VIA's Dual Core Nano & VN1000 Chipset Previewed
by Anand Lal Shimpi on November 15, 2010 12:26 PM ESTCPU Performance
Overall CPU performance is typically leaps and bounds better than Intel’s dual-core Atom D510. However that’s an easy target to beat. If we look at an identically (or even lower) clocked Pentium or Celeron dual-core processor, VIA loses.
Photoshop performance is actually pretty impressive for the platform we're looking at. You get performance that's in the range of low end Pentium Dual-Core processors.
Even video encoding impresses as the DC Nano platform is faster than AMD's dual-core 1.5GHz Athlon X2. Intel has the performance-per-clock advantage with the Pentium dual-core but Atom is nowhere near it.
Nano's single threaded performance is really where it shines vs. Atom. You get roughly double the performance, which is quite visible in normal OS interaction or light apps like web browsing. Everything just pops up a lot quicker.
With a second core at its disposal the new Nano does very well in multithreaded environments as well. Again we have it besting the Athlon X2 3250e.
I ran our Par2 test here because it is highly optimized for Intel architectures. It is a real world test however and it shows you that despite VIA's architectural advantages, there will be situations where even an Atom may be faster.
In most cases however, the DC Nano will be noticeably faster than a Pineview Atom and within striking distance of an Athlon X2.
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nitrousoxide - Monday, November 15, 2010 - link
The true competitor for Nano DC will be the AMD Bobcat, which can sweep out Atom as well as this Nano chip with ease. The Fusion APU will simply dominate such market until Intel come up with a fast-enough-Atom.nitrousoxide - Monday, November 15, 2010 - link
When are we gonna see it? Anand said that the review should be available last week :(JessusChristDoOTcom - Monday, November 15, 2010 - link
Why do we have to click on "Read more" button on the buttom of the front page article previews where there is a picture there that could be made to be clicked upon to get us to the very same place? Why not make front page preview pictures clickable leading readers directly into the first page of the article? I think it would make alot of sense and would make browsing alot smoother not to mention potential for finger clicking in touchscreen applications.nitrousoxide - Monday, November 15, 2010 - link
agreed...that helps a lot with touch screens...Vepsa - Monday, November 15, 2010 - link
if this comes in way under atom in price, i can see it being used for lots of smoothwall/pfsense/clearos/etc routers. i know i'd love an atom box for my router, but the price makes it so i can't.yzkbug - Monday, November 15, 2010 - link
Anand, could you clarify the power consumption vs. Radeon HD 5450? The original 5450 review (http://www.anandtech.com/show/2931/14) states that the total idle power is 121W (as opposed to 37.8 here). Thanks!mattgmann - Monday, November 15, 2010 - link
This all looked great until the power consumption page. I don't see this chip as direct competition to atom. Their power usage profiles are completely different.In fact, I bet you could build and i3 system that could have similar consumption and loads more performance.
For what applications exactly are they marketing these boards?
Zoomer - Monday, November 15, 2010 - link
Office machines, POS terminals, the like? That's a huge market.It would be really awesome for these apps, esp. once they power gate it.
mattgmann - Tuesday, November 16, 2010 - link
That's what I figured, but I think there are better options for those applications already in the market. Step in the right direction for via, but it's tough playing catchup to amd and especially intel.ClagMaster - Monday, November 15, 2010 - link
The DC Nano and VN1000 are fine achievements for VIA. Bravo !!!If they can get the process down to 40nm AND implement better power management, they would have a winner.
At 40W, this is still an excellent low power performer for the cost.
This could easily play DX8/9 games available 4 years ago on 1600 x 1200 resolution.