X-bit labs

Via Prepares New Processors for Q1 2008 Introduction.

Category: CPU

by Anton Shilov

[ 07/25/2007 | 10:05 PM ]

Despite of the fact that Via Technologies has not introduced any new “big” products for quite some time, the company is still developing new technologies that may help it to regain financial positions. Two years later after initially expected, Via is set to finally introduce its code-named Isaiah microprocessor in early 2008, according to market rumours.

Via Isaiah is expected to be Via’s first processor with 64-bit capability, which will have build-in PadLock security features with enhancements, a number of multimedia enhancements and even a kind of answer to Intel’s Hyper-Threading – an out-of-order execution engine that allows the processor to handle different types of tasks at the same time. The new chip will use 1333MHz V4 processor system bus and will use 1MB of level-two cache. The product will be made using 65nm process technology.

According to a news-story from DigiTimes, in spite of original claims, Via Isaiah will not work on a much higher clock-speed compared to current-generation Via Esther/Via C7 processors and will consume more power than the predecessor. However, it is rumoured that its “performance so far has been measured to be twice as fast as that delivered by the Esther architecture, and the floating point unit performance is four times greater”. It is not said whether Isaiah is a dual-core or single-core chip.

Via Technologies did not comment on the news-story.