All the focus was on the the north bridge of the new VN1000 chipset, even though it features a new VIA south bridge as well, the VT8261. VIA hasn't launched a new south bridge for four years. But it's true to say that the north bridge is more exciting anyway.
The VN1000 features DirectX 10.1 support which means that it can have a swanky new Windows 7 drivers called a Windows Desktop Drivers Model 1.1, instead of the older type of WDDM driver. So things will look really pretty in Windows 7 with the VN1000. Are you already getting a desktop theme? Unlike most other chipsets and single chip solutions that VIA has released over the last few years, the VN1000 is a return to old stomping ground for VIA, as it's targetted at desktops - and more specifically, a new wave of all-in-one desktops. The specs sound nice for a notebook but VIA's suggestion is to pair the chipset with a VIA Nano 3000 series processor for a desktop solution.
"Offering a feature-rich specification with significant emphasis on graphics and HD video playback, the VIA VN1000 features the VIA Chrome 520 IGP, combining a DirectX 10.1 graphics engine, with support for Shader Model 4, OpenGL 3.0 graphics and OpenCL 1.0 for next-generation GPGPU applications."
VIA's characteristic power angle is still there, "Paired with the new VIA VT8261 south bridge, the VIA VN1000 represents the most power-efficient DX10.1 compliant digital media chipset on the market, consuming up to 12 watts for both north and south bridges, making it a perfect choice for Windows 7 based mini desktop and all-in-one desktop PCs designs. "
The VN1000 also offers "DDR3 system memory at speeds of up to 1066MHz, one x8 lane and four x1 lane PCI Express II expansion slots, up to five PCI slots and a VIA Vinyl HD 8 channel audio codec. An IDE controller, support for up to four S-ATA II drives, SD/MMS/MMC card reader support and 12 USB 2.0 ports are supplemented with support for PS/2, SPI, GPIO and LPC technologies."
The VN1000 features DirectX 10.1 support which means that it can have a swanky new Windows 7 drivers called a Windows Desktop Drivers Model 1.1, instead of the older type of WDDM driver. So things will look really pretty in Windows 7 with the VN1000. Are you already getting a desktop theme? Unlike most other chipsets and single chip solutions that VIA has released over the last few years, the VN1000 is a return to old stomping ground for VIA, as it's targetted at desktops - and more specifically, a new wave of all-in-one desktops. The specs sound nice for a notebook but VIA's suggestion is to pair the chipset with a VIA Nano 3000 series processor for a desktop solution.
"Offering a feature-rich specification with significant emphasis on graphics and HD video playback, the VIA VN1000 features the VIA Chrome 520 IGP, combining a DirectX 10.1 graphics engine, with support for Shader Model 4, OpenGL 3.0 graphics and OpenCL 1.0 for next-generation GPGPU applications."
VIA's characteristic power angle is still there, "Paired with the new VIA VT8261 south bridge, the VIA VN1000 represents the most power-efficient DX10.1 compliant digital media chipset on the market, consuming up to 12 watts for both north and south bridges, making it a perfect choice for Windows 7 based mini desktop and all-in-one desktop PCs designs. "
The VN1000 also offers "DDR3 system memory at speeds of up to 1066MHz, one x8 lane and four x1 lane PCI Express II expansion slots, up to five PCI slots and a VIA Vinyl HD 8 channel audio codec. An IDE controller, support for up to four S-ATA II drives, SD/MMS/MMC card reader support and 12 USB 2.0 ports are supplemented with support for PS/2, SPI, GPIO and LPC technologies."
Now, what about that new south bridge? Compared to the older VT8251 it offers 12 instead of 8 USB 2.0 ports; the Ultra V-link is increased from 16Bits to 1GB/s, memory card reader is built in and so is gigabit Ethernet.
