VIA, which is intending to win 7% of the processor market this year keeps developing enhanced Cyrix III models pretty rapidly. They hope this CPU will finally manage to reach the acceptable level of performance. At CeBIT, which will be held in March, the company is planning to announce a new Cyrix III built on C5B (Samuel 2) core, according to The Register. Its features will look as follows:

• Core frequency: 750MHz (800 and 850MHz models are to come later);
• L1 cache: 128KB;
• L2 cache: 64KB;
• FSB frequency: 100/133MHz;
• Supports MMX and 3DNow!;
• Manufacturing technology: 0.15 micron;
• Die size: 52sq.mm;
• Vcore: 1.5V.

This means that the basic distinguishing feature of the new Cyrix III will be L2 cache. As a result, the new CPU is expected to perform about 15% faster. Other changes introduced to a new Cyrix are connected with the manufacturing technology. Due to a finer technology used, Samuel 2 will have a smaller die and hence lower power consumption. This mans that Cyrix III may hope to find its application not only in low-cost PCs but also in notebooks.
As for VIA’s further plans in the processor market, the company is going to introduce the next 0.13 micron core, C5C, in early Q3. The new core will support 750-950MHz and will boast even lower Vcore: 1.2-1.35V. Also VIA keeps working on its Ezra CPU (aka C5X). This processor is most likely to come out in the end of the year. It will feature 256KB L2 cache and will support SSE instructions. Ezra will help VIA to conquer 1GHz and higher frequencies.
Besides the mentioned processors, we should also bear in mind that VIA is planning to announce its integrated Matthew in Q2, which is a combination of the current Cyrix III and PM133 North Bridge.