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VIA Nano challenges Intel Atom |
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Written by Chris Tangora
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Thursday, 29 May 2008 |
VIA Technologies is a microprocessor company from Taipei and they are turning out to be major competitors to the Intel Atom chips. The VIA Nano chip, originally called the "Issiah" processor, is running fast and running cool. It was completely redesigned from the ground up over the past four years. It is a 64-bit x86 CPU that can run up to 1.8 GHz while consuming 25 watts. It can also be scaled back to run at 1 GHz and sip only 5 watts. Intel's Atom chips are spec'd right now to run between 800 MHz and 1.8GHz taking up on .65 & 2.4 Watts.
While the VIA chips seem like they might be a little outclassed, they do have a few advantages. Their pins are compatible with the current VIA C7 processors for many devices. This means that they can be used in current designs and be used as upgrades. They also run at a faster front side bus and have twice the amount of L2 cache as the Atom Z. I'm sure Intel is taking notice of this and is readying the final release of the Diamondville version of Atom chip, reported to run at 2.2 GHz and take up either 4W or 8W, depending on the number of cores.
From Wired.com
Read more at PC Mag.com
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