VIA Nano goes 40 nanometer and multi-cores

We all knew that it was coming, and the thing is I think we still have to count it as "coming soon". VIA has chosen the week of the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas as the timing to announce the VIA Nano X2 processor, but the Press Release only gives the basic details; no information on actual model numbers and features has been released, and that leads me to believe that using the word "available" would be a little preemptive.

Based on the Isaiah architecture in current Nano processors, the Nano X2 models will use a 40 nanometer fabrication process and the Press Release says that this will mean that they can use multiple cores without increasing the power draw.

VIA usually hand out some samples to the testing geeky media crowd. It'll be nice to see them come up trumps against Intel's Atom again. Read the full Press Release here.

VIA appoints Simmtronics as distributor/manufacturer

VIA is teaming up with Simmtronics who will "assemble a full range of low-power, highly-integrated pc-1 motherboards in its advanced manufacturing facility in Roorkee, Uttaranchal, India, and distribute the products through its channel partners in India and other markets, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Dubai, UAE, Turkey, Iraq, Algeria, and Ghana."

This is therefore much more than a simple distributor agreement, with Simmtronics actually manufacturing VIA products in India, rather than shipping completed systems into the country.

VIA leverages S3 to release graphics card for embedded market

VIA's acquisition of S3 Graphics eleven years ago has seen many S3 Graphics designs incorporated into integrated graphics solutions in VIA chipsets and digital media processors. Whilst VIA has included the Chrome series in EPIA boards before, they have now launched a new PCI Express graphics card, which they claim is the first low profile discrete card ever designed for the embedded industry.

The features of the card include:

PCIe 2.0 Bus Interface
512MB DDR3
Low profile form factor
Dual-Link DVI and HDMI (with HDCP)
Fully programmable DirectX 10.1 Unified Shader Core
OpenGL 3.1 + OpenGL ES 2.0
GPGPU on OpenCL 1.0
H.264 and VC-1 support for Blu-Ray
Support for resolutions up to 2560x1600
1080p/1080i/720p HD-decode
Steroscopic 3D capable
Dual display support

The embedded industry is increasingly finding that customers want better display output and more complex multi-monitor support. The eH1 card aims to fulfill this need.

VIA announces new Pico-ITX with HD and 2 Mini-PCIe

The new EPIA-P830 certainly packs more into the Pico-ITX form factor than ever before. Let's run over the checklist:

Latest VIA Nano processor - check, it has a 1.2GHz Nano E-Series
HD 1080p - check, the VIA VX900 delivers this
Expansion options - check, 2 mini-PCIe ports provides massive amounts of options
HD audio - check, including SPDIF, 6 channel and DTS capable
Advanced memory support - check, DDR3 supported
Networking - check, gigabit Ethernet, plus you've got those mini-PCIe for any other type of wireless connectivity you need
Ports - check, there's 1 channel LVDS display support, an additional 5 x USB 2.0 ports, an LPC connector, SMBus connector, PS/2 support, audio jacks, LVDS, 4 pairs of DIO and two UART ports

Anything more would be just greedy! The Press Release doesn't mention when it will be available.

VIA's dual core design angle

Semiaccurate.com has done a write up about the new VIA Nano DC platform. They give some clear information about the design route that VIA have gone for:

"Unlike most current multi-core processors, VIA has gone down a somewhat older route by sticking two CPU dies next to each other, this means that there's no shared cache and no direct data exchange between the two CPU cores and all core to core communication takes place over the system bus. It's worth remembering that this is very much set to be an Atom competitor and despite the basic dual core design, it should still be more than capable of keeping up with the Atom processors thanks to its superior out-of-order design compared to the Atom's in-order design."

Like many manufacturer-watchers, Semiaccurate.com are eagerly awaiting the VIA nano DC's availability in early 2011 ... not far off now!

The VIA Nano DC in pigeon English

Is pigeon English what you call broken English? Am I being offensive to anyone? Maybe pigeons?

When I was looking for VIA news I came across this very odd "review" of the Nano DC platform, which seems to have been published after taking a bad translator to a review in a language other than English ...

"These days everybody is articulate about graphics as great as VIA is no exception."

"The dual-core Nano which VIA forsaken off is architecturally matching to the existent Nano. Similar to the dual-core CPUs, DC Nano is literally twin Nano die placed to the single side the single another."

Mmmmm ... I think I'll go looking for another source of VIA news ...

ARTiGO pimped as a good Christmas gift idea

Networkworld has got on the Christmas gift list bandwagon early ... oh no hang on, there's only four weeks to go, so not so early ... and they've recommended the VIA ARTiGO builder kit for "true techies who enjoy a little light tinkering". I have to agree. In Australia you'd have to get one from Pioneer Computers, Tech Buy, Eyo, My Shopping, etc - just Google it and you'll find plenty of options.