The Intel Atom CPU is the golden processor of the netbook crowd but the next-gen VIA Nano might turn heads. The chip is set to drop some time in the middle of 2009 to help power the next round of netbooks.
It should clock-in with 1333MHz FSB, 1MB of L2 cache, all built around a 64-bit infrastructure. Best of all, a 64-bit version is should drop at the end of ’09. Low power consumption, high speed, 64-bit. It could power one hell of a netbook.
The VIA Nano (formerly code-named VIA Isaiah) is a 64-bit CPU for personal computers. The VIA Nano was released by VIA Technologies in 2008 after five years of development by its CPU division, Centaur Technology. This new Isaiah 64-bit architecture was designed from scratch, unveiled on 24 January 2008, and launched on 29 May, including low-voltage variants and the Nano brand name.
The processor supports a number of VIA-specific x86 extensions designed to boost efficiency in low-power appliances.
On November 3, 2009, VIA launched the Nano 3000 series. VIA claims that these models can offer a 20% performance boost and 20% more energy efficiency than the Nano 1000 and 2000 series. Benchmarks run by VIA claim that a 1.6 GHz 3000-series Nano can outperform the aging Intel Atom N270 by about 40–54%. The 3000 series adds the SSE4 SIMD instruction set extensions, which were first introduced with 45 nm revisions of the Intel Core 2 architecture.
On November 11, 2011, VIA released the VIA Nano X2 Dual-Core Processor with their first ever dual core pico-itx mainboard. The VIA Nano X2 is built on a 40 nm process and supports the SSE4 SIMD instruction set extensions, critical to modern floating point dependent applications. Via claims 30% higher performance in comparison to Intel’s Atom with a 50% higher clock.
The Zhaoxin joint venture processors, released from 2014, are based on the VIA Nano series.
I am Chris, a musician. I work as an audio engineer in mastering and arranging bridges in existing songs and the arrangement and orchestration of chorus. In Firing Squad I test gear provided by local distributors during a couple of days and write a review. I also write about AV topics, amplifiers, speakers and headphones.
