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VIA CPU Overview
VIA is somewhat of a
newcomer to the CPU market. After their acquisition of the Centaur
division of IDT (bringing the Winchip) and of Cyrix they have put
together a series of excellent CPUs. VIA has admirably chosen not to
join the chaos of performance desktop/server CPUs. This has kept them
from having to compete with the likes of Intel and AMD. Rather they have
concentrated on the quiet, cool, computing areas of small home boxes and
laptops. These computers do not need to be able to play Doom 3 at 200fps
or be able to rip DVDs day in and day out. They do however need to be
very cool, and very quiet, fitting into small enclosures that do not
have the capability of heating your entire house. VIA CPUs are designed
for the digital media/security market. VIA can rightfully claim to have
the 'coolest' CPUs available on the market.
VIA has released several cores and it can be hard to tell what makes them
different.
VIA CPUs have been marketed under the Cyrix name (which has now
been dropped due to bad connotations with the massive heat generated by
the late Cyrix MII) as well as '1GigaPro' and VIA's own name.
Click here for all types of Barebone Kits including VIA based systems
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VIA News
Code-named Joshua, the low-cost processor will run at speeds that will provide
the performance of chips running at 433, 466 and 500 MHz, Via executives have
said.
More importantly, it will fit into the same circuit boards as Intel's Celeron
processor, making the chip the first Celeron clone. Wen Chi Chen, president and
CEO, and Steve McMahan, director of engineering, will preside over the event in
San Jose, Calif.
With Joshua, Taiwan-based Via will become the fourth official competitor to
Intel in the PC microprocessor market. Advanced Micro Devices is currently
waging war with Intel in all segments of the market while start-up Transmeta
will begin to sell competing processors for notebooks and portable devices.
Although Via represents a much smaller competitive threat than AMD and has yet
to announce customers, the company's entry into the market will no doubt come
with sparks and controversy. Intel and Via are engaged in a series of lawsuits
stemming from a licensing agreement regarding chipsets that was signed in late
1998. In addition to the standard legal claims, Intel has also filed a petition
with the Department of Commerce to bar Via from exporting chipsets into the
United States.
Via's microprocessors are not related to the chipset controversy. The company
denies the legitimacy of the lawsuits and has entered into a number of deals
with Intel licensees to attempt to neutralize any legal stance of Intel.
The technology underpinning Joshua is relatively familiar to semiconductor
experts. Via entered the processor market by buying Cyrix, the microprocessor
division of National Semiconductor, and Centaur, IDT's microprocessor division.
Joshua is largely based around Cyrix technology. A new generation of chips that
incorporate IDT's designs will follow in the third quarter, company executives
said last year.
Via plans to primarily focus on the budget computer segment. Although AMD,
National Semiconductor and others have lost money competing in this market, Via
will succeed because of its lower costs and ability to bring products to market,
Chen has said.
Analysts have also pointed out that the company is part of a Taiwanese
conglomerate that makes motherboards and other computer components, which could
ease the process of getting the chip into the market. It also has a long history
of association with Everex, a small computer company that is being sued by Intel
in conjunction with the chipset suits.
 
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