelerated 1080p playback is there, but with 90W·AC/DC power supply there is no space needed inside the case. It also has an IR remote and Bluetooth for all the features that many competing products lack.

ASUS AT3IonT-I Deluxe specifications:

• Atom 330
• NVIDIA ION
• DDR3
• Bluetooth
• WiFi
• 4st SATA2
• 1x PICIEX X16
• HDMI with audio, D-sub
• Analog RCA stereo outputs
• IR remote
• Optic SPDIF
• 90W AC/DC power supply (DC input on the board)
• 3st SATA power connectors
• Fanless cooling

Together with a big and passive cooler ASUS AT3IonT-I Deluxe becomes a quiet, powerful and energy efficient HTPC platform. ASUS is also working on a HTPC-friendly version of Pine Trail, but costing “only” 180€ ASUS AT3IonT-I Deluxe looks like a really interesting alternative where all you need to get is DDR3 memory and perhaps some SSD storage. We have some exclusive pictures of the platform and the bundled accessories in all its tinyness.