VIA's Dual Core Nano & VN1000 Chipset Previewed
by Anand Lal Shimpi on November 15, 2010 12:26 PM ESTFinal Words
It's not hard to beat Atom. The chip was originally designed to be used in MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices) and aimed at smartphones, but found extra work in netbooks and nettops. Intel has also been very conservative with Atom's roadmap. The chip is still on 45nm while Intel is a little over a year away from beginning its move to 22nm. Atom's architecture also remains in-order, while ARM, AMD and VIA are all presenting if not shipping out-of-order alternatives aimed at similar PC markets.
The dual-core Nano platform offers better graphics performance and better CPU performance than Atom. The Chrome 520 IGP, at times, can even give Intel's HD Graphics a run for the money. The two unknowns are power consumption and price. The former will change as VIA transitions to 40nm, while I couldn't get an answer out of VIA on the latter. Current Nano motherboards retail for around $120, but that's for the single core offering. At 40nm VIA should be able to offer two Nano cores for the same price. If you can buy a DC Nano board with BGA chip for around $120, it'll be a steal compared to Atom and more powerful platforms.
The biggest competitor for Nano may not end up being Intel after all. AMD's Bobcat is due to ship to OEMs before the end of the year, and before the end of the week we'll have our full performance preview of it.
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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.