Thursday VIA Technologies revealed the new VIA QuadCore processor, a power efficient, quad-core x86 CPU best suited for desktops, notebooks, small form factor PCs, AIOs, and even mini-servers. The chip features a thermal design power (TDP) of only 27.5 watts, and will initially ship clocked at 1.2+ GHz later this year.
Manufactured using 40-nm processing, the VIA QuadCore consists of four "Isaiah" cores mounted on two dies. The chip is natively 64-bit compatible and comes packed with additional performance enhancers like Adaptive Overclocking, 4 MB of L2 cache, and a 1333 MHz V4 Bus. And as previously mentioned, the CPU has an extremely low TDP of only 27.5 watts.
"Yhe VIA QuadCore processor delivers awesome multi-threaded performance across the board for multi-tasking, multimedia playback, productivity and internet browsing in a low power envelope," VIA said Thursday. "The distributed performance of the VIA QuadCore also makes it ideal for making the most of multi-display environments."
Other notable features include a VIA NanoBGA2 package of 21-mm x 21-mm with a die size of 11-mm x 6-mm, VIA VT virtualization, VIA PadLock with the Advanced Cryptography Engine, and full pin-to-pin compatibility with VIA Eden, VIA C7 and VIA Nano E-Series, and VIA Eden X2 processors.
Shipments of the VIA QuadCore processor will begin in Q3 2011. VIA also plans to showcase the new processor in a few weeks at Computex (Taipei International Convention Center, Room 201D) from May 31st to June 4th.
