As we anticipated, yesterday VIA announced another CPU built on the new Samuel 2 core. Not to let this series be associated with the notorious Cyrix III CPU, which was dubbed as a low-performance piece, VIA has decided to rename its new offspring. Now it is called C3.
C3 CPUs will feature 0.15-micron technology and the only architectural innovation in comparison with the Cyrix III family will be 64Kb L2 cache (L1 cache is still 128Kb). The new wrinkle is hoped to give C3 a chance to overcome Cyrix III in performance by circa 20% as working at the same frequencies.
The lower C3 CPUs are already available. They are clocked at 733MHz and are pricing at $54 in over-1000-unit quantities. All C3 processors are designed for 133MHz bus.
Thanks to a finer technology applied in C3 series, the size of the CPU’s core remains 52sq mm, while heat dissipation has reduced by about 25%. As you can see, VIA makes its every new processor still more attractive for notebooks and Internet-appliances.