{mosimage}VIA Technologies Inc. empezó a distribuir su actual familia de
procesadores a principios del año 2000. Siete versiones principales -
culminando en el procesador VIA C7 – han sido distribuidas hasta fines
de 2007. En tanto son compatibles con el set de instrucciones de la
familia x86, la arquitectura interna de estos procesadores es muy
diferente de los otros diseños de procesadores x86.

CPU VIA Nano – Nombre Código Isaiah

VIA Technologies Inc. empezó a distribuir su actual familia de procesadores a principios del año 2000. Siete versiones principales – culminando en el procesador VIA C7 – han sido distribuidas hasta fines de 2007. En tanto son compatibles con el set de instrucciones de la familia x86, la arquitectura interna de estos procesadores es muy diferente de los otros diseños de procesadores x86.
Esta arquitectura interna unica brinda procesadores que son significativamente mas pequeños (menor costo) y que utilizan significativamente menos energía que otros procesadores x86 de AMD e Intel.

Mientras los actuales procesadores VIA C7 encajan perfectamente con varios usuarios y aplicaciones, una nueva arquitectura fue necesaria para mantener el paso con con la rapida introduccion de nuevas funcionesy mejorado rendimiento de parte de Intel. Acordemente, a través de los últimos cuatro años, VIA hizo una mayor inversion en los EE. UU. – en su subsidiaria basada en diseño de procesadores Centaur Technology Inc. – para desattollar una arquitectura de procesadores x86 completamente nueva.
El resultado es una nueva arquitectura, de nomrbe codigo Arquitectura VIA Isaiah (V.I.A.: VIA Isaiah
Architecture), que complementa los productos VIA actuales ofreciendo notablemente mas funcionalidad y rendimiento dentro del mismo sobre de baja energia.

El 29 de Mayo de 2008 VIA anuncio el Nano CPU, un procesador construido desde la arquitectura Isaiah. Construyendo sobre el liderazgo en el mercado de la eficiencia de energia con sus actuales procesadores VIA C7, la familia de procesadores VIA Nano ofrece tanto como cuatro veces el rendimiento dentro del mismo rango de energía para extender el liderazgo de VIA sobre el rendimiento por watt, en tanto se mantiene una identica compatibilidad con los pines del VIA C7 que asegurara una suave transicion para OEMs y vendedores de placas madres, y les provee un facil camino de actualizaciones para los actuales sistemas o diseños de placas.

 

Especificaciones y características del CPU VIA Nano

Esperando ser lanzado inicialmente en dos SKUs, the VIA Nano L-series processors
for mainstream desktop and mobile PC systems and the ultra low voltage
U-series for small form factor desktop and ultra mobile devices such as
mini-notes: The VIA Nano processor family boasts the highly efficient
VIA V4 bus interface and brings a host of technology firsts to VIA’s
processor platform line-up, including:

– 64-bit Superscalar Speculative Out-Of-Order MicroArchitecture:
Supports a full 64-bit instruction set and provides for macro-fusion
and micro-fusion functionality, and sophisticated branch prediction for
greater processor efficiency and performance.

– High-Performance Computation and Media Processing:
The high-speed, low power VIA V4 Front Side Bus starting at 800MHz,
plus a high floating point unit, support for new SSE instructions, and
two 64KB L1 caches and 1MB exclusive L2 cache with 16-way associativity
gives a big boost to multimedia performance.

– Advanced Power and Thermal Management: Aggressive management of active power includes support for the new "C6" power state, Adaptive PowerSaverTechnology,
new circuit techniques and mechanisms for managing the die temperature,
reducing power draw and improving thermal management.

 – Scalable Upgrade to VIA C7Processor:
Pin-to-pin compatibility with current VIA C7 processors enables a
smooth transition for OEMs and mainboard vendors, enabling them to
offer a wider range of products for different markets with a single
board or system design.

– Greener Technology: In addition to full
compliance with RoHS and WEEE regulations, product manufacturing will
be halogen-free and lead-free at launch, helping to promote a cleaner
environment and more sustainable computing.

– Enhanced VIA PadLockSecurity Engine:
Industry-leading on-die hardware cryptographic acceleration and
security features, including dual quantum random number generators, an
AES Encryption Engine, NX-bit, and SHA-1 and SHA-256 hashing.

Product & Model Name	Clock Speed	VIA V4 Bus	Maximum Power (TDP Max)
VIA Nano L2100 processor	1.8GHz	800MHz	25W
VIA Nano L2200 processor	1.6GHz	800MHz	17W
VIA Nano U2400 processor	1.3+GHz	800MHz	8W
VIA Nano U2500 processor	1.2GHz	800MHz	6.8W
VIA Nano U2300 processor	1.0GHz	800MHz	5W

For more detailed information about the VIA Nano processor family,
please read the introductory white paper here:

http://www.via.com.tw/en/downloads/whitepapers/processors/WP080529VIA_Nano.pdf

 

 

{mospagebreak_scroll title=Visto de cerca.}

 

 

Closer Look: VIA Nano CPU

This is VIA’s first 64-bit, superscalar, speculative out-of-order
processor in VIA’s x86 platform portfolio.  VIA Nano processors have
been specifically designed to revitalize traditional desktop and
notebook PC markets, delivering truly optimized performance for the
most demanding computing, entertainment and connectivity applications,
including Blu-ray Disc HD video playback and the latest PC games, such
as Crysis.

The VIA Nano processor family leverages Fujitsu’s advanced 65 nanometer
process technology for enhanced power efficiency, and augments that
with aggressive power and thermal management features within the
compact 21mm x 21mm nanoBGA2 package for an idle power as low as 100mW
(0.1W), extending the reach of power efficient green and silent PCs,
thin and light notebooks and mini-notes around the world.

