If you haven't forgotten, you probably know that VIA still has access to an x86 license. Although they haven't made many x86 processors in recent years, the company is now working on a new unit.
A report which originates from 3DCenter.org tells us that VIA is working on its Isaiah II processor, which it hopes to announce before the end of August. The processor will be a low-power unit, where it is meant to compete with the low-power bay-trail platform from Intel as well as AMD's Kabini platform. No details are available of the units' TDP, though.
| Processor | AMD Athlon 5350 | Intel Atom Z3770 | VIA Isaiah II |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequency | 2.05 GHz | 1.46-2.39 GHz | 2.0 GHz |
| Core Count | 4 Cores | 4 Cores | 4 Cores |
| TDP | 25 watt TDP | 2 watt SDP | ? watt |
| Processor Arithmetic | 22.66 GOPS | 15.1 GOPS | 20.0 GOPS |
| Multimedia Processor | 4.56 Mpix/s | 25.9 Mpix/s | 50.2 Mpix/s |
| Multi-Core Efficiency | 4 GB/s | 1.7 GB/s | 3.1 GB/s |
| Cryptography | 1.48 GB/s | 0.4 GB/s | 1.5 GB/s |
| Power Management Efficiency (ALU) | 2.88 GIPS | 2.5 GIPS | 2.9 GIPS |
| Financial Analysis (high/double precision) | 3.64 kOPTS | 1.5 kOPTS | 3.0 kOPTS |
The two remaining bits of information that we are still missing pertain to the processor's TDP and price. Those aspects can mean the difference between this CPU will become a viable option for some people. It is interesting, though, to see VIA playing a role in the x86 market again.
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