Category: notebook components
By: Pallab Jyotee Hazarika
VIA unveils new low-power VX855 chipset
World’s third largest chipmaker brings out a new and improved low-power chipset – the VX855.
The VX855 block diagram
Although it is the third largest chip-maker in the world, but the Taipei-based company is hardly a match for Intel or AMD – holding less than 1% market share. VIA earned revenue of NT$7.9 billion, (US$235 million) in 2008 which's roughly equivalent to 2.5 days of revenue for Intel, which earned $37.6 billion the same year. But good news for VIA is that it is making mark in the low-power processors at a time when Intel executives were still promising to hit clock speeds of 10GHz or more with the power-hungry Pentium 4. Now it comes with its latest offering – the low-power and lighter VX855 chipset.
The VX855 is capable of handling 1080p video. It can handle hardware decoding of H.264, MPEG-2/4, VC-1, and WMV9 video formats. But the real improvement is in the area of power consumption and size. The VX855 has a power consumption improvements (2.3W vs. 3.5W) and chip size (27 x 27mm as opposed to 33 x 33mm) over the VX800 already available. The VX855 is actually a stripped –down version of the VX800 – as observed by Arstechnica.
The VIA VX855 chipset integrates a DDR2 memory controller, a 400/800-MHz front side bus processor interface, and input/output capabilities in a single chip. Support for the integrated VIA Chrome9 HCM Graphics Processor, HD audio controller, and a host of display interfaces in its in-built LVDS transmitter, CMOS LCD and CRT interfaces, should allow for more flexible multimedia playback options.
VIA's vice president of marketing, Richard Brown tells in a news release, "For the first time, system developers have an ultra low power media system processor that delivers high bit-rate HD video to small form factor and mobile devices," said Brown, "The VIA VX855 opens up exciting opportunities for several PC segments, particularly the mini-notebook category that will now be able to offer true 1080p HD video playback."
The chip is also compatible with VIA’s C7, Nano, and Eden processors. The Chrome9 graphics capabilities support 2D and 3D graphics easily. There’s also an HD Audio controller that supports up to eight audio channels with a sample rate of 192kHz.
- Related News:
VIA announces eNote Turnkey Solution netbook - 11-09-09 10:02- DTC shows off 11.6-inch Flybook at Computex - 09-06-09 14:33
- Tongfong announces S30A ultraportable notebook featuring VIA Nano - 03-06-09 09:29
- Via to ship Nano chips to Samsung - 07-02-09 22:31
- Links:
- www.liliputing.com/2009/03/via-introduces-multimedia-chipset-for-netbooks-with-1080p-capabilities.html
- arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2009/03/new-via-vx855-media-processor-big-claims-old-tech.ars
- www.via.com.tw/en/resources/pressroom/pressrelease.jsp
- www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/processors/showArticle.jhtml
- static.arstechnica.com/2009/03/12/VX855BD1.jpg
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