"VIA Nano processors represent the next generation of x86 technology,
providing the fundamental building blocks for a new genre of optimized
computing solutions," said Wenchi Chen, President and CEO, VIA
Technologies, Inc. "’Small is Beautiful’ is more than a design
strategy; it’s our vision of where the PC market is heading and our new
processors will help the market realize that dream."

The VIA Nano processor will initially be offered in five different
skus: two "Low Voltage" versions (L2100 and L2200), and three "Ultra
Low Voltage" (U2400, U2500 and U2300).

 

 

 

{mospagebreak_scroll title=Características detalladas: Codename Isaiah.}

 

 

Codename Isaiah Detailed Features

The VIA Nano processor uses proven 65 Nanometer technology delivering
the ideal blend of powerful performance and performance efficiency.
With roughly twice the numbers of transistors as the 90nm-based VIA C7
processor range, the VIA Nano processor is able to offer
state-of-the-art capabilities such as virtualization, advanced thermal
management, and innovative security enhancements that provide the
foundation for energy-efficient, feature rich computing solutions.

Underscoring VIA’s leadership in processor miniaturization, the VIA
Nano processor comes with ultra compact dimensions, enabling a new
generation of small form factor designs and new, smaller applications
for the x86 platform.

• Package size: Compact VIA NanoBGA2 package (21mm x 21mm)
• Die size: 7.650mm x 8.275mm

The last few years have seen significant changes within the
microprocessor industry, and indeed the entire IT landscape. Much of
this change has been driven by three factors: the increasing focus of
both business and consumer on energy efficiency, the rise of mobile
computing, and the growing performance requirements of computing
devices in a fast expanding multimedia environment. In the
microprocessor space, the traditional race for ever faster processing
speeds has given way to one that factors in the energy used to achieve
those speeds.

Augmenting the VIA C7family of processors, the VIA Nano processor’s pin
compatibility extends the VIA processor platform portfolio, enabling
OEMs to offer a wider range of products for different market segments,
and furnishing them with the ability to upgrade device performance
without incurring the time and cost expense associated with system
redesign.

The VIA Nano processor includes many innovations in the cache subsystem
that lead to very efficient use of total cache area (and thus cache
power). The cache subsystem comprises the level-1 instruction cache
(I-cache), the level-1 data cache (D-cache), the unified level-2 cache
(L2-cache), and some specialized caches or buffers. Each of the I- and
D-caches contain 64K bytes and is 16-way set associative.

The L2-cache is organized as 16-way associative and is
designed to support a wide variety of sizes with minimal implementation
effort. The size of the L2-cache in the first VIA Nano processor
implementation is 1 MB, but subsequent processors may have different
sizes. In addition, the L2 cache is "exclusive", meaning that the L1
caches’ contents do not reside in our L2 cache, thus increasing the
effective size of the L2 cache over the "inclusive" approach of
competitor architectures.

 

 

 {mospagebreak_scroll title=Testing y resultados.}

 

 

Testing and Results

The VIA Nano processor places significant emphasis on high-performance
floatingpoint execution. It can execute four floating-point adds and
four floating-point multiplies every clock. It uses a completely new
algorithm for floating-point adds that results in the lowest
floating-point add latency of any x86 processor-two clocks for any
format (SP, DP, DE, packed or scalar). Similarly, the floating-point
multiplier has the lowest latency of any x86 processor-three clocks for
SP multiply, and four for DP and DE. In addition, the integer data path
for SIMD integer (SSEx) instructions is 128-bits wide, and almost all
SSEx instructions (including all shuffles) execute in only one clock.

Play-back of DVD content with any modern CPU is now straightforward,
however the advent of High Definition content and the rise of the
next-generation optical format, Blu-ray Disctechnology,
has brought new and far more demanding computing requirements to the PC
marketplace. The VIA Nano processor’s superscalar, out-of-order
architecture facilitates exceptionally smooth play back of Blu-ray and
other HD video formats, which can have encrypted media streams of up to
40Mbps.

When combined with an appropriate discrete graphics card, the VIA Nano
processor’s robust two-clock FPU multiply and 128 bit data path offers
an excellent gaming experience, providing silky smooth rendering of 3D
images.

Performance per watt is the new metric by which quality is measured,
with all the major players endeavoring to increase the performance
capabilities of their products, while reducing the amount of energy
that they require. Based on the recently announced VIA Isaiah
Architecture, the new VIA Nano processor
is a next-generation x86 processor that sets the standard in power
efficiency for tomorrow’s immersive internet txperience. With advanced
power and thermal management features helping to make it the world’s
most energy efficient x86 processor architecture, the VIA Nano
processor also boasts ultra modern functionality,
high-performance computation and media processing, and enhanced VIA PadLock hardware security features.

The high performance of the VIA Nano processor, coupled with its ultra
low power consumption makes it the ideal mobile computing processor. It
will initially power a range of ‘slim ‘n’ light’ notebooks, fusing all
of the VIA C7 processor’s advantages in battery-life, size and cool
operation together with the higher computational performance of the VIA
Nano processor’s advanced x86 architecture. The VIA Nano processor will
also appear in ultra mobile Mini-Note devices and small form factor,
green desktop systems for home and office use.

VIA Nano Processor Availability

VIA Nano processors are available now for OEMs and motherboard vendors,
while systems featuring VIA Nano processors are expected to market in
Q3 2008. For further information on the VIA Nano processor family,
please visit the VIA website at: http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/processors/nano/