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What about VIA?
- Thread starter Neo565
- Start date
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2012
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- Charleston, SC
Never heard of them but I haven't been in the game that long.
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2008
There were 4 big ones, for consumers, only two are still main stream (AMD, Intel), one has gone low and and works with other components (VIA) and Cyrix is gone. There were others that were out there and they had good processors but they got gone fast. Man I miss those days.
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- Mar 25, 2011
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- Pacific NW USA
Via is still very much alive and well. They make the Via Nano as a direct competitor for the Atom. They're last release was last year with the "Eden X2" and "Nano X2".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_VIA_Nano_microprocessors
They're great little low power MB/CPU board combos but I think with AMD and their APU's it put a real crimp on the Nano's sales. Although at 6W TDP to 27.8W TDP they really are low power consumption chips.
http://www.via.com.tw/en/
Where Via has really focused lately is in the tablet realm. There are tons of tablets out there (and I wouldn't be surprised if there were many phones too) sporting a Via ARM CPU.
http://www.viaembedded.com/en/products/arm/
I think they decided not to slug it out with the big boys and got into ARM at the beginning. Smart move if you ask me. Put them in the middle of the tablet explosion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_VIA_Nano_microprocessors
They're great little low power MB/CPU board combos but I think with AMD and their APU's it put a real crimp on the Nano's sales. Although at 6W TDP to 27.8W TDP they really are low power consumption chips.
http://www.via.com.tw/en/
Where Via has really focused lately is in the tablet realm. There are tons of tablets out there (and I wouldn't be surprised if there were many phones too) sporting a Via ARM CPU.
http://www.viaembedded.com/en/products/arm/
I think they decided not to slug it out with the big boys and got into ARM at the beginning. Smart move if you ask me. Put them in the middle of the tablet explosion.
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2008
I never meant to say VIA was gone. It does sound that way though.
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2011
- Location
- Pacific NW USA
Sorry, I wasn't referring to your post
I was answering the OP.I wouldn't say their gone. They have a Quad listed on their website but I don't know if it's available or not. And who knows if their working on a future desktop product or if they've moved solely into embedded and the tablet area now.
http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/processors/quadcore/index.jsp
They're definately not in the mid-level market anymore though. But I think they've put themselves in a position of being serious contenders in the embedded and low power SOC market though.
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2008
Sorry, I wasn't referring to your post
I wouldn't say their gone. They have a Quad listed on their website but I don't know if it's available or not. And who knows if their working on a future desktop product or if they've moved solely into embedded and the tablet area now.
http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/processors/quadcore/index.jsp
They're definately not in the mid-level market anymore though. But I think they've put themselves in a position of being serious contenders in the embedded and low power SOC market though.
Hell with the power that even the weakest processors have most people are happy.
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- Mar 25, 2011
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- Pacific NW USA
I know. If you think about the tasks that make up what we do 70% or more in our daily computing use, even the lowest power CPU can easily do those tasks. Surfing the web, emailing, word processing, watching a video etc. It's only when we move to gaming, multi-tasking and other areas that more power is good. Even then, many times we have more power than is necessary (just look at what powers an XBOX 360 etc.). I'm amazed at what my cortex A9 tablet is actually capable of.
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- Feb 17, 2010
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- Manassas, VA
VIA's also a huge manufacturer of motherboard chipsets.
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2011
- Location
- Pacific NW USA
Yep. A vast majority of MB's use Via Audio chipsets among others.
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2008
And the Vinyl is a good audio chip. You can actually tell it on mid grade speakers.
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- Mar 25, 2011
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- Pacific NW USA
In 1997 they were bought out and merged into National Semiconductor who then later sold Cyrix to Via Technologies (but at that time most of the original team had left Cyrix). So Via ended up with all of the patents and cross-lincenses that Cyrix held.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrix
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrix
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2011
- Location
- Cádiz (Spain)
But sourcing VIA CPUs for cheap is hard. I was looking for a VIA Nano motherboard for my pfSense box and I couldn't find anything that wasn't over $150.
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2011
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- Pacific NW USA
What kind of Via Nano board are you looking for?
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2011
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- Cádiz (Spain)
I was looking for whatever board had the lowest power consumption. But I already have an Atom.
